Some confusion with finishing steps. Guidance requested!

[taf1987]

*I realize this a re-post, but I haven't had a response in the nearly 3 weeks since posting to the "Finishing Steps in Your Own Words" thread and could really use the help. Feel free to delete if this re-post violates any forum rule(s).*

 

Hi, All.

 

I've been able to glean a lot of great information here but still have some questions as I am approaching completion on my first carving piece:

a 10 oz. vegetable-tanned cowboy cuff.

 

Post-tooling, I am not dyeing the piece but will be:

-stitching along the border and gluing/stitching straps onto the piece

-adding snaps

-oiling with neatsfoot

-edging with gum traganth and applying edgekote

-finishing with resolene

 

Now, here is how I am inclined to proceed, and please correct/re-arrange the steps as is necessary:

1) -Clean the piece. There seems to be quite a bit of debris in some of the deeply tooled areas. What is the best method to handle this? My first thought is to use canned air for cleaning keyboards.

2) -Allowing the piece to dry from its "cased" state. How long should I allow for this?

3) -Oiling with neatsfoot oil. I've read that a few coats is ideal with a full day between coats. Any truth to sunlight helping the process?

4) -Punch holes for snaps and pierce leather with stitching irons.

5) -Scuff areas that will take glue to affix the straps to the cuff. (I have Seiwa leather glue from goodsjapan.com)

6) -Add glue and gently clamp together with stitches aligned.

7) -Add stitching.

8) -Add snaps.

9) -Apply black edgekote to edges and burnish.

10) -Apply gum traganth to edges and burnish.

11) -Apply resolene. From what I've read, I am inclined to dilute this even further than the touted 50:50 water/resolene solution and just add more coats of the stuff, lest I end up with a plastic-looking, gummed-up mess. How long should I wait between coats?

 

(I think) that's it! Many thanks in advance for anyone who replies. 

 

**I used a casing solution from another thread on the forum, and it is fantastic.

Bottled water, listerine, lexol, and baby shampoo. I did have to submerge my 10 oz leather for about two full minutes though -- Anything less did not allow for proper tooling. With this solution, I've been able to work on the cowboy cuff on-and-off for six months. When I'm done for the day, I just case it again with a sponge and quickly double-bag it in my refrigerator.

Edited May 9, 2016 by taf1987