I've got a quandry

Joined
Sep 13, 2017
Messages
257
Making a sheath. Using Tandy's leather, which is that sickening "Pink" color. I've been "sun-soaking" it to try and darken it, but we've had 3 weeks of overcast skies and it's not darkening much. Have finished my stamping work but it didn't quite burnish like I wanted, so I mixed a tiny bit of Fiebings Pro Dye with Tan Kote and gently painted the deepest part of the stamped area and sort of feathered it out. (big mistake) Looks great and I'm happy with it. But I wiped on a very thin coat of Neatsfoot oil and noticed immediately the Tan Kote had resisted the oil......................which means it will resist any color I put on top to change the color of the leather that I'm not happy with. I still have to wet fit the knife to the sheath and I'm wondering, since that's a soaking step, do you think if I added some water soluble dye to the water it would color the leather from the back side of the resisted top layer?
 
TanKote will act as a resist and make the area water resistant. Dyes (any type), neatsfoot oil, or water for wet forming

will not penetrate uniformly or completely. TanKote is the last application you should make. Wet form, Oil, Dye, then top

finishes, at least that's my routine.
 
Thanks, Paul. That's why I said it was a big mistake. Is there a solvent I could remove it with without destroying my sheath?
 
Fiebings Deglazer will most likely remove most of it but I suspect some will remain in tooling impressions. I suggest you put some Tankote on a scrap piece of leather and try it. I have used it to remove some finishes before but with sometimes mixed results.
Randy
 
No, Dave, I was just wanting to know WHERE to buy it.............and you answered that question. (thank you kindly, Sir!) I'm not like all of you other guys. I can't work on 10 projects at once. Right now I'm working on one sheath and one knife. (actually just the knife handle blank) I've got the blade ready to drill holes for scale pins, but didn't want to do that until I had the handle all glued up so I can lay out the pins properly. I don't do anything quickly..............not a fast worker. But thanks for asking.
 
No, Dave, I was just wanting to know WHERE to buy it.............and you answered that question. (thank you kindly, Sir!) I'm not like all of you other guys. I can't work on 10 projects at once. Right now I'm working on one sheath and one knife. (actually just the knife handle blank) I've got the blade ready to drill holes for scale pins, but didn't want to do that until I had the handle all glued up so I can lay out the pins properly. I don't do anything quickly..............not a fast worker. But thanks for asking.

I found an extra piece if ya have difficulty locating it. Its .040 and big enough to get one out of if ya want it. Shoot me an email with your address and I can get it heading your way if ya want it.
 
I picked up some Feibing's Deglazer at Tandy's the other day. It quickly removed the offending Tan-Kote from the sheath I'm working on. So the sheath is going back into the sunlight each day we have good sunlight. But even as I'm watching the color darken slightly I'm still seeing the sickening "Pink" color typical of Tandy's leathers. Haven't decided whether to dye it with a very weak Feibing's Pro Dye or to put a water soluble dye in the water when I wet-fit the sheath to the knife. Anyone on the forum tried that before? If I don't do it that way, should I dye the sheath before or after the fitting?
 
Ya bet! Try to get that stuff out to ya today. Doing glamorous cowboy stuff yesterday:

Three trips down the mountain into town for parts, three different stores but got her done:

cgb0ahR.jpg


EllfXYo.jpg


Lost 18,000 gals of water though before we knew we had problems.
 
Thanks Dave....................absolutely no hurry on the package. It will be a long time until I will be able to work on the project.

Bummer on the lost water. I know what messin' with water lines on the property means. I'm using common garden hose. At one time I had about 1,000 feet of hose strung around the property to have water at all my pens. Even living in the woods and the hoses mostly protected from the harsh Summer sunlight, I've spent the last 22 years cutting and splicing, pulling and replacing. Been a real hassle. I'm down to only two animals, so the only hose I have to worry about these days is one that goes up to the garden. (250 feet)
 
Thanks Dave....................absolutely no hurry on the package. It will be a long time until I will be able to work on the project.

Bummer on the lost water. I know what messin' with water lines on the property means. I'm using common garden hose. At one time I had about 1,000 feet of hose strung around the property to have water at all my pens. Even living in the woods and the hoses mostly protected from the harsh Summer sunlight, I've spent the last 22 years cutting and splicing, pulling and replacing. Been a real hassle. I'm down to only two animals, so the only hose I have to worry about these days is one that goes up to the garden. (250 feet)

Wow kinda sounds like a spider's web. There are two springs that feed into a 10,000 gal storage tank and when that is full it flows into a 8,000 gal storage tank. There is a 1,000 gal trough there, fed on a float which is where the braided line that goes off to the right feeds into. The line that goes on out of the top of the picture heads on down the canyon about a mile to the corrals and then over to camp and on out into the flats another mile or so where it feeds a large stock tank on a float there. Its that hard plastic black pipe that has to be welded. At the very top of the pipe is a compression fitting that marries the steel to the plastic. Bout once every two years cattle moving over the pipe knock the compression fitting off and we have to go up this canyon and fix it. Our partner had discovered it and had turned the valve at the tank off and then we came out the next day to fix it. We then found both of the steel braided lines were also leaking. Course we could only find the lines in 3/4" and we needed 1" on each end to connect up. So we had to find lots of bits and pieces to convert the ends to 1" but got er done.
 
I've only 6 acres to "ride herd" over...........so nothing like you have to. At one time I had 25 Llamas here on the place, but am now down to my last two. So as the count diminishes, the hoses, water tanks and feeders, etc. are getting pulled up and stored. Garden hose rots laying on the surface of the ground that way, so I've bought a ton of it over the years. Still, it was less expensive to replace hoses than bury pipes here in the woods..............what with all the tree roots and such. Would be much easier if it were just pasture land. Don't envy you the work of maintaining the water and fences on a piece of property like yours. Frankly don't see how you and your wife have the time for leather work.
 
Okie-Dokie..............I'm ready to wet-form the sheath. I've read the water needs to be hot................but not too hot. Fairly ambiguous, so what, exactly, is "hot but not too hot"? Last sheath I made I used water that was hot, but I could still hold my hand underneath the surface for an extended period.................15/20 sec easily. Fit the sheath to the knife. Didn't know to dry it in the oven, so it sat on the workbench for a couple of days. (I know better now) The sheath didn't end up being tight at all. :( That was okay for the purpose of the knife, but I wasn't happy. This sheath has to hold the knife securely. So what temp?
 
I've only 6 acres to "ride herd" over...........so nothing like you have to. At one time I had 25 Llamas here on the place, but am now down to my last two. So as the count diminishes, the hoses, water tanks and feeders, etc. are getting pulled up and stored. Garden hose rots laying on the surface of the ground that way, so I've bought a ton of it over the years. Still, it was less expensive to replace hoses than bury pipes here in the woods..............what with all the tree roots and such. Would be much easier if it were just pasture land. Don't envy you the work of maintaining the water and fences on a piece of property like yours. Frankly don't see how you and your wife have the time for leather work.


Yeah heading out today to do some corral work. Looks like the bulls were fighting and broke some 6x8s. Got some railroad ties to replace them. Always something.

Okie-Dokie..............I'm ready to wet-form the sheath. I've read the water needs to be hot................but not too hot. Fairly ambiguous, so what, exactly, is "hot but not too hot"? Last sheath I made I used water that was hot, but I could still hold my hand underneath the surface for an extended period.................15/20 sec easily. Fit the sheath to the knife. Didn't know to dry it in the oven, so it sat on the workbench for a couple of days. (I know better now) The sheath didn't end up being tight at all. :( That was okay for the purpose of the knife, but I wasn't happy. This sheath has to hold the knife securely. So what temp?

The warmer the water the less time in the drink. It will soak into the leather faster warmer and ya can get too spongy so be aware. Ya know that cup of coffee ya been working on for about 5 minutes or so? Thats about right. For me the retention comes from the welt but wet molding does help.
 
Back
Top