Lexol Leather Conditioner Causing Rust???

D

dzlvs8

Joined
Jun 13, 2013
Messages
948
I put lots of Lexol Leather Conditioner on a very dried out new leather sheath last night. This morning I put my 1080 steel knife in the sheath and within 30 minutes there was rust on the blade. WTF?! The sheath was super dry so I sprayed the condition inside and outside of the sheath and rubbed it in. I'm assuming the rust happened so quickly because the leather was too wet.
Now that I have use this conditioner on the sheath can I never put a non stainless blade in it? In other words, is the sheath ruined? Should I just wait for it to dry? Is there anything I can do? I love my new little pocket sheath but I think I just destroyed it.
 
Dude just let it dry. If it's the same compound as mine it is about as viscous as water. My guess is that it has plenty of water in it. Was it one of the knives you made? If so, just repeat your final finishing steps to clean it up then try again after a day or so.

I used the same stuff on my freshly minted sheath and haven't noticed anything on o1.
 
Yeah it was on my own knife and I already fixed it up. Thanks for the info. Its VERY much appreciated. I'm gonna go heat gun it a little to help out the inside. I can't wait to use the sheath.
 
If you haven't already, don't use a heat gun to dry your leather. Your just giving yourself new issues.

A sunny window, or better yet just letting it dry naturally is the best way to go about it. The inside of the sheath is just going to take much longer to dry properly.
 
Set it mouth open in front of a fan. Circulating air with speed up the process, but it will still take quite a while. As Dwayne said, DO NOT USE HEAT. Also when treating leather spraying is rarely the best way to apply any product. Wipe it on in small doses.

Paul
 
sheathmaker said:
Set it mouth open in front of a fan. Circulating air with speed up the process, but it will still take quite a while. As Dwayne said, DO NOT USE HEAT. Also when treating leather spraying is rarely the best way to apply any product. Wipe it on in small doses.

Paul
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The sheath came hard as a rock. It was so dry it was impossible to get the conditioner on evenly. I ended up drowning it in conditioner and also spraying the inside. How long can it take to fully dry where it wont rust the knife in a day? It seems dry now but I don't want to have to remove any more rust on my knife if I can help it.
 
dzlvs8 said:
The sheath came hard as a rock. It was so dry it was impossible to get the conditioner on evenly. I ended up drowning it in conditioner and also spraying the inside. How long can it take to fully dry where it wont rust the knife in a day? It seems dry now but I don't want to have to remove any more rust on my knife if I can help it.
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I am not a sheath maker but do have to recon old and sometimes new ones. There are many factors from the water content of the rub to the moisture where you live to how deeply you drowned it.

I let it dry for a few days like Paul mentioned in front of a fan and I live by the ocean so I let the sheath sit there for at least another day or two.
Espescially when dealing with a carbon steel blade
 
Ok. Good to know. I will try to hold off on using this sheath for a while longer. I can never be too safe with a custom.
 
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