Help! Boer War Leatherworking Advice Needed

[budd4766]

Mike,
I think this goes beyond surface treatment. The harness is a VERY hard finished chrome tan, rather than a suede finish waiting for Blanco.

If I had my guess, I'd say it was built intending to resemble the suede + blanco without the hassle of actually having to do the work.

Short cuts usually = fail. Sad but true.

Also, the machine stitch is MUCH finer on the repro than it is on the original. (which is more of an aside than anything)

I concur. And I'd be afraid if you tried to "fix" it by sanding, you're probably going to do a lot more damage than you want trying to make it look authentic. If you're REALLY serious about it being suede and adding white stuff to it, I'd probably use the pieces/parts you've got as a pattern and go get some roughed-out leather or suede to make new stuff from.

There's also a few places that can take leather and refinish it to match pretty much any color you want to match. My wife knows some people in Memphis, TN that do this, though it's pretty expensive. If you want, I'll get details and maybe they can help you take that route. Just let me know.

[Nighthawk]

without seeing the specific piece in person, I can only issue the following warning.


Be greatly careful with "sanding" the surface. You're more than likely to sand off the outer stitching as well as the offensive finish.

If I was FORCED to make a recommendation, I'd do the main areas with a detail sander, and the areas w/stitching by hand, first with a wire brush and then with a sanding block, possibly masking off the stitches with tape for later "detail sanding" in a more careful fashion.

Best 'o luck. I don't envy you your project.

ith:

That was my thinking exactly! It would be a nightmare trying to do that! If I were forced to advise on such a project, I would offer the same advice as above. If I were forced to do such a project, I would pull the stitching, and then rough the leather. I would do that for 2 reasons- first, sanding around the stitching without destroying it is going to be really tough. Second, I don't personally like white stitching with brown leather, and would be easier to pull the stitches, rough the leather, and then restitch the whole think with a natural-color sinew or black nylon thread. Of course, that's labor-intensive and the holes for the stitches may stretch when you sand the leather... which I suppose is where the labor-intensive part comes in! Whatever you decide to do, a good wire brush and some really careful sanding would serve you well.

And, um... I will emphatically restate what Scott said about steel wool! Steel+leather=bad!! And shortcuts=fail...

[budd4766]

Any metal with any iron content will give your leather little black "measles" that you'll have a tough time getting rid of. Sometimes, if you're dying it black or an antique color, you can get away with it, but not often. The iron reacts with the tannins in the leather.

[T-Bone]

I've been thinking about this some more this afternoon.
If the leather is chrome tanned, you will not get to the buff color. It will be a light gray color. It will, however, be roughed up and ready to apply the Blanco. I would try sanding the back of the harness or somewhere inconspicous to see the results.

[artificer]

I've been thinking about this some more this afternoon.
If the leather is chrome tanned, you will not get to the buff color. It will be a light gray color. It will, however, be roughed up and ready to apply the Blanco. I would try sanding the back of the harness or somewhere inconspicous to see the results.

That's not entirely true. Assuming the leather was aniline dyed (most are, as it stabilizes the hide) and then surface dyed (which it obviously was) you cannot tell what the underlying colour actually is. You cannot assume that the colour is "struck through".

The inner colour could vary from white to off-white, all the way down to buff.

[T-Bone]

I stand corrected and educated. My thought process was based on my own experience with chrome tanned leather. I do not like using it that much, so the experience is somewhat humble.

T

[artificer]

I stand corrected and educated. My thought process was based on my own experience with chrome tanned leather. I do not like using it that much, so the experience is somewhat humble.

T

It's a very convoluted category. Nobody seems to use the same terms across the industry. I worked with an international leather company for many years, and there are STILL things that surprise me.

[Nighthawk]

That's not entirely true. Assuming the leather was aniline dyed (most are, as it stabilizes the hide) and then surface dyed (which it obviously was) you cannot tell what the underlying colour actually is. You cannot assume that the colour is "struck through".

The inner colour could vary from white to off-white, all the way down to buff.

Scott, you are a never ending source of information!

[artificer]

Scott, you are a never ending source of information!

If only my wife agreed with you LOL!

ith:

[Joe Gondek]

Look on the bright side , if doesn't turn out you will still have a full scale pattern to make a set out of the corect leather.