Recommendation? Leather dye mishap

[McDermott]

hello everyone , I am defiantly
New here and would like to say hello. I also need a little help with a finish problem. I made my father a knife from 1095 ( lightly forged , mostly stock removal). It is the best I have made to date. My dad lives 600 miles away and had a sheath custom made at a local shop. I guess the leather was freshly dyed ( inside portion) and likely still wet when he let it dry with the knife “sheathed” to form it. When my dad picked it up the finish on the blade was etched with the dye / chemicals used when making the sheath. He’s sending me the knife back to repair it , and hoping someone has suggestions for me. I only have pictures at this time and expect the blade this week. The first thing is any idea on how to neutralize the chemicals from further “etching” the steel ? That way I can have him do that before he sends it. I’ll try to post some pics , kinda new to forums. Thanks in advanced.

 

[Britt_Askew]

looks like rust to me ?

 

[McDermott]

I hope not . I polished it on the high speed buffing wheel used 4 compounds , then applied renaissance wax to prevent that . I guess the cleaning prep for leather could have striped that all off .

 

[lonepine]

That would be sooooo frustrating. My first thought is to ask the sheath maker what he used on the sheath.

- Paul Meske

 

[Britt_Askew]

I dont think it would matter how much wax you put on it if it was stored in a damp sheath for long. 1095 will rust if not kept dry and it dont take long for it to happen. I dont think it has anything to do with chemicals but just plain old moisture.

Ask him if he used vegetable tanned leather ?

 

[12345678910]

I don't think it would matter how much wax you put on it if it was stored in a damp sheath for long. 1095 will rust if not kept dry and it don't take long for it to happen. I don't think it has anything to do with chemicals but just plain old moisture.

Ask him if he used vegetable tanned leather ?

I also assume rust.

Is it a custom leather shop?
Or a custom sheath shop?
Or a guy who has made one or two sheaths before ?

Knife sheaths and holsters are made with Veg tanned leather, other things Chrome tanned leather

the difference is everlasting rust in Chrome tanned.

If the sheath maker wasn't knowledgeable to keep it out of a wet formed sheath-see the sheath section, there are lots of good sheath makers here.
If you want something really special Paul Long does nice nice stuff.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

You have two copies of this thread running at the same time. I am closing this one to keep confusion down.