Antiquing leather

[Skeeter Lewis]

Could pards point me towards a thread on this topic? I'm looking for a light antique effect, no more.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Sheet if you don't already have Chuck Burrows DVD, I highly recommend it, he walks you through the whole process he uses himself for aging and finishing your gun leather.


                tEN wOLVES

[Skeeter Lewis]

10W, I have Chuck's wonderful DVD. I had in mind, though, the products you can apply that pick out the detail in tooled leather. Maybe 'antiquing' wasn't the right word....

[Kid Terico]

Sketter look at the post iIhave called new rig and let me know if thats what yous talking about? KT

[Skeeter Lewis]

Hey, Kid Terrifico, what a great piece of work, and yes - the detail in the tooling certainly stands out!

Looking at my Tandy catalog, I see that there is, for example, a product called Eco-Flo Gel Antique which may, I guess, get into the tooling marks to give the carving extra definition. I wondered if there was a thread that scoped out that and other products and how to use them. Sheridan carvers use something to make the design pop out.

KT, did you use something similar?

[Cliff Fendley]

The eco-flo gel is not a very durable finish on it's own but you can use it over other finished. This is one I used it on over fiebings oil dye. If you want the stamping to stand out more use it over a lighter stain and wipe it off leaving it in the carving. All in all I'm not too impressed with the gel, the old antique stains worked much better.

[Cliff Fendley]

Here is another with the eco-flo or the original antique, cant remember which I used on it but it's about the effect you will get with the eco-flo gel over top of saddle tan.

[Kid Terico]

Sketter the Eco gel from Tandy is what I used.Thats med. brown over russet. KT

[David Carrico]

Cliff, those are outstanding holsters and belts. Nice work. Great color!

[Skeeter Lewis]

Great work, Cliff and KT....

And thanks, pards, for the info.

Skeeter

[knucklehead]

yes eco flow antique does work. but i dont like it.

i prefer the fiebrings antique paste. tandl leather factory used to carry it but they decided to change all products at all stores so they can continue to sell in california.

the eco flow antique is friendlier to the environment and california will allow it to come into the state even though its not very good.

check out leatherworker.net and look for the springfield leather link / banner. there you will be able to find fiebrings antique paste which is better. springfield leather also has kangroo lace cheaper than tandy leather factory.

[Skeeter Lewis]

Thanks Knucklehead. Do you have to use a resist or finish of any kind before applying the Fiebing's paste?

A brief tutorial would be much appreciated!

Skeeter

[Kid Terico]

Skeeter put it on heavier in the places you want darker and wipe off excess with damp spunge. KT

[knucklehead]

ok, here is how i do it.

after project is ready to color:

i wipe on a light coat of saddle oil let sit over nite
wipe on color let sit minimum 4 hours. i prefer to let sit over nite.
wipe on rtc sheridan resist and finish. this step you want to put it on with a soaking wet piece of scrap wool. put on very wet and quick. once over or you may get streaks.
let set 4 hours or overnite.

now wipe on the antique paste heavy and rub into all cuts cracks and grooves, kinda like rubbing stain onto a wood surface.
put it on thick. once done putting on thick wipe off excess with paper towel. then use a damp sponge and rub the project down pulling more of the antique off but leaving it in the cracks, grooves and toolling marks.
let dry.
if you pull too much off you can do it again at this time.

next i use leather balm with atom wax for my final finish.
the rtc and saddle oil are from bee natural leather.com they have a quick video on using rtc finish on the website.  chan geer showed the sheridan carving class how to do antique finish this way and i like the way it looks this way. so this is the way i do all my antique finishing now.

[knucklehead]

http://www.bee-natural.com/

this is bee natural leathercare's website. the video is on this page just look for it.

the owners are great people.

the store is located in washington (not d.c.)

[ChuckBurrows]

Some of the best info available by one of the best in the "business" is in this link courtesy the Leathercrafter's and Saddler's Journal -

http://www.wrtcleather.com/1-ckd/tutorials/aging-leather-zurl.jpg

IMO there is antiqued and then there is aged - antiqued makes a piece that looks like it is in fact a couple hundred years old - a real relic. Aged on the other hand is giving that used look to varying degrees. For learning how to age leather (accelerating the natural wear and tear) so it looks like the real McCoy I recommend you go to second hand stores, thrift stores, gun shows, etc. and look at the leather gear that is 2-15 years old at most. This will show you how and where leather ages naturally and then you learn to copy that look by using some of the various techniques used by the pros in H/Wood and well known modern artisans of the genre (see below for some names). These folks various acids, Lye in the form of oven cleaner, various dyes and also remove some of the re-dye, repeat with other dyes or colors - do the same with finishes, add spots and staining, use sandpaper and steel wool or other abrasives to give it wear, burnishing, etc.
The folks who are at the top of the game of aged/antiqued leather such as Wild Bill Cleaver, Mario Hanel, Ken Scott, Wayne Zurl, Jack Hubbard, Eric Kettenburg, etc. use many and varied techniques to achieve the look and often take several days or even weeks to get the look they want. Doing some aging and then hanging out in the weather for a week or more really speeds and enhances the "natural" look............

Here's a rig I finished a couple of weeks ago and it took about two weeks overall to get it this way. I spent a few hours of aging over a four or five day period followed with with several days out in the sun and wind, followed by a a couple more days of hand work.....just wish the pic was better - the nuances just don't show up in a pic

[Skeeter Lewis]

Thanks, Knucklehead and Chuck, for that great information.....

Skeeter

[Chuck 100 yd]

Will Ghormley`s fine "how to" on the HOG rig tells how he does it.
http://www.willghormley-maker.com/MakingHOGRig.html
Hope this helps. 

[bedbugbilly]

skeeter - I use the eco-gel antique that Tandy sells.  My favorite is their "antique tan" - I can never seem to get a larger quart size of it in Tucson as it seems to be a very popular shade.  I've also used the light brown and the mahogany shades.  It's water based and easy to apply with a swab.  I will tell you, that out here in southern Arizona, it dries fast which can sometimes be a problem in getting it even when applying it to a largier piece - even an averabe size holster.  The nice thing though, is that you can take a damp cloth or even paper towel and go over it and even it out, remove it if it is too heavy, etc.  I really like it and seem to favor the antique tan.  I can't see well enough to do fancy tooling any more so most of my work is stamping, etc.  I like it as it picks up heavier in the embossed areas, etc.  I don't know if it is the look you are trying to get or not.  I'm posting a photo of a holster I finished a couple of weeks ago - my apologies for it being a "modern" one but I wanted to post it so you could see the effect you get.  I've experimented with a number of finish coatings but I still seem to go back to using clear paste wax.

I've tried a number of different dyes, etc. - I even have tried MinWax stains.  I used the mahogany on a holster for my '51 Navy but even with it being an oil base, I found it dried too fast here in southern Arizona that I found it hard to work.  On that holster, I followed it up with a light coat of extra virgin olive oil.  It ended up O.K. but I wasn't overly thrilled so I've gone back to the eco-flow gels.  I guess it all boils down to "each their own"?   

[Skeeter Lewis]

Thanks, bedbug. Nice work and thank you for that info!

Skeeter