Intro and small help problem.

[CrustyOZ]

Leather grease prob.docx

[Northmount]

Please avoid posting docx files that people have to open in order to read your post.  Many of us are unsure of the risk we could be subject to opening your file.

Quoted from the above file:

I gained experience in leatherwork including teaching it as a subject at high school level culminating with handbags. Later I designed & made to measure ladies clogs with a variety of leather top choices, Cedar bases (on the Scholl design), rubber soled. I gradually collected a variety of tools and leathers. And after designing and making a multiple games table & decided to add carved leather inlaid sections for "taken" chess pieces and a board. Unfortunately A guest somehow left what looks like grease marks on the leather board which I have tried to remove without success a year & half ago. Can anybody advise me on a method that might be successful without damaging the stained squares I have tried talcum powder to soak up any fluid – too dry now?

Having had no responses I have decided that after 40years the dark squares of the board are fading enough to warrant a clean and re-stain . Hopefully this might also remove the “greasy/oily” marks and I’ll will endeavour to apply polish to the leather more frequently for protection. OK the next decision being; what chemicals/method of cleaning the leather – I have heard that a teaspoon of Oxalic crystals dissolved in a pint of water works - From Raymond Cherry’s book General Leathercraft  - although very old contains everything a beginner would want to know.

How about some other cleaning ideas please?

CrustyOZ

[jimi]

Hi, first of all I am no expert... I would use some saddle soap to clean/revitalize a little the leather and see how it looks from there??

[CrustyOZ]

Thanks Jimi I'll check it out and test on scrap leather. Will reply re results.

CrustyOZ

[Retswerb]

I don’t have any helpful suggestions but man is that ever a nice game table! I’d love to see more of it, shame it got marked up.

[CrustyOZ]

Thankyou for that I'll see if I can take a few pix together & stay under the 1.46MB rule.

Tony

[Northmount]

4 minutes ago, CrustyOZ said:

Thankyou for that I'll see if I can take a few pix together & stay under the 1.46MB rule.

Tony

Check out this post

Tom

[CrustyOZ]

This games table was my Major Work Uni project in UK for teaching Design & Tech.

The design incorporated Chess, Draughts, Nine Men’s Morris (on the reverse side of the chess board) & Backgammon (in the base after lifting off the chess board). All pieces stored at a drawer each end of the table.

The table was Honduras Mahogany incorporating various selected veneers, brass display dowels and leather. All lapped dovetail joints were hand cut. The chess pieces I made from a mix of ground stone and gypsum set in moulds. The checkers are made from European Boxwood and Indian Rosewood (very rare now) which I turned on a lathe with a home-made cutter.

 

[Northmount]

I was reading someone's description a few days ago of how they were going to remove the finish and redo some of the dye work.  They suggested using Deglazer - which is acetone, to remove the finish.  Then to condition the leather by applying some neatsfoot oil, sparingly, to replace oils lost due to the deglazer.  Then to apply the dye, followed by a good quality finish to seal it. 

If the leather seems blotchy after the deglazer, I would be very tempted to use oxalic acid to clean and bleach the surface.  About 1/2 teaspoon to 1 pint of water.  Don't soak, may take a couple applications.  Rinse off the surface after cleaning.  Again, don't soak the leather.  Want it to dry without warping or distorting.  If you have some other old scraps of leather, do some practice runs to see how it behaves.

Tom

 

[Retswerb]

That’s a real beauty @CrustyOZ! Thanks for the pics. Fantastic workmanship.

[CrustyOZ]

If you look at the 2 drawers you will notice a space which is for small dice leather dice shakers to complete the project. I did look at a somebodie's previous post that contained a diagram from a book how to sew the base on at an angle but I cannot find it now. Can anyone tell me where that post it was please?

[Northmount]

16 hours ago, CrustyOZ said:

Can anyone tell me where that post it was please?

Try this google search "site:leatherworker.net box stitch miter" without the quotes.  site:leatherworker.net restricts the search to leatherworker.net.  Add what ever search parameters you wish to use to narrow the search or to increase the possibles.  The first result returned in this case (when I searched) should give you the answer you are looking for, as well as additional possible helps.

Tom