help dyeing a sheath with an antique look

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darkmatter35

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Aug 21, 2011
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I have a Nesmuck knife with Forged finish and a torched oak handle. I'd like to create a sheath to match its classic look. I'm thinking a brown sheath with a black antique or mottled finished. The sheath will not have tooling on it. Can someone give me advice on the process and types of dyes or finishes to use?
Thanks, John
 
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You can press anything (that's clean!) into parts of the cased leather to mimic what leather looks like after it's been used for a long time. Think about the things a sheath gets beat up by over time (I'm practicing with rocks and pressing against sandpaper) and practice on scrap. Being wet the leather will take on impressions much more readily, it will also marr on some metals so be careful.

Antique finishes... It seems that everyone has their own method.

One popular way to do it is to dye whatever color you like then seal with an acrylic sealer. After that has fully dried liberally apply your antique making sure it gets into any negative impressions followed by carefully wiping it off without pulling it out of those impressions. Finally apply another acrylic top coat.
 
Yeah they will. :)

My advice is to try a few different things and figure out what works for you. As far as products, I like Fiebings medium brown antique gel. I end up using a lot, but it's good stuff. Not sure about other colors though. I've sworn off Tandy Eco Flo products, but many people use it. My biggest gripe is that I've had the color rub off pretty badly, but with the right sealant that probably wouldn't be a problem.
 
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