Proper Way To Blacken Edges Please?

[Tallbald]

Good evening all, and thank you administrators for allowing me to join the forum. Pretty new to the crafting of leather I am an occasional poster on another wonderful forum geared toward old west and frontier leatherwork items, and there are a few understandable restrictions on topics. My personal interests extend also though to modern holsters for concealed carry and Ruger handguns both DA and SA.

I recently started dyeing the edges of natural finished (neatsfoot oil followed by Skidmore Leather creme) holsters for a nice contrast. I dye with an artist's brush after edge sanding, then allow to dry, wet the edge with gum trag and burnish. I have a LOT of difficulty keeping the dye from bleeding some into the leather past the sanded edge, and at times farther. Would a different application method be faster and less prone to over-applying while getting down to the root of edge fibers? I see some suppliers sell roller trays I supposedly could roll the edge across to apply dye. I have also been told to use "edge blacking" but I am also told it is basically a paint that can come off with time. I'd sure appreciate advise. Thanks. Don

[Dwight]

Don,

I am not familiar with your Skidmore creme, . . . I use Resolene almost exclusively for my leather work.

I have found that if I sand the edges AFTER a coat of Resolene, . . . I can turn em really black with dye or shoe polish, . . . and it bleeds very little into the product if I burnish it first.

Worth a try with your Skidmore creme.

May God bless,

Dwight

[TwinOaks]

First off, here is the best tutorial on edges that I've seen: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=18101

I follow this method and use a q-tip that's dipped in spirit dye, then pressed on the inside of the bottle to remove excess dye that could run or drip. When I've done a proper job of slicking and burnishing the edge, the q-tip will dye 8-10 inches before needing to be refilled. If I'm making something that has the same color edge as the rest of the piece (holster) I just slick, burnish, and dye with the airbrush as I spray the rest of the piece.

[Tallbald]

Thank you both! It appears I have been sequencing wrong by dyeing before I burnish. In my mind I was thinking a burnished surface would not absorb dye. The artist's brush would not glide smoothly along and I had to dab the dye on. Thank you both for the teaching. As an aside, a western style holster for a Ruger Old Army I am completing is close to done, and will have this edge treatment as well as a finish of wax compound I made using a recipe I found here on this forum. By weight equal parts beeswax (bought with a 40% off Hobby Lobby coupon), parrafin, and neatsfoot oil .Rubbed in hard it is giving a nice low luster sheen and soft feel. Thanks again, Don.

[TwinOaks]

Be aware that the addition of wax to the edge before coloring may prevent the dye from getting into the leather.

And you are very welcome.

[Tallbald]

Just wanted to follow up with you all and thank you once more. I had to make the last part of my first embossed holster (the band the body slips down into) and it too needed the edge blackened. As taught, I edge trimmed, then wet with water and burnished well on a burnisher I turned from wood. The q-tip dipped in black dye just glided along leaving a beautiful black edge that once dried, I burnished again with the wax and neatsfoot oil mixture I talked about. So smooth and easy to do using the instructions given me. I didn't have shoe polish, but still had the Fiebings dye is why I used that. WOW. Don

Edited February 4, 2012 by Tallbald

[Mongo]

I use a similar method to what has been described in other posts. One other little trick that I use on spots on the edge that don't take the dye well is a black Sharpie. If I am doing something that I can't having any bleeding, like a two-tone, I use a Sharpie. After a coat of Bag Kote, you can't tell the difference in the black from the Fiebing's dye.