Finishing The Underside Of Veg Tan Leather

[erniethemilk]

What do you guys recommend for finishing the underside of veg tan leather if it's kept in a natural undyed condition. I'd like to keep the colour natural, but have a smoother finish with no bits coming off.

Thanks

[DavidL]

In japanese leatherworking (probably in other parts too) its common to use gum trag, looking just at their leather books.

I dont know too much in depth about this subject. What I have seen is tanners use a sanding machine to sand the flesh side for even strands and then paste it with some special mixture. The machine is an industrial type model. If you wanted to try to replicate this process a sander may work although you would need to tinker with it.

Guessing the sanding is called refinishing and pasting is the wax/ special mixture to flatten the hairs. Horween has great flesh side.

Another way that I dont know how they create is to finish it in a way that the backside is flat and smooth . I've seen this in bridle leather and wicket and craig samples where they use this type of finish. You wouldnt need to line this leather.

Edited November 27, 2015 by DavidL

[billybopp]

Fiebings tan-kote and a burnishing tool do a nice job of finishing the flesh side of leather.

Bill