Mishap with neatsfoot oil - question

[Dark Star]

Hey all,

Last night I knocked over a bottle of neatsfoot oil on my bench and it toppled over right onto a 4" strap I had just cut out to use as a guitar strap.   I got the bottle up quickly but there was already a nice dark spot on the strap, so I figured I'd coat the whole thing and let it dry.

This morning there is still a dark spot where the original spill hit it, but I'm wondering if this piece of leather can be wet and then tooled once it's thouroughly dried? I've never tried tooling leather after it has been oiled like this, not sure if I would be wasting my time to try. I'd like to salvage this piece if I can, I hate to throw stuff away if I don't need to.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I've never tooled leather that has been oiled but I understand that it doesn't hold the impressions as well. You may want to tool a piece to sew on it or just put an edge on it and call it good. Sometimes a simple strap will offset a nicely ornameted instrument better than a fully tooled one.

[ChuckBurrows]

Put the piece in some kitty litter or corn meal - change a couple times - ist should try most of the oil out. If need be then get some oxalic acid (sold as wood bleach) and clean the whole piece.

On the other hand it may be cheaper to just use another piece

[Dark Star]

Thanks for the suggestions fellas - when I got home tonight the spot was still dark and oily so I just stamped a simple border on the strap best I could, dyed it brown and called it a day. The stamping certainly doesn't look as nice in the saturated area but I'll let my 12 year old use it while I figure out how to carve hot rod flames on the guitar strap he wants me to make for him. 

[cantbesure]

good luck brother, we've all been there

at least it didn't happen after you had spent hours tooling the thing.

i've almost cried several times after i've dyed the wrong portion of a project, made a wrong cut ect...

in short... it could've been a lot worse