Beautiful Sheath Ruined Furniture

[zoomer56]

I made this sheath to fit my brother's (mjlknives.com) sambar stag handled bowie knife.  To date it was one of my best works.  Today I learned the sheath ruined a piece of furniture.  It was being displayed and sat for 4 days on the furniture.  He noticed it was smelling, sort of gassing off.  He picked it up and saw it had reacted badly to the polyurethane finish. There is now a perfect shape of the sheath, even where it was not touching. The sheath was dyed with Fiebings Low VOC (I live in CA and not allowed to use the good stuff) dark brown dye.  A coat of Fiebings Resolene was applied.  The resolene was cut with water 30%.

This is bad, has anyone experienced this sort of thing?

[Mattsbagger]

Weird.

[fredk]

That looks like a water stain in the polished finish. You can get that if you put a hot cup of tea/coffee directly onto the surface. Sometimes it will cure itself over time. Sometimes putting a damp cloth towel over it and ironing with a mildly warm iron will draw it out and return it to normal

In this instance I'd let it sit and air for a few days, allowing some warm air to blow over it; warm air, not hot

[robrinay]

If it is a water mark it can be removed by carefully warming the area. Techniques include using a hair drier to gently warm the area making sure not to overheat it. Another involves placing a DRY lint free cloth pure cotton cloth (no nylon which might melt), over the mark and using a clothes iron on a low DRY (no steam), setting and warm the wood by gently ironing it through the cloth. An internet search for ‘how to remove water marks from furniture’ will tell you how in more detail. Always start with the most gentle technique and work upwards if it doesn’t work. 

Edited April 4, 2018 by robrinay
Detail

[Jbrandon]

I'm not sure on the mark on the table but that sheath is super nice!

[chiefjason]

Do you know if it softened the finish on the furniture?  I used to work in furniture and we had known issues with rubber feet on certain finishes.  The rubber feet would react with the finish, soften it, and remove it when the object was picked up.  To the point we told folks to use felt pads under the rubber feet.  My guess is the problem is in the furniture, and that finish reacted with the sheath.  I have a few spots on my night stand.  

[zoomer56]

Thanks for the replies.  It was a chemical reaction, not water.  I have come to the conclusion that this was caused  by sealing with resolene before the sheath was dry.  It was loaded up with dye then sealed then sewn closed. Should have let the dye dry well before sealing.

[KittenThrasher]

Looking at the stain on the furniture it looks to me as if the stain is also present under the handle of the knife which is not leather. Makes me wonder if the problem is actually the sheath or something which has caused a 'shadow' under the whole thing which is not caused by your (rather excellent) work.?

I'm not sure if I'm seeing the stain very well on my laptop though. 

Just a thought.

[bikermutt07]

It is a really nice sheath.

[zoomer56]

Thanks for the compliments. There is a dangler on it and that is why the mark shows where the handle is. 

[rodneywt1180b]

If it was me I would try a little automotive buffing compound on the table.  It might be enough to blend in the shadow if the finish isn't lifted.  Try the compound somewhere inconspicuous to make sure it's ok first though.

[immiketoo]

On 4/5/2018 at 2:59 AM, zoomer56 said:

Thanks for the replies.  It was a chemical reaction, not water.  I have come to the conclusion that this was caused  by sealing with resolene before the sheath was dry.  It was loaded up with dye then sealed then sewn closed. Should have let the dye dry well before sealing.

One of the first things I learned (the hard way) was patience and letting things dry completely.  It sucks to have to wait but then there are no issues down the road.

[Boriqua]

yea .. I will second what mike said... and I learned the hard way. I give customers a minimum of 2 weeks but likely 4 and sometimes they ask why so long and I explain that its all about curing times. If I stamp it or carve it ... it sits a day,  If I dye it .. it sits a day MINIMUM ... and I live in one of the driest  places on earth. I buff it to hell and then I seal it .. I WILL NOT put it in a box to ship for at least three days. I have a mess of wire hanger hooks I made and a shelving system so I hang them up and they sit. I have developed a certain sensitivity to when the surface feels fully cured.

Its kind of a bummer because I am usually at least as excited to send out my projects and get the customers reactions as they are about getting it but .. with all the work I put into everything, should the paper I wrap it in get stuck to the finish because I didnt allow it to cure I would be heart broken and  .... I would have to make good and take hours making a new one.

I used to have a terrible time with rubbing until I realized I needed to let that dye dry proper before applying seal.

On to other things .. the sheath is freagin awesome! Nice work!

I dont know how long the knife sat on the table but it looks like it was in direct sun. Has anyone tried a paste wax. I would be afraid to use say a spray on polish like favor because it has cleaning agents but a straight wood wax might restore that.

[BDAZ]

I am familiar with CA VOC regs, especially South County (LA) which are the strictest in the country. I doubt that either product contained sufficient VOCs to interact with the finish , however, Resolene contains:

Poly(methyl methacrylate-coethyl acrylate) 9010-88-2

propanol 67-63-0 200-661-7 

These, when they off gas,  may interact with a lacquer finish, not polyurethane.  I would check an invisible part of the finish with a drop of alcohol and see if there is a response. PU is usually pretty bullet proof.

Maybe just bad Mojo!?

Bob