An appeal to the leather working Gurus

[Ben Trout]

Hello. A little question for the leather workers out there. I made a knife and sheath for a friend as a christmas present. I left the leather undyed with the intention of doing that once the owner had decided on a colour. As it is, she is happy with the natural colour. The sheath is 3mm veg tanned and will probably be a user on Cub and Scout camps so I'm expecting it to get wet and muddy. What would be the best finish for the sheath?

Thanks Guys and Girls.

 

[Seagull]

Evenin' Ben.

You'll likely get many different answers to this one.

I aint any sort of guru on leather or otherwise, but here's one of mine from a bit back.

As you see, undyed...just a light coat of a beeswax wood finish as a sealer, then just ordinary neutral shoe polish. It works fine and dosnt darken.

Ceeg

 

[Eric_Methven]

I'd agree with Ceeg. Seal it with beeswax polish then neutral shoe polish. If it's used a lot outdoors in the sun, it may take on a lovely natural light tan after a while.

Eric

 

[Ben Trout]

Life is looking easy so far, I don't have to make a decision! Thanks fellas.

Seagull, I haven't seen that picture before. Very nice. Interesting shape and details. One of yours?

 

[rancid badger]

I've used this on a few of my odd's and end's but it does darken the leather a bit and you have to apply it sparingly, you don't get the full effect immediately, it takes a day or so to develop a finish which, in my case led to applying too much and ending up dulling an axe mask which I cant seem to buff up now.
I tried it on an old, hand made, leather briefcase and it did a wonderful job. Basically, have a go on a bit of scrap to get the hang of it.

On the down side it smells a bit like lard! apparently it's made from rendered moo cow feet.
Jack Hargreaves quoted an old bit of wisdom, I think his old man taught him:
"mineral oil for metal, linseed oil for wood and neatsfoot oil for leather
in other words; like for like.

anyway, just an idea
Regards
R.B.

 

[fishfish]

ive all ways just use dubbin!

 

[vambo]

try le prevo ask for snow proof or mink oil there web address is www.leprevo.co.uk

 

[clcuckow]

I have always baked in a cool oven and hot dipped in a 50-50 mix of bee's wax and neatsfoot oil to seal and harden. From memory I got this from either Loveless 'how to makes knives' or from over on BB.

What do the rest of you think about hot dipping?

 

[baggins]

Hot-dipping is a good, long term seal, but it will darken the leather. I use hot wax/oil mixture on most of my leather stuff, but i don't actually dip the leather in the mixture as the heat can effect the leather, i gently heat it, warm up the leather then brush it with the mixture. when it's dry it buffs up beautifully.
Baggins