Waterproofing?

[Mujician]

Hi,

I'm making a dog collar for a friend. This is really my first proper project so I'd like it to go well! I've done the tooling and dying. and its nearly time to put the hardware in. How do I stop the colour from leaching everywhere? How do I protect it against the elements? Do I finish it as I normally would and simply apply a waterproofing layer? I have discovered giving things a final buff with some boot polish makes the leather super shiny - would the water proof go on over the boot polish, or in the case of adding waterproof, should I forget about boot polish? Many thanks, Ben

[Halitech]

short of encasing the leather in some kind of plastic coating, you will never make leather truly waterproof due to it's nature of being a fibrous material. With the things I make that require making them as water resistant as possible, I do everything the same until the final step then I do both sides with sno-proof and the edges with beeswax. Once I apply the sno-proof, I heat it lightly with a hair dryer until it soaks in and the buff with a clean cloth.

[Mujician]

Thanks, really helpful.

[billybopp]

There is a youtube video by Ian Atkinson that has a good side-by-side comparison of many finishes and their water resistance capability. You may want to give it a look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyTg_hfpNUM

Hope that helps

Bill

[druid]

beeswax, boiled linseed oil and turpentine solution.

Recipe:
1lb pure/filtered beeswax.

8 oz BLO

8 oz turpentine.

* break the wax apart and melt slowly and CAREFULLY into a cleaned metal coffee can.

* when liquid, add BLO and turpentine. Remove from heat and stir until semi solid and then let cool. Put lid on the can.

There are two ways to use:

1.* slowly melt the entire can worth of compound and use a clean [and dedicated] paintbrush and apply it to the leather. It will soak in part of the way and the rest will scab on the top surface. Use a heat gun on LOW and apply the heat to the wax. It will absorb the rest of the way. Remove excess wax and polish with natural wool or clean cotton rags. When cool, you are done.

2.** Triple the recipe and put it into a clean gallon paint can [Lowe's and Home Depot sell them], using the same method as described above. Except in this method, you slowly heat the entire can into a liquid and submerge the project for about 20 seconds and remove it. Set it aside until it cools. Again, use the heat gun on LOW and melt the compound so it absorbs into the leather. remove excess and polish.

*note on #1 - This is our preferred method for thinner leather [like garment thickness, finished sides like goat skin, etc], for cotton canvas, canvas tents/awnings and other cloth items. It's awesome for book bags, haversacks and hard-to-service-when-finished- projects like holsters, knife sheaths and etc. Paint it on one side [outside for holsters, sheaths, etc] and heat gun it in as prescribed.

**note on #2 - this method tends to make the leather fairly stiff. It's great for finishing pistol pants belts, axe masks, leather helms, shield bosses and would probably do very well on dog [canine] collars. It's somewhat similar to "cuir bouilli" which means "boiled leather." Cuir bouilli is thick leather boiled in water, or beeswax hardened and formed into a lamellar or scale armor. Since you add the BLO to it - and you aren't boiling the leather - AND you are only submerging if for < 20 seconds - thinner leathers remain more supple and thicker/heavier leathers retain some bending qualities that you won't get if it's done like armor was. The example would be that Cuir bouilli was done to make a Coat of Plates or a Hellenistic / Roman Cuirass or the leather predecessor to the metal-plate lorica segmentata. They would drop the leather into the boiling mix and leave it there until the oxygen vacated the leather [when the leather stops producing a bubble stream, they were done].
They pulled the hot plates out of the bath and quickly form them into the armor and let them cool. They were rock-freaking hard when cold.

I would also avoid using this recipe on suede or pigskin belly/splits.

In either case, the turpentine will evaporate away in the open air after a day.

This recipe is a long-standing family recipe and will waterproof ANY natural material - leather, cotton/canvas/wool and any/all unfinished wood. It will protect metals like axe heads, tool shafts and blades, knives [but not good for food knives BC of the BLO and turpentine. Use plain, pure, unaltered beeswax for food tools.

Edited February 23, 2016 by druid

[stomper4x4]

I do a light coat of neatsfoot oil and let that soak in good. I figure the oil inside the fibers probably helps some. Then if I want really good waterproofing I use Sno-Seal. Nothing is 100% with leather, and you don't really want it to be. Leather has to breathe.

With the Sno Seal (I think someone mentioned this above) it helps to use a hair dryer to melt that stuff and let it soak into the leather.

Other beeswax preparations work well too.

[Billmc]

On 2/22/2016 at 3:58 AM, druid said:

beeswax, boiled linseed oil and turpentine solution.

Recipe:
1lb pure/filtered beeswax.

8 oz BLO

8 oz turpentine.

* break the wax apart and melt slowly and CAREFULLY into a cleaned metal coffee can.

* when liquid, add BLO and turpentine. Remove from heat and stir until semi solid and then let cool. Put lid on the can.

There are two ways to use:

1.* slowly melt the entire can worth of compound and use a clean [and dedicated] paintbrush and apply it to the leather. It will soak in part of the way and the rest will scab on the top surface. Use a heat gun on LOW and apply the heat to the wax. It will absorb the rest of the way. Remove excess wax and polish with natural wool or clean cotton rags. When cool, you are done.

2.** Triple the recipe and put it into a clean gallon paint can [Lowe's and Home Depot sell them], using the same method as described above. Except in this method, you slowly heat the entire can into a liquid and submerge the project for about 20 seconds and remove it. Set it aside until it cools. Again, use the heat gun on LOW and melt the compound so it absorbs into the leather. remove excess and polish.

*note on #1 - This is our preferred method for thinner leather [like garment thickness, finished sides like goat skin, etc], for cotton canvas, canvas tents/awnings and other cloth items. It's awesome for book bags, haversacks and hard-to-service-when-finished- projects like holsters, knife sheaths and etc. Paint it on one side [outside for holsters, sheaths, etc] and heat gun it in as prescribed.

**note on #2 - this method tends to make the leather fairly stiff. It's great for finishing pistol pants belts, axe masks, leather helms, shield bosses and would probably do very well on dog [canine] collars. It's somewhat similar to "cuir bouilli" which means "boiled leather." Cuir bouilli is thick leather boiled in water, or beeswax hardened and formed into a lamellar or scale armor. Since you add the BLO to it - and you aren't boiling the leather - AND you are only submerging if for < 20 seconds - thinner leathers remain more supple and thicker/heavier leathers retain some bending qualities that you won't get if it's done like armor was. The example would be that Cuir bouilli was done to make a Coat of Plates or a Hellenistic / Roman Cuirass or the leather predecessor to the metal-plate lorica segmentata. They would drop the leather into the boiling mix and leave it there until the oxygen vacated the leather [when the leather stops producing a bubble stream, they were done].
They pulled the hot plates out of the bath and quickly form them into the armor and let them cool. They were rock-freaking hard when cold.

I would also avoid using this recipe on suede or pigskin belly/splits.

In either case, the turpentine will evaporate away in the open air after a day.

This recipe is a long-standing family recipe and will waterproof ANY natural material - leather, cotton/canvas/wool and any/all unfinished wood. It will protect metals like axe heads, tool shafts and blades, knives [but not good for food knives BC of the BLO and turpentine. Use plain, pure, unaltered beeswax for food tools.

I have done a fair number of knife sheaths myself and I plan to try this recipe and compare it what I have been using. I have been using a Howard's Feed-n-Wax which can be purchase at Home Depot strengthened with more melted bees wax. I do a lot of woodworking and have used this as a final finish and decided to try it on leather. It's mainly orange oil and beeswax and penetrates extremely well. Adding the melted beeswax and using a heat gun to drive it in really makes the sheaths rock hard and completely water proof. Works great for the leather collars on a set of rowing oars as well. I am always looking for something new and better. Thanks again,

Bill