Finish for mud and rain

[Treesner]

What kind of finish would you do for a piece that will be out in the elements getting rained on, muddy, baked in the sun ect.

im using veg tanned leather ecoflo water stain and a sno seal coat.

also would a different type of leather be more optimal for the elements? I need it to be thick, the forming of the veg tan is nice but not completely necessary 

[PutnamLeather]

First off I would junk the ecoflo and go for an oil based dye. But I learned long ago that I prefer oil base due to deeper penetration more even color and it conditions the leather while it's being applied. It has a liquid pigment as opposed to the powder pigment that water based die has and doesn't rub off like water based dye will either. As for an actual finish I like the atom wax finish with a follow up of some waterproofing polish. But that being said.. if you're not married to tooling leather you should look into american harness or english bridal leather that are specifically tanned and treated to withstand all weather conditions. I've gotten them both as thick as 14oz in the past but am hard pressed to find them over 12oz these days. As a last thought.. if you're going to be doing any gluing at all I would recommend the harsh barge cement or something similar over any of the water based stuff because it will dissolve and fall apart if left wet for to long where as barge will hold for almost ever haha. Whatever you chose though good luck!

[Treesner]

On 12/11/2018 at 10:57 PM, PutnamLeather said:

First off I would junk the ecoflo and go for an oil based dye. But I learned long ago that I prefer oil base due to deeper penetration more even color and it conditions the leather while it's being applied. It has a liquid pigment as opposed to the powder pigment that water based die has and doesn't rub off like water based dye will either. As for an actual finish I like the atom wax finish with a follow up of some waterproofing polish. But that being said.. if you're not married to tooling leather you should look into american harness or english bridal leather that are specifically tanned and treated to withstand all weather conditions. I've gotten them both as thick as 14oz in the past but am hard pressed to find them over 12oz these days. As a last thought.. if you're going to be doing any gluing at all I would recommend the harsh barge cement or something similar over any of the water based stuff because it will dissolve and fall apart if left wet for to long where as barge will hold for almost ever haha. Whatever you chose though good luck!

thank you for the help, is there anything I should do to the inside of the leather? 

also do you have any good places to order the American harness leather you speak of (6/7oz). All my samples and such have been for veg tanned 

 

[Treesner]

 

looks like form this guys test of leather being out int the California sun the snow seal held its coat the best (needed water after 3 months) with resoling and neetsfoot behind it

[battlemunky]

Sno-seal is a good product but if you will be abusing the leather like in the tests in that video, NOTHING will withstand that without retreatment and regular maintenance. You can also make your own version of Sno-seal with neatsfoot oil, beeswax, and some other things of your choosing, like pine tar, etc, that will hold up similarly.

Remember that there are 100 year old saddles that are still around and have been used continuously with not much more than maintenance and a retreat now and again. Everyone wants this superhuman treatment stuff for leather but 99.9999999% of the world isn't robust enough to use the leather the way those old saddles were used. Much of it is hyperbole. There is nothing that you can treat leather with that will repel abuse aside from more new leather.

[bermudahwin]

I am currently looking for a near perfect water resistance for a small project, so I looked up Sno Seal on Amazon UK...

Atsko Sno-Seal Original Beeswax Waterproofing (1-Quart Can) by Atsko

by Atsko

1 new from £51.75

or $65.25 at todays rates,  so I am back to heating beeswax and neatsfoot oil, hmm, is that smell worth £50???

[chrisash]

Be interesting to see how Dubbin would compare, you don't get the shine but if memory serves me right its great at waterproof, used it on my deck boots whilst in the Royal navy and never had wet feet and seemed to soften the leather

[bermudahwin]

Chris,

I was about to say that you could not get Dubbin (by which I mean the old Wren's Dubbin used on all of my walking boots for years) any more, as they'd stopped trading. But I looked it up, and found out its a generic name for the action of waterproofing the leather, and there are many still available....

I use Nikwax now but will look at the others, some have interesting oils and tallow in them.

Best

Harry

 

[LatigoAmigo]

On 12/11/2018 at 9:51 PM, Treesner said:

would a different type of leather be more optimal for the elements?

I picked up some 8 oz. "oil stuffed" Horween leather some years ago from Maverick Leather. Don' t know if they still carry this leather, but it is heavy, durable and appears nearly indestructible to the weather. 

[Treesner]

On 12/17/2018 at 5:37 AM, battlemunky said:

Sno-seal is a good product but if you will be abusing the leather like in the tests in that video, NOTHING will withstand that without retreatment and regular maintenance. You can also make your own version of Sno-seal with neatsfoot oil, beeswax, and some other things of your choosing, like pine tar, etc, that will hold up similarly.

Remember that there are 100 year old saddles that are still around and have been used continuously with not much more than maintenance and a retreat now and again. Everyone wants this superhuman treatment stuff for leather but 99.9999999% of the world isn't robust enough to use the leather the way those old saddles were used. Much of it is hyperbole. There is nothing that you can treat leather with that will repel abuse aside from more new leather.

yeah I was thinking saddles will take the a similar abuse. havent been able to find many saddle makers on youtube when I was trying to research their process 

On 12/17/2018 at 5:48 AM, hwinbermuda said:

I am currently looking for a near perfect water resistance for a small project, so I looked up Sno Seal on Amazon UK...

Atsko Sno-Seal Original Beeswax Waterproofing (1-Quart Can) by Atsko

 

by Atsko

 

1 new from £51.75

or $65.25 at todays rates,  so I am back to heating beeswax and neatsfoot oil, hmm, is that smell worth £50???

 

 

its like 8$ USD!

[Treesner]

On 12/17/2018 at 7:56 AM, LatigoAmigo said:

I picked up some 8 oz. "oil stuffed" Horween leather some years ago from Maverick Leather. Don' t know if they still carry this leather, but it is heavy, durable and appears nearly indestructible to the weather. 

Dont see it on the their site, what are the properties but 'made to order' leather sounds like its gonna be expensive!! is the Chromexcel ? 

https://www.horween.com

https://www.maverickleathercompany.com/product-category/horween-leather/

 

 

[Treesner]

On 12/17/2018 at 6:15 AM, hwinbermuda said:

Chris,

I was about to say that you could not get Dubbin (by which I mean the old Wren's Dubbin used on all of my walking boots for years) any more, as they'd stopped trading. But I looked it up, and found out its a generic name for the action of waterproofing the leather, and there are many still available....

I use Nikwax now but will look at the others, some have interesting oils and tallow in them.

Best

Harry

 

hmm yeah seeing dubbin in different types of beeswax mix 

do you think it would be more durable than snow seal? 

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Dubbin+leather+finish

[LatigoAmigo]

2 hours ago, Treesner said:

Dont see it on the their site, what are the properties but 'made to order' leather sounds like its gonna be expensive!! is the Chromexcel ? 

 

I am not able to explain the properties, but as I recall, it wasn't that expensive. It was Horween, but I don't know if it was Chromexcel. You might give Maverick's a call. The owner's name is Mark, and I'm sure he could be very helpful.