On Unfinished Leather Goods

The Natural Russet Color of Unfinished Hermann Oak Leather

Every once in a while I get asked if I can simply skip the dying step and leave the leather unfinished. The answer is yes, but also that it is not quite as simple a thing as you might think it is.

The first step in polishing the edge on any of my goods is sanding. You can never get two layers of leather to meet perfectly flush when you first sew them together, so you make them slightly oversized and sand them down until they are even.

This sanding produces a lot of dust and so my shop is naturally full of the stuff. Because I am sanding dyed leather, there is also dye in the dust.

Vegetable tanned leather has a nice soft russet color before it is dyed, but that color is very delicate, even a little bit of shop dust will leave unsightly stains.

If a piece will go on to be dyed later, those leather dust stains will be covered up completely, but they remain quite noticeable if the piece is to remain unfinished.

Working on a project that will not go on to be dyed means being fastidious about cleaning and hand washing at every stage in the process, and also means that in my shop the piece cannot be made in a batch of other similar products, making it much less time efficient.

So leaving the leather unfinished doesn't mean one less thing to do, it actually means lots more things to do.

Now that all being said, why do you still see so many people selling unfinished leather goods? For many of those makers, unfinished leather is all they do. They still have the dust, but there is no dye in their dust so it is not a problem if a bit of it gets on a project.

Some makers that offer dyed and unfinished goods do not polish their edges in the same way that I do. If you do not want a nice polish you do not need to sand and you won't have dust at all. (how nice that would be, if only.)

Edge paints are also an alternative solution that does not require sanding, but those do not hold up well long term like a sanded and polished edge will. The paint can flake and peel off with time. Some makers may also have multiple work-spaces with one for dirty jobs like sanding and dying and another for cleaner jobs like cutting and tooling, but I do not have that luxury in my workshop space. In conclusion, while I do not offer unfinished leather as a standard option, I can and will do unfinished versions of my items, but it will be more than the listed price, not less. How much will depend on the complexity of the item. If you are still interested in having me make something in unfinished veg tan for you, use the red button in the top right of the screen to get in touch, or use my email address, craftsman@wizenedoakleather.com.