Leather case touch-up/change????

mamono

mamono

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Just like how we have old leather shoes that can look great again after some spit and polish, what about leather cases?

I have several It's George cases. For brown, we all agree that worn look on brown gives it more character and looks great if not better, but that just doesn't seem to be the case for black IMHO. Just wondering what some people do to touch up their cases?

On a side note, what about re-dying? Has anyone ever changed the color of their case? Say for example, you get a great case that happens to be the exact type of leather you want yet it is grey, but you want black... The price was just too tempting to pass up. What do you do?
 
For little touchups where the leather has small scuffs, I sometimes use the old black Sharpie. The trick is to just stipple the Sharpie marks instead of using it like a marker. Touch the tip to the scuff making lots of light, small dots to fill in the area. If the scuff or mark is bigger, you can cover a lot with Kiwi shoe polish. After you've done that, I would recommend a light coat of polish all over the case, and a good buffing which makes it uniform with the covered scuff.

I also use the silicone shoe polishing sponges for an occasional fast shine.

As for changing color completely, you can get a do it yourself shoe dye kit in virtually any color. Since you're dyeing it black, the darker color should be fairly easy to work with as far as streaking and covering up the gray. Any good shoe shop can dye it for you, too.

Good luck!

Steve
 
mamono said:
Just like how we have old leather shoes that can look great again after some spit and polish, what about leather cases?

I have several It's George cases. For brown, we all agree that worn look on brown gives it more character and looks great if not better, but that just doesn't seem to be the case for black IMHO. Just wondering what some people do to touch up their cases?

On a side note, what about re-dying? Has anyone ever changed the color of their case? Say for example, you get a great case that happens to be the exact type of leather you want yet it is grey, but you want black... The price was just too tempting to pass up. What do you do?
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There are many ways to refurbish a leather case. If you type that into Google you will find plenty of treatments.

You can also change the color on your case depending on the type of leather it is. Basically anything that will stain your leather and not come off will be acceptable to change the color on your case ;-)

There are way too many ways to do what what you want to try to explain them all here.

Post some close up pictures of your case at the forum at www.leatherworker.net and the friendly professionals there will let you in on plenty of ways to do it.

Our own Cocobolo Cowboy likes to use olive oil and it does add a nice luster to the case. There are literally hundreds of concoctions you can use though. I had a whole bunch of different ones back when I was doing cue case repair and most days I would use a dab of this and a little of that and play with it until I got the result I wanted.

With a little TLC you can bring an old case back to life and really make it look good.
 
mamono said:
Just like how we have old leather shoes that can look great again after some spit and polish, what about leather cases?

I have several It's George cases. For brown, we all agree that worn look on brown gives it more character and looks great if not better, but that just doesn't seem to be the case for black IMHO. Just wondering what some people do to touch up their cases?

On a side note, what about re-dying? Has anyone ever changed the color of their case? Say for example, you get a great case that happens to be the exact type of leather you want yet it is grey, but you want black... The price was just too tempting to pass up. What do you do?
Click to expand...

I do not personally know any american shop for this, but leather dye is readily available. There is a huge demand for it to repair leather chairs in cars. It comes in bottles and is applied with a brush or a sponge. It's important to clean the leather beforehand.

You might want to have a look at this shop:

http://www.leatherworldtech.com/category.aspx?categoryID=46

Best regards,

Detlev
 
Thank you all for the input, I will keep all of the recommended approaches in mind and will see what fits the situation best for each and every case that needs some TLC. Once again, thank you!!! :grin-square:
 
Oiling Leather

Try neatsfoot oil - its made from cows, for cows... just be careful of organic, i.e. natural food oils. They will turn rancid. Also, some oils affect the stitching, and can break it down. If you use 100% neatsfoot oil (not a blend which usually has mineral oil in it) you should be o.k.

If you go to a good shoe store - you can pick up cream polish and it comes in a million colors. It is much more forgiving than straight dyeing.

Brian
www.nittanyleather.com
 
Try a good baseball glove conditioning oil such as the Nokona brand or Rawlings condiotner. They condition and soften leather. It works,,,, but so does Vaseline. Work in a small amount, if there is a scrape match with proper color dye or as mentioned a sharpie can fill in color and there are multiple color packs available. You also can get shapies in different tip sizes to do fine line scratches. I have used this with a lot of sucess on guitar bodies, filling in color from scratches and scrapes. A good rule of thumb with leather is never use something on it that you would not use on your own skin.
 
It depends on the leather, the type of dyes used. When I had a conversation with Jack Justis while ordering my case, he said to NOT use any "boot oil" like neatsfoot...to touch up only with shoe polish, like the "kiwi" brand.

So, maybe oil is good for some cases...but if you have a Justis case, I'd suggest you call Jack first.

I figure he ought to know.
 
mamono said:
Just like how we have old leather shoes that can look great again after some spit and polish, what about leather cases?

I have several It's George cases. For brown, we all agree that worn look on brown gives it more character and looks great if not better, but that just doesn't seem to be the case for black IMHO. Just wondering what some people do to touch up their cases?

On a side note, what about re-dying? Has anyone ever changed the color of their case? Say for example, you get a great case that happens to be the exact type of leather you want yet it is grey, but you want black... The price was just too tempting to pass up. What do you do?
Click to expand...

hi-do you happen to have a george with a handle and strap?if so is it for sale. george
 
Rangercap said:
Try neatsfoot oil - its made from cows, for cows... just be careful of organic, i.e. natural food oils. They will turn rancid. Also, some oils affect the stitching, and can break it down. If you use 100% neatsfoot oil (not a blend which usually has mineral oil in it) you should be o.k.

If you go to a good shoe store - you can pick up cream polish and it comes in a million colors. It is much more forgiving than straight dyeing.

Brian
www.nittanyleather.com
Click to expand...

Our own Cocobolo Cowboy took his J.Flowers cases to a leatherworkers group in his area and some of the oldtimers there used olive oil. I bought some extra virgin olive oil and it gives a nice sheen to the case.

Chas Clements is against putting oil on leather because he says it encourages dirt to collect.

So there you have two versions. I use sewing machine oil on the oil tan leather cases when I want to even out the color or erase scuffs and scratches.
 
pwd72s said:
It depends on the leather, the type of dyes used. When I had a conversation with Jack Justis while ordering my case, he said to NOT use any "boot oil" like neatsfoot...to touch up only with shoe polish, like the "kiwi" brand.

So, maybe oil is good for some cases...but if you have a Justis case, I'd suggest you call Jack first.

I figure he ought to know.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Anything that is dyed, stained, painted, or marked on, is subject to reacting other than you anticipate with ANY type of other substance you apply to the surface.

This is why nearly all such treatments say clearly that you should TEST it in an inconspicuous location first.

That said I have successfully used creams and oils and shoe polish to refurbish Justis cases in the past. But each one was on a case by case basis and NONE of the ones I did were painted anywhere on them. Not even with the gold or silver paint pens that Jack uses to highlight the tooling. So I didn't have to worry about messing up a paint job.

If you have the chance to go to a good shoe repair shop they can usually direct you to the RIGHT treatment for whatever type of leather you have. They see all kinds when doing shoes and have a wealth of experience in this area.
 
You won't believe this ...

Hunter said:
For little touchups where the leather has small scuffs, I sometimes use the old black Sharpie. Steve
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You won't believe this but, sadly, it is true ...

Several years ago a friend and I ordered new 3x6 Cases directly from Dan Whitten ... Both were in the Alligator Pattern ... Mine was kind of Orangee - Brown in color and my friends Case was Dark Brown ...

We received the Cases about the same time and absolutely loved them .... UNTIL .... the color started to flake off the leather and leave ugly splotches all over the Cases ... Mind you, we are both very meticulous about our Custom Cues and Cases and were very careful to keep them in Like New condition, but the color kept flaking off, so my friend called Dan Whitten to ask about returning his Case to repair the flaking problem ...

These are the words direct from Dan Whitten's mouth ... " Go buy yourself a Sharpie that is close as possible to the color of your Case and touch up the spots, because that is all I will do if you send me your Case " ...

I forgot to mention that less than 30 days (from time of delivery) had passed before the flaking problem began and his remedy was to touch up the leather with a Sharpie ...

We both put our Cases on eBay and sold them at a loss because of horrendously poor customer service from Mr. Whitten and neither of us will ever own another of his products ...

mamono - Good luck with your Case rejuvenation project ...
 
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Str8PoolPlayer said:
You won't believe this but, sadly, it is true ...

Several years ago a friend and I ordered new 3x6 Cases directly from Dan Whitten ... Both were in the Alligator Pattern ... Mine was kind of Orangee - Brown in color and my friends Case was Dark Brown ...

We received the Cases about the same time and absolutely loved them .... UNTIL .... the color started to flake off the leather and leave ugly splotches all over the Cases ... Mind you, we are both very meticulous about our Custom Cues and Cases and were very careful to keep them in Like New condition, but the color kept flaking off, so my friend called Dan Whitten to ask about returning his Case to repair the flaking problem ...

These are the words direct from Dan Whitten's mouth ... " Go buy yourself a Sharpie that is close as possible to the color of your Case and touch up the spots, because that is all I will do if you send me your Case " ...

I forgot to mention that less than 30 days (from time of delivery) had passed before the flaking problem began and his remedy was to touch up the leather with a Sharpie ...

We both put our Cases on eBay and sold them at a loss because of horrendously poor customer service from Mr. Whitten and neither of us will ever own another of his products ...

mamono - Good luck with your Case rejuvenation project ...
Click to expand...

See, Sharpies aren't limited to just cues :-)

In this situation Dan used the wrong type of print leather. It happens when the paint on the surface doesn't bond well with the leather underneath. He should have taken the cases back and doen new ones with better leather.

As for Sharpies - be careful because they are permanent and when the color is not just "right" it often highlights the scuff worse than if you didn't do anything.

I prefer shoe polish, creams, oil that I can add a little color to. There are numerous ways to match color if you are a little inventive.

On nearly all the prints I buy I do a scrape test using scissors or a razor to scrape the leather vigorously and make sure the color does not come off easily. Once in a while I will forget to do it and buy a piece that does not scuff well. Knock on wood though that so far we have had good luck with our leathers.
 
Hi John,

have you eventually come across cases from Mr Thomas to take care of?

I have one which is made from printed pig skin in a lizard pattern, and though it has no defects, I am still wondering what is best to take care of the leather. Currently, I use leather grease from Erdal. They claim that it is suitable for all kinds of plain leather.

I tried to contact Mr Thomas, but he is "bad with email", you better call him up on the phone. Unfortunately, I write English much better than I can understand it in spoken form :o

Best regards,

Detlev
 
Detlev Rackow said:
Hi John,

have you eventually come across cases from Mr Thomas to take care of?

I have one which is made from printed pig skin in a lizard pattern, and though it has no defects, I am still wondering what is best to take care of the leather. Currently, I use leather grease from Erdal. They claim that it is suitable for all kinds of plain leather.

I tried to contact Mr Thomas, but he is "bad with email", you better call him up on the phone. Unfortunately, I write English much better than I can understand it in spoken form :o

Best regards,

Detlev
Click to expand...

I have never refurbished a Thomas but I have done several Fellinis, Centennials, Ann Gore, and It's George cases. Those all use the same type of leathers that Thomas uses.

What I do on print leathers is use a cream conditioner or a light oil base conditioner like Lexol. If they are scuffed then I will clean them first with a damp CLEAN towel and dry them. Then I will use whatever polishes I have to match the color as best I can and rub those in with my finger. Start out lighter than you need and increase color as needed. Then when that is done I will apply a light coat of cream or Lexol on the whole case.

Use cotton swabs to get dirt out of the crevices and make sure that your cream and oil treaments don't collect in those crevices. Be sparing with cream and oil. You can always do another coat but if you put on too much in one go you can create a splotchy mess.

DO NOT USE cream or oil on suede or nubuk (nubuk is suede with a very fine nap to it). On these you can use soap and a damp cloth to clean the case and a terry cloth towel to dry it and bring the nap back to life.
 
I would stay away from dying, it can produce inconsistent results unless you really know what your doing.

If you have a local shoe/leather repair shop take it in and have them buff it up for you, they can make it look good in short order.

My dad has a leather shop, I am not an expert like he is but I have gleaned a few things.
 
JB Cases said:
Our own Cocobolo Cowboy likes to use olive oil and it does add a nice luster to the case. There are literally hundreds of concoctions you can use though. I had a whole bunch of different ones back when I was doing cue case repair and most days I would use a dab of this and a little of that and play with it until I got the result I wanted.
Click to expand...


Yes I got that idea to use olive oil from a retired saddle maker who lives where I do, and is very active in our community leather crafters club. My John Barton Jay flowers Tribute Cases have a wonderful satin like sheen now.
 
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