Sheath dipping

[neil1967]

The first few sheaths I've made I've been using a mixture of equal volumes of beeswax and neatsfoot oil and have encountered the following problems:

1) The sheath, even though dyed and dried, after dipping seems to bleed color when it rubs up against something.

2) The sheath, while hard, seems tacky to touch no matter how much I try to rub/polish it with a cloth.

I am wondering if more beeswax and less oil will help either or both of these problems. Any advice/help/experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Neil

[Chuck Burrows]

Neil-
I'll see if I can help a bit.

1) Dye rub off - before applying any kind of finish you need to completely buff off the fine powder coat of dye left on the surface. I use old towels for this. Leather dye is powdered dye in a suspension of thinner, etc and when the thinners dissipate they leave behind a fine coat of the powder. If this is not completely removed before finishing, especially with an oil finish then it will continue to rub off forever.

2) I don't use the oil/wax dip since in my experience there are better finishes. See the new sticky Basic Leather Questions for the finishes I and others use and recommend. If you want an oil/wax type finish I recommend Montana Pitchblend. Warm the sheath with a hairdryer on low - apply a good coat of the MTP and then rewarm - let dry and apply more coats if wanted. Now with that said applying more beeswax may help - but remember beeswax will soften and get tacky just from the warmth of your hand so.... You might try using paraffin - either replacing the beeswax or using a mix of 1/2 beeswax, 1/4 oil, and 1/4 paraffin.
As to hardening leather - there is a misconception about this - the wax mix doesn't really "harden" the leather unless the mixture is above 160F (the point where a chemical change occurs in the leather). This is too close to the flash point of wax for my comfort though so please be careful and use a good candy thermometer to. Dipping in the wax/oil below that point will "stiffen" the leather but the problem I have with the process is when warmed it will soften some or the opposite when cold the wax can and will crackle and make a mess. Also it's a sort of oxymoron but oil softens leather and wax supposedly hardens leather than aren't you sort of defeating the purpose of both? I know there are LOTS of knife folks who use this mix, but outside of that group I know of NO professional leather crafters who use it.
For more info on how to truly "harden" leather go here:
http://www.ckdforums.com/showthread....threadid=10270
and also here which is a much longer discussion
http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc...eather/hl.html

Since you already have tacky situation I would consider putting a top coat of something like Leather Balm, Tan Kote, or Bag Kote. Since it's bleeding dye - I would first wipe the whole thing down real good with an acetone or alcohol soaked rag to clean the surface as much as possible - don't soak the leather.

I added the hardening post to the sticky's also and I will hopefully get enough time to go back through as many threads as possible and find all the info possible regarding leather finishes and combine them into one large sticky. If ANYBODY has the time to get a start on this please let me know and will work with you to merge the various threads into one thread or some such.

Anyway hope this helps and as always EXPERIMENT on scrap first. It takes time but it can save you a lot of heartache - also keep good notes as you go along so you can remember just exactly what you did.

[neil1967]

Chuck,

Much obliged for the information. I'm hunting up a food dehydrator as we speak. :-)

I'm glad that you posted this information, as there are some other things I wanted to try with my sheathmaking that not using the "dip" method solves.

Thanks Again,
Neil

[Sandy Morrissey]

Neill----I, personally, am of the opinion that such a mixture is very much overrated. However, many good leather craftsmen still swear by its properties. Try putting the mixture on sparingly (Do not soak) just so the leather takes a light glisten and then let it soak into the leather by capillary action. This does serve two purposes, it lubricates the fibers of the leather to keep it from drying out and gives moderate protection from the elements. Do not assume that such a finish is a water proofer--It is not!