Finishing

[Big Bear Johnson]

Howdy all,

I'm fairly good at design, the carving and tooling but have no clue on finishing.
I usually just use a Tandy antique or use a tandy dye and then an antique.
I don't really like the look of the finishes I get.
I've never used oils.
One guys work I just saw said he used and oil first, then a saddle tan dye and then a paste antique.
Why use a oil first?
any other tips?

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I mostly dye, oil then condition. I have yet to try oiling first, but some say it helps to get a better dye job. I did one rig by adding dye to neatsfoot oil. That came out with a nice luster to it.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Howdy Big Bear


            I've used oil with my dye with good results, but have mostly used the oil with Fiebings Stains, which you mix with oil to get the darkness or shade you want , you can also use it to high light, over another color, the best way to find out how to do this is to practice on scrap leather from the same hide your wanting to color with dye or stain.

           This is a picture of a holster I did with Fiebings Walnut Stain mixed with Neatsfoot oil, at 1 part stain to 4 parts oil, but it will be different on just about every hide, so you need to experiment, you can try mixing different parts of oil to stain, on a lot of my leather pieces I use just oil , and a finish coat of Skidmores Leather Cream, which over time will give you a nice mellow look.


                                   tEN wOLVES 

[Flinch Morningwood]

I have done oil first and found that a light coat, then waiting a day or two for the oil to work it's way around works best.

I have also found that cleaning the surface helps quite a bit...I usually use plain rubbing alcohol and a clean rag, just enough to dampen the surface and wipe it down good.  You would probably want to do this before you carve and do the oil after.  I did a test on some scrap where I cleaned one half and not the other, then dyed...it made a difference.

Personally, I stick to the "oil" dyes, which limites me to saddle, light or dark brown, but I'm not that adventerous color-wise.