You only need 5 supplies to start finishing leather

Finishing leather takes a little practice but you don’t need a mountain of supplies or a fancy setup. Here’s a list of the absolute essentials to dye and finish your leather projects.

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Dye

Dyeing leather can be tricky. Do yourself a favor and go straight to Fiebing’s Pro Dye. It is alcohol based which makes it much easier to get a smooth even finish than with water based dyes. Even better, it cost about the same as their regular dye. My favorite colors are the walnut for the body of the leather and chocolate for the edges. If you can’t find the exact color you’re looking for you can mix any of them together to get the perfect shade.

Dauber / Marker

You’ve got to get the dye on your leather somehow. You could pour your dye in a tub and dip your pieces. This is an easy way to go but can be messy (especially if you’re accident prone), and requires a surplus of dye. My preference is to use a wool dauber for the body of the piece and an empty acrylic marker filled up with dye for the edges. You can use a dauber for both, but my hand isn’t nearly stable enough to risk using a dauber for edges. Both come in various sizes, the getting different daubers sizes is a bit more of a hunt.

Slicker

You need something hard to get a fine shine on edges, and something with a bit of a contour to get a pleasing shape. Perhaps a bit of a luxury since you can get a similar result with a tool handle. Though a decent slicker will get you great results and they are quite cheap. I would steer clear of any of the burnishers you attach to a drill unless you are pushing out lots of volume and want a stopgap before you get a burnishing machine.

Edge treatment

I burnished my first leather project (a possible’s bag) with just water. Water gets the job done, but you won’t ever get those high gloss edges you see on Instragram. For that you need something like gum tragacanth or my weapon of choice, Tokonole. Tokonole can also be used to smooth out the flesh side of you leather after it is dye for a super premium feel.

Topcoat

This ones a bit personal. You could use something like neatsfoot oil that is super simple and easy to apply or something like Resolene (acrylic finish) which is more durable but harder to apply and all but impossible to touch up. I like to split the difference with Fiebing’s leather balm with atom wax. It’s fairly easy to apply, darkens the leather a little, and adds a mild shine and some extra durability. The other nice thing is you don’t need any fancy tools (Resolene is best applied with an airbrush) and a little goes a long way. I accidentally bought a quart thinking I would burn through it like dye. I don’t think I’ll ever run out.

Progress, not polish.

Thanks for stopping by. I share guides, tools, and lessons from the work. Stick around, dig in, and feel free to share what’s worked for you.

Keep showing up. It’ll pay off.

— Ryan

Alder Branch Homestead