Leather engraving finisher/sealer

Hi there, can any leather crafters recommend a good finish - sealer product after engraving (to seal the design). I’ve been using resolene but it streaks! Any suggestions anyone?? Help!! Lol! :joy:

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I find that I get streaking if I’ve engraved, but only if I don’t clean the engraved section. I mask all of the leather that I do, similarly to what GF does with its Proofgrade materials. So after engraving, I take a toothbrush (my wife’s if she’s been a brat, jk :wink:) and brush at the engraved section, this is before taking the masking off, so the masking will get dirty, but the leather itself stays clean. I dye all of my leather after it goes through the GF, and it’s at this point that I’ll notice smearing if I didn’t do a good enough job at cleaning the engraved section.

To be clear, I’m not trying to get rid of the dark engraving, just trying to clear out any of the soot that’s trapped there. To finish the leather, I use Fiebing’s Leather Balm with Atom Wax.

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Like @raymondking32, I use a toothbrush (a very soft one) for cleaning the soot from the etched areas. I am usually working with oil tanned leathers and adding my logo or custom artwork to guitar straps or other items I make. Sometimes I use mink oil over the etching, but I don’t consider it sealing it.

But I don’t mask, and I rarely seal–but sometimes I have, and used clear edge dye for etchings on highly polished leather used for some reel pouches.

I do like the idea of the balm/wax treatment, and will likely use some of that, too!

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Thank you for the suggestion. I’ll try the leather balm!

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Thank you! I’ll try the mink oil!

The secret to using Resolene is soak your sponge brush in water —then dip it into Resolene . Also use a sponge brush and work sponge brush back-and-forth back-and-forth to remove streaks and bubbles.

Work quickly because Resolene dries very fast.

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Canned air or an air compressor