Sealing leather

[mishka]

I used brown Fiebings Pro dye on a project , applied some BLO after and then put some atom wax on top. Looks good but seems that some dye is rubbing off. Please advise on how to seal leather after i use Fiebings pro. 

TIA

 

[Alaisiagae]

Fiebing's Resolene would be a good choice. Not sure how good it will work if there's wax on top of the leather, that might prevent the Resolene from getting to the leather. 

[mishka]

From reading up a bit more looks like I need to :

1. Deglaze leather before dying

2. Dye ( I use Fliebings pro)

3. Buff/rub with clean cloth

4. Clean pigment residue with saddle soap

5. Apply conditioner ( whats the good conditioner btw? )

6. Fiebings Tan Kote

7. Resoline/Acrilic 50/50 w water top coat ? Or leave at step 6?

Im I on the right track here?

TIA

[Alaisiagae]

Could you provide more details about the project, specifically the type of leather? If it is undyed & unfinished ved-tan, I don't think you'd need a deglazer, since there's be nothing to remove. 

From what I can recall, Fiebing's Tan Kote is a type of finish, isn't it? It would seem redundant to use both Tan Kote + Resolene. If you have any scrap leather, you can test out how it looks using one, the other, and both. 

A good conditioner - good question! Pure Neatsfoot oil is commonly recommended, but will significantly darken the leather. Many conditioners will darken the leather, but not all of them - think the oilier the conditioner, the more of a darkening effect you might see; whereas something waxier might not darken it as much. I'm not sure, as I haven't experimented with conditioners. I would think it also possible to apply a conditioner after you've sealed it, which is what I have done in the past. Because my sealer doesn't have any wax, I don't think there's a problem with the oil being able to penetrate in there.

[mishka]

Im using a veg tan undyed/unfinished leather for buttstock wrap. I have some Tandy's Neatsfoot oil compaund so im not sure if its worse then pure neatsfoot oil. Yes i agree it does darken leather .

[Alaisiagae]

If it's regular veg-tan (undyed, unfinished), you would not need a deglazer before dying. My understanding is that the deglazer is meant to strip a finish off of finished leather goods (like a handbag) so that you can re-dye them or do touch-up dying. If it was me, this is my process: tool/stamp/carve/punch -> dye -> finish -> sew/lace. I use Super Shene (equivalent to Fiebing's Resolene) or Tandy's Neat-Lac. After a few days to let everything dry 100%, I would apply a conditioner. I can't say if this is the absolutely best proper order - maybe apply the conditioner after dyeing and before the finish (especially if the finish is waxy)? 

I don't know the precise difference between pure neatsfoot oil (NFO) and NFO compound, other than that I have read some posts on this board that advise using pure NFO and not the NFO compound. I've used Dr Jackson's Hide Rejuvenator on some of my finished veg-tan goods, and it doesn't really darken the leather at all (it's a waxy paste). I've used a Leather Conditioner I bought of Amazon for my leather dress shoes, and for one pair of boots I used mink oil (the leather had lightened considerably due to wear-and-tear). I probably would not use the leather conditioner on my veg tan unless I read the ingredients carefully; the mink oil paste might be okay.

Edited August 20, 2020 by Alaisiagae

[Hardrada]

Is this helpful?

 

[mishka]

Thanks guys. I think i got some pretty good results on test strips by sealing with tan kote. Will play some more with this.