Whacha Been Up To......

woody68 said:
Appreciate the kind words , I "attempted" to to
use Horsewright Horsewright s bagkote and highlighter
technique on this one . Thanks for the tip .
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woody68 said:
Appreciate the kind words , I "attempted" to to
use Horsewright Horsewright s bagkote and highlighter
technique on this one . Thanks for the tip .
Click to expand...
Ya bet good job. With a large untooled space, like in the center of your sheath I sometimes will do two coats of the Bag Kote on the un tooled section. This helps the resist better. On the other hand some folks like that slightly mottled look on the untooled part. So you can do it either way depending on the look you are trying to acheive.
 
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Hmmm, I like the idea of the "wing" to mount the clip for a pocket sheath! I haven't done any leather pocket sheaths yet. I did the one folding knife sheath and used a snap and a clip on the back and it was a pain doing something to cover the screws so they don't scratch the blade. What thickness leather do you use if doing 2 layers with the screws in between the layers? Or would something like fabric or veg tanned pigs skin over the clips/screws work rubber cemented to the leather?
 
I wonder what you fellas are using as a finishing treatment? I hate anything that's shellacky, I'll typically use one of the following: neatsfoot/golden mink paste/snoseal but I'd love something that was quicker and less messy to apply.

For natural leather I do like that snoseal darkens it, as does mink paste... neatsfoot only takes it a shade darker. I also like that I can seal my burnished edges in snoseal as it's beeswax based, but I feel like something better must exist.

I burnish the surfaces of the leather like Horsewright Horsewright but a plain neatsfoot oil only finish seems to dull it, example:

ppe1.jpg
 
Horsewright said:
Are you warming the neatsfoot up and is it pure neatsfoot?
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It's pure neatsfoot alright, but I am not warming it up. However, I am slathering it on crazy thick and it seems to be soaking in just fine. I do heavy coats on the thick hard tempered stuff because the neatsfoot seems to turn any leather that's softer kind of papery feeling (if that makes sense).

Those two sheaths in the photo were drenched in oil and much darker after treatment, only to dry out just a shade or two darker than the original untreated leather - barely perceptible. I'd hate to have to wax every sheath (since it's so time consuming having to clean up the stitches afterward) and I definitely don't want to use something like resoline or super sheen... maybe I'll try out this bag kote stuff you speak of.

From what I've researched the tan kote / bag kote can still receive other treatments after application (unlike resoline) which sounds promising, because the whole point of me using natural leather is that it darkens/patinas.
 
SwissHeritageCo said:
It's pure neatsfoot alright, but I am not warming it up. However, I am slathering it on crazy thick and it seems to be soaking in just fine. I do heavy coats on the thick hard tempered stuff because the neatsfoot seems to turn any leather that's softer kind of papery feeling (if that makes sense).

Those two sheaths in the photo were drenched in oil and much darker after treatment, only to dry out just a shade or two darker than the original untreated leather - barely perceptible. I'd hate to have to wax every sheath (since it's so time consuming having to clean up the stitches afterward) and I definitely don't want to use something like resoline or super sheen... maybe I'll try out this bag kote stuff you speak of.

From what I've researched the tan kote / bag kote can still receive other treatments after application (unlike resoline) which sounds promising, because the whole point of me using natural leather is that it darkens/patinas.
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Yes that is an attribute of BagKote, ya can condition afterwards. I like, too, that it leaves leather looking like leather not some plastic coated deal. I left TanKote for BagKote many years ago and have never been back. You may wish to investigate oil stain by Weaver. It allows you to fine tune how dark your sheaths are with the added benefit of the conditioning properties of the oil without the drying properties of the dye, even oil dye. The reins on this roan horse (Mitchy The Kid the horse on the left) were treated with this process. They are only 4 or 5 months old and are doing very well. Darker but not too dark, very flexible but not limp, just right for a rein. The leather we make these out of is a very pale harness leather. They darken up nicely from the oil with the stain. The reins on the bay horse (Raymond) are the same but much older and more used. UV light from sunlight will darken leather. I've known of folks that put their project on the dash of the truck or car. Just gotta remember to flip it or one side will be dark than the other. We have a concrete wall out front topped with bricks and often set things out there to sunbathe.

rpTCXyC.jpg


f8wMUfV.jpg


3cGoT3z.jpg
 
Horsewright said:
Yes that is an attribute of BagKote, ya can condition afterwards. I like, too, that it leaves leather looking like leather not some plastic coated deal. I left TanKote for BagKote many years ago and have never been back. You may wish to investigate oil stain by Weaver. It allows you to fine tune how dark your sheaths are with the added benefit of the conditioning properties of the oil without the drying properties of the dye, even oil dye. The reins on this roan horse (Mitchy The Kid the horse on the left) were treated with this process. They are only 4 or 5 months old and are doing very well. Darker but not too dark, very flexible but not limp, just right for a rein. The leather we make these out of is a very pale harness leather. They darken up nicely from the oil with the stain. The reins on the bay horse (Raymond) are the same but much older and more used. UV light from sunlight will darken leather. I've known of folks that put their project on the dash of the truck or car. Just gotta remember to flip it or one side will be dark than the other. We have a concrete wall out front topped with bricks and often set things out there to sunbathe.

rpTCXyC.jpg


f8wMUfV.jpg


3cGoT3z.jpg
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I'll have to check out that oil stain because you're spot on about leather dye "changing" the leather. Whether it's the dye itself or what product is used to seal it - mine always ends up looking too glossy in the end (and glossy doesn't age well unless it's a burnish).

I'm keen on the idea of use/aging/keeping form because of how well that old swiss army leather has held up to time. They treated with "fix" wax and I've no idea what's in it.

In any case, I'm thinking a natural burnish followed by oil, followed by bag kote might be the ticket. Basically just another stolen trick of yours! Will report back with results.
 
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