After Dye -- Sealing the Leather

[Patrick Henry Brown]

Another question! Remember, I'm a newbie here.  My leather has been cased, tooled, dyed and edges burnished. I know I need to seal it -- right now I'm finishing the gun belt. I especially want to be sure that the dye on the backside doesn't bleed into my clothing. This rig is unlined -- belt and holsters. I have some Resoline on order, but have been reading and wondering if there are other, maybe better alternatives. Looked at the FAQ sections under leather care and saw posts about EVOO and beeswax. I actually use that combo with a little Canola oil for lubing my BPCR bullets as well as my SASS BP Big Lube Bullets. The dye I used is Feibing's Spirit Based Dye in Burgundy. Love the color and will post some pictures when I'm finished.

So any suggestions? Does everyone use Resoline, or is there something else I can use instead that might be available at my local store?

[cowboy316]

Preacher
    Ive always used tan cote with all my work and have put several coats on and havent seamed to have any trouble with it bleeding threw  but who knows i dont know all the tricks lol
               Cowboy316

[RollingThunder]

I'ved used waxes and i've used super sheen as well. I believe the first project i worked on was a set of old-time spur straps that I used EcoFlo super sheen on. Since then I've used waxes to great effect, and it gives a much more mellow shine. The upkeep tends to be a little bit more if you use those items heavily (as I do), but it's worth it.

[T.C. Grant]

RT- When you say waxes what exactly are you talking about?  Are you using a specific leather type wax or just ordinary beewax? 
I've never used wax but I would like to try it out. 

[RollingThunder]

Carnauba cream. I apply a light coat of it after the dye has set a bit, then rub it in really good, to lift a wee bit of the dye (especially if it's a dark dye job). Then I'll let the rest of the dye thoroughly dry and put a couple coats of wax on it and buff it really good.

I'm sure others on here have much better procedures to follow though, so you might want to see how they pipe in with answers.

In the pic here, you can see how the rub out works on the billet of that spur strap.

[TN Mongo]

I also like the carnauba cream.  I normally use Tandy Satin Shene first and then use a couple of coats of carnauba cream.  That may seem like overkill, but here in the South, it's easy to sweat through leather during the summer and that's when I see some leather bleed dye.

A lot of times I don't dye the back sides of gunbelts, because of possible dye bleeding.  I just use the Satin Shene and the carnauba cream.

[RollingThunder]

My roping cuffs were done up with a few alternating coats of canauba cream and super sheen. lol. Gave them a real nice luster and a perdy realistic "aged and over polished" look. Sorta like that waxy build up those commercials always warned about. lol.

[Patrick Henry Brown]

Picked up some Super Sheen last night and used it. Looks great! Also got a bottle of Fiebling's "4 Way Care" leather conditioner. My belt is stiff, so I was wondering if I should use the conditioner over the Super Sheen, or use EVOO, or what? Certainly would prefer not to loose the gloss. Wax shoe polish?

[RollingThunder]

My guess would be EVOO under the belt and let it sit ... for a while. So the oil doesn't bleed.

However, there are lots of minds on here with much more experience than mine.

Whatcha all say?

[Ace Lungger]

Howdy Pards,
I am lost here maybe I am not understanding what is going on! Someone said, that after dyeing they use Carnauba cream, and then buff and shine and so on. You guys are teating your leather first is this correct? or are you going strait to the Carnauba cream ?
ACE

[RollingThunder]

Damn the dye, Ace, full cream ahead!

LOL. It depends on what I want it to do, really. I'll dye, let it sit for a little while only, and then cream it.

Or dye it, rub it, dye it, rub it, dye it, rub it, then let it cure thoroughly, and cream it for a little lift, then I lightly super shene it (which I did here). If gives it a nice little protective coat, but not really heavy-duty.



Then there's stuff like my personal cuffs, and what i was going with here was one of those "what if" moments, where I thought it'd be nice to see if I could redo a finish similar to one where I'd seen cuffs that had been repeatedly polished, worn down, and polished again, so they got really "built up" looking. I put the wax on, buffed, waxed, buffed, waxed, buff, super sheened heavily, then waxed, and then super sheened them again, and then waxed them. And this is what I got ...



Sort of looking like the wax built up pretty heavily over years and years of use.

LOL. It was an experiment anyway. LOL. Most of it's just experimentation for me.