Dyeing and finishing

[EfrainBG]

It's not much, but I just finished hand dyeing a whole side of top grain harness... the whole nine yards! staining (both sides), oiling and dyeing... over a 48 hour period from the staining... I gotta say it, I have a new found respect for Daniel Larusso!!

I did it this way because I'll be using most of the side to make a bag and wanted a uniform finish all over the piece. I'm just waiting for a new bottle of Tan Kote to apply the final touch. I just wanted to ask: Is it ok/customary/advisable to apply a second coat of neatsfoot over the dye before the Kote? Also, I want to apply a coat or two of Carnauba on the rough side. It won't be finished. In fact, I'll sand the beejesus out of that one side before assembly to get that somewhat of a suede/ante like appearance.

Any thoughts?

[NVLeatherWorx]

I typically do not apply my Neatsfoot Oil until the dye has been done and dried for no less than 24 hours.  Just make sure that you have buffed off any remaining pigment residue first as it will make an extra interesting mess if you don't.  I do my oil after dye/stain/Antique because of the spirits contained within the products that help to further dry the leather out a bit.  

[EfrainBG]

15 hours ago, NVLeatherWorx said:

I typically do not apply my Neatsfoot Oil until the dye has been done and dried for no less than 24 hours.  Just make sure that you have buffed off any remaining pigment residue first as it will make an extra interesting mess if you don't.  I do my oil after dye/stain/Antique because of the spirits contained within the products that help to further dry the leather out a bit.  

   thanks a lot, Richard.

   I did check it was properly dried and buffed before applying both neatsfoot oil coats. It was originally natural colored, almost white/beige, but the project asks for a very black and shiny leather. So I did the following:

   - stain both sides black.
   - neatsfoot oil grain side.
   - dye grain side
   - neatsfoot oil grain side

   Waiting a good 20-24 hours between steps. Fortunately enough we've had very good, sunny and warm weather here in Monterrey.

   Right now, it looks like in the attached picture.

   In my head, the nest steps are

   - apply carnauba on the flesh side, let dry and sand.
   - finish with Tan Kote on the grain side.

   All of this before even starting to cut out the pattern, since I want a very uniform look through out the project.

[NVLeatherWorx]

Sounds like you have it in the bag on this one.  I prefer to use Leather Balm with Atom Wax on the grain side of my works and also use the 50/50 Resolene and water formula to seal the grain.  Weather here today actually turned out quite nice and guess we will see the 80's again this weekend but it feels like we are going to go cooler from there, as it should be for this time of year. Shoot some pics of the finished project; looking forward to see it.

[EfrainBG]

I will, Richard. It's going to go fast once I start cutting the pattern. It's taken a lot to be patient and wait until I have everything finished before start cutting, and now I have to wait for another week for the last items to arrive from Buckle Guy: Tan Kote and a 500 meters spool of Tiger Thread.

I'll upload the end result in here and the show-off thread, maybe... hehe

Again, thanks for your time!

[EfrainBG]

Here's the end result, Richard.

[Bigfoote]

Wow that is awesome, good job there!

[NVLeatherWorx]

That is a darn fine piece of leather there and the color is just spectacular.  This thing screams richness in the tones and is very worthy of respect.  

[EfrainBG]

Thanks a lot, Bigfoote and Richard! I really appreciate it!