There's some guys on there that know what they're doing.
As for dying my leather, I've tried about three ways. Rubbing it on with a sponge or wool dauber, spraying it on with one of the Preval disposable can sprayers and more recently I've been dropping them in a container of dye. This seems to do a much better job of getting the dye into the leather and not having uneven areas.
I mostly use Fiebings light brown leather dye and as I used the sprayer when I cleaned it out I'd use alcohol and pour the waste into a jar. I kept filling the jar and then started dipping small pieces of leather in it to see what color it was. I've added a little dye or alcohol to change the color. When I get ready to dye a piece I pour this into a large plastic container and drop the leather in it. The longer it stays in there the more it soaks in and gets darker. One thing I have noticed is where I've punched holes will be darker. It will lighten up when it dries but may still be a little darker so that's something to remember if you want it all the same.
I also use Tandy's Eco-Flo Hi-Lite color stain, usually Chestnut Tan. This leaves the cuts and background darker to show your tooling better. I just sponge it on as even as possible but heavy to fill all the tooling. Wait a minute or two then wipe off with another wet sponge. Might do more than one coat to get it as dark as I want. I've also put a coat of the color stain on after using the Fiebings just to hi-lite cuts and tooling.
As for burnishing, I use bees wax and a wooden tool I got from Tandy. Rub some wax on the edge and rub the area with the tool. You rub the tool fast so to build up heat to melt the wax into the leather. Then rub it with an old piece of denim to make it shine.
The more you read and learn about this leather work you'll find out many people do some of this different ways. Part of the fun for me is trying different things.
Good luck and please show some of your work.
My latest for a M19.It was dipped then hi-lited.
