Club Obi Wan

I just received my What Price Glory Mk VII bag, and think it's very nice. I do have a question about the strap though. The back side of the strap is not finished. It has a VERY light unfinished leather color. Do you suggest I leave it like this? Or should I dye it? If so, how? Suggestions?

I left mine alone. It's against your body, won't be seen, and there's no chance of it transfering dye to you when you get hot. I did eventually give it a light coating of standard Pecards to keep it flexible, but that was all. Regards. Michaelson

I have the WPG bag and have not done anything to the strap. I figure time and use will give it character.

Be careful what you use to darken it, as the strap will be in contact with clothes. Oil or anything similar to it WILL transfer to your shirt!

When I got my What Price Glory bag, the strap they gave me had a 'painted-on' brown color that looked horrible. You can't stain any part of the strap because the stained part will not match the painted part. I tossed out that thing and made my own.

Or, may I suggest you use any kind of leather sealer or a product called "Edge Kote." I thin this stuff down with water and apply to the areas of anything leather that may be in contact with clothing, including belts. Get the brown version, thin it, and apply with a brush. After it dries it will seal the frayed leather strands and will darken it as well. If not brown enough, add more edge kote to the water/kote mix and try another coat.

I used some dark brown shoe polish and rubbed off most of the extra to prevent any from coming off on my shirt, so far so good, Its takes that light finish off...

I took it off immediately, and replaced it with one of Todd's $20 deluxe straps.

BUT...

I am going to use it on an old beater of a MKVII, so I gave it a dose of Pecards (one of my many jars of the stuff... this is the one with the brown colouring built in - people also like it to stain their Aldens), which does nothing to the painted-on brown colour, but darkened and softened the underside VERY nicely.

Is it possible to do a very even sand around the buckle area, which is permanantly in a loop?

I dyed the front of my WPG strap cordovan and left the back of the strap alone.

I took mine off and put on a Kepler strap.

ditto

Wow, you mean you actually had a reply, and then a full transaction, and actually got one of those before retirement age? I'm impressed!

In fact, Kepler replied by e-mail on several occasions and I asked for a special length in order for the buckle to be in the right place whilst the bag was in the correct position. A couple of years ago I was really picky about my gear. However, Lee was extremely accommodating and didn't charge me extra.