Wet Forming After Antique Finish

[SLP]

Please forgive me if I'm not doing this right. This is my first time on any forum. I am attempting to construct a holster with an antique finish. I am curious if wet forming will destroy the finish. I have tooled the leather (6-7oz) and plan to line with 3-4oz. I'm using eco flo gel antique. I don't want to do any intense moulding that will destroy the tooling, but I would like a snug fit. Do I just antique finish first and accept that some will be removed while wetting and forming? I plan to "seal" with super shene. Between the cement and super sheen I assume the water will take longer to penetrate sufficiently to form. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[camano ridge]

I would mold first then antique then seal. When yo seal you are trying to make it water resistant also the Eco Flo is a water based product you stand a good chance of washings ome of the antiquing away.

[SLP]

Thanks,Camano Ridge. I wanted to keep my stitching nice and white. So, would you suggest gluing, molding, antique finish, then stitching? I will be hand stitching, so it would be possible to do it after molding. The only problem I see with that is I have to stitch portions of the liner before I stitch the seam. I just don't know how to do it while keeping the antique gel from getting in the stitches and covering the thread.

[JLSleather]

It sounds like you may need to stitch it twice. Stitch, form, allow to dry, antique (if you must!), allow to dry, cut stitching out and re-stitch. Poly thread may resist the antique better than nylon, but I don't see white stitching staying white either way. I have cut the stitching and re-stitched a few times -- but there is a proportionate price increase, too.

[SLP]

Thank you JLSleather. I have seen many of your posts on the forum, and you have already helped me out more than you know. Your stitch twice recommendation is a great idea I hadn't considered. I now remember reading about that before. It's a jagged pill to swallow, but it seems like the best if not only way to accomplish what I'm after. Thank you very much for your help. I've never been a member of a forum before, and I'm proud that this is my first one. The people on here are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. I've had a thousand questions about leather that have all been answered by searching online, and probably 85% of my answers have come from this forum. I only hope that in some time, I can be as helpful to others as you guys have been to me. Thank you again.

[Josh Ashman]

Hey SLP, I use the Fiebings liquid antique quite a bit and it absolutely will rub off if you try and wet mold it and it will turn clean white stitching a mess. I can get by with a quick dunk then fitting the pistol into the holster then leaving it alone to dry, but if I start rubbing my thumbs on it the finish immediately starts to rub off. If I want white stitching I apply the antique and let it dry for a day or so then rub it down good with liquid glycerin saddle soap to try and get any bleed off gone and sometimes I'll also put a coat of finish on it before stitching to try and keep them nice and white.

Good luck, hopefully you can figure out a way to get what you're after.

Josh

[SLP]

Thanks for the tips Josh.

[SLP]

Thanks guys. I decided to keep the forming to a minimum.

[SLP]

Here's a couple pics

[SLP]

Even after a few coats of leather sheen, when I wet the leather to bend it into the final shape a fair amount of the antique started to come off, so I decided not to push my luck. I just got it into the general shape. Just laziness I guess after spending so long on it, but I didn't want to re stitch. although I think re-stitching after applying the antique finish when fully moulded would have been the ideal procedure. Thanks again to all you guys for your input.

[Lizardo]

Looks great to me!

[Halitech]

Looks really good but 2 small things I would have done different. First, I either would have used a smaller snap (line 20 instead of a line 24) or I would have made the retaining strap a little wider. Second, I would have cut the strap shorter so it ended just beyond the snap instead of having it extend what looks like about 2"