"Fraying" edges on leather strap
Hi, this is my first post! It's great to have a forum like this to post about this issue I'm having. I can't seem to find any other examples of this happening to leather edges.
My issue is of the 1/8th inch thick raw unfinished leather straps (on my rucksack, which I just bought 3 weeks ago) that have become "frayed" with little thread-like protrusions from the leather. These straps are used with roller buckles to close the rucksack lid.
Being as the straps are dark brown (and so I'm not worried too much about darkening), I've rubbed mink oil on the edges to try and burnish the threads back in to the edges, but after a week of use after the mink oil application, the edges are coming frayed again. This seems to be much more than the normal "raw" look and weathering.
I don't want to keep adding mink oil, due to the risk of goop accumulating and possible rancidness. I have not tried to actually finish the edges myself, e.g. using gum tragacanth and a slicker, and I'm not sure how much I'd want to do this myself anyhow.
Is there a good explanation as to why my edges are doing this (e.g. poor cutting technique, dried out leather, etc.) and what are my options at fixing this (e.g. cutting these threads off or polishing them back into the edges) and preventing it from happening in the future? Ideally, I'd like a nice smooth burnished look. Is my best bet taking it to a leather worker?
Thanks for your help!
