Matching Dyed Equipment

[JC Javelle]

Hello! I recently bought a saddle and it is good leather, very supple. According to the maker, the saddle is 34 years old and havana brown. I have been pouring oil into it and it is a dark dark brown now, on its way to black (it just keeps absorbing the stuff!). I am also working on a bridle, my first. I would like for my bridle to match my saddle, but how do I match the colors? The bridle will be soaked in warm oil after it is dyed, but I don't know how dark a dye I should use. I don't know if a dozen or so soakings of oil will catch it up to 30 plus years of use and care.

I would like to use the saddle for showing next year, so all my tack has to match (bridle, saddle, stirrup leathers, girth, etc). Now I don't want to just use a black dye on the bridle as I am sure it will be a noticeable difference in my tack. So where do you guys recommend I start? The saddle looks like a dull dark brown to black brown now. The bridle is being made out of thick cowhide leather strips (the stuff used to make guitar straps, belts, etc).

As always, your knowledge and expertise is greatly appreciated!

Jessica

[BillB]

Leather darkens with moisture. The oil you have been applying has been adding moisture to the leather and is making it darker. Since you stated that the saddle was in good condition and the leather was very supple it may not have needed any oil or at most a very light coat. If you wipe your hand across the surface of the saddle and it feels oily, you have added too much oil and need to wipe that residue off. I would not added any more oil. Depending on how much oil you applied, you may need to let it sit for a month or two to let the moisture in the leather stabilize and return to its "natural" color. Leather will also darken with age so what might have been a light brown when first purchase may now be a medium to dark brown due to aging.

Since you don't plan to use the saddle until next year, I would recommend putting it in a safe place with a light cloth cover to keep dirt off and let the moisture content stabilize. If you have a camera, take a picture of it now and compare it with the saddle next month to see if the color changes.

I would go to Fiebing's website (www.Fiebings.com) to and under Leathercraft you will find a link to their Color Charts. I wold use either their Leather Dye or their Professional Oil Dye and find the one color that is closest to the color of your saddle. I would then buy that one and if there is darker version of the next to it, I would get that as well (4 oz bottles first) and a large bottle of Dye Reducer.

I would then go to a store that sells canning supplies an buy 12 8oz glass canning jars and lids.

I would also get a glass shot glass that is graduated.

I would than take some scarp leather that matches the leather you are going to use and begin the process of formulating and testing various mixes of dye and reducer to get to the solution that matches your saddle. I would start with the dye that "matched" the color of your saddle and using it straight from the bottle, see what color it makes you leather scrape. If it is too dark then you will need to cut it with reducer. I would start with a 1 to 1 mix, i.e. 1 once reducer to 1 once dye and see what that does. If it is still too dark, then you go to a 2 to 1 mix, 2 oz reducer to 1 oz dye. If it is too light, you need to go the other direction of 2 oz dye to 1 oz reducer. If the dye it is too light straight from the bottle then you will need to mix it with the darker dye or cut the darker dye to lighten it. I used oz as the graduation, but for testing you may only need to use 1/2 oz graduations or less. I have even used an eye dropper and done it as drops, i.e. for a 1 to 1 mix, 10 drops of dye and 10 drops of reducer, a 2 to 1 mix would be 20 drops to 10 drops. Remember to let the dye dry before doing any assessment of color match since the moisture from the dye will make it look darker than it will be when it finally dries. Since you will probably be oiling the finished bridle, this will also have to be taken into account.

It will take some work, but it is possible to get a very close match.

Good luck and post some before and after pictures.

BillB

[BillB]

I forgot to mention that when using a digital camera or color charts from a computer screen or from a color printer, these are only approximations of the actual color. The settings on the camera, color teminal/display and the printer can and usually do change the color being represented. So remember to use them only as a guide. That is why you have to get a small sample of the dye you want to use and actually test it on a piece of scrap leather, preferably from the same leather you are making the bridle from. Why the same leather, because different tanners may use slightly different chemical combinations (natural or not) and the residual left on the leather can also affect the dye process and color.

BillB

[JC Javelle]

Well thankfully I have a lot of scraps from the piece of leather I used for the bridle. I had considered the possibility of over oiling the saddle, but it doesn't feel oily yet. I've been watching it, and it just keeps absorbing the oil I put into it (I've only oiled it three, maybe four times now), and I know I have put quite a bit of oil into it. The saddle flaps are very supple but have some cracks (just from bending over the years), and the seat, while never glossy before, is starting to get a dull shine to it. It definitely does not have that protective gloss coating anymore (like seen on new leather products, I remember having to rub it out of my riding boots).

I do plan on using this saddle through the winter (so I may stop using my instructors children abused equipment). But I will get pictures for now and in a couple of weeks so as to watch the color. I won't add oil either to see how the saddle and color settles.

Thank you for the recommendations, BillB. I looked at the color dye chart, and it seems dark brown is the closest, but I am unsure. I put my black riding boots next to it, and the saddle looks like a brown black rather than a blue black. But again, I will wait to see how the saddle settles before dying. Pictures will come soon.

Edited October 24, 2011 by JC Javelle

[oldtimer]

Cracks in the leather is a bad sign of dry rot, so I would hesitate to use the saddle before checking the status of the rigging leather and stirrup leathers. Oil won´t help if the dry rot has started.

Imho / Knut

[JC Javelle]

Tandy's helped me find a local guy who repairs English saddles in my area. He looked over the saddle today and said everything was fine, gave me a price range to fix the cloth protecting the gullet, replace one of the stirrup bars, and redo some of the stitching. I asked about the cracking, which is in the leather where the flaps bend. He said it was fine, nothing I could do about it. He checked the billets as well, and they are in good condition. I even had him check the tree. The saddle is in good shape besides the cosmetic damage (scratches in the leather, etc). There was some mold on one of the billet straps when I first got the saddle, but the ladies at my Tandys told me how to take care of it and it hasn't shown up again yet.

The saddle is a dressage saddle, so it has a long, straight flap. I believe the cracks are just from the leather of the underside saddle flap being curled. The flap is not molded, just curled in from sitting up, and the cracks show up when you straighten the flap. It used to sit on the back of a chair or something similarly narrow, which would allow the flaps to curl in (and is also where the damage to the protective cloth under the gullet came from).

[BillB]

One other thing you might want to do now is to take a piece of scrap leather that you have. Cut it in half. ONe piece becomes the untouched control piece and the second one you oil it the same way and number of times you did the saddle. You can then compare the control item with the oiled item to judge how much the oil has affected the coloration.

BillB

[JC Javelle]

Bill, just so I have this straight, dye both pieces, and oil one of them 4 times to see how it changes?

[BillB]

JC - I would first take a piece on non-dyed scrap leather and oil it just to see how much the oil is changing the coloration of the leather, i.e. darkening due to the moisture content. Some oils will not only darken due to moisture but will also add color due to chemicals in the oil. By taking a non-dyed piece of leather and oiling half of it and leaving the other half alone, you can determine what affect the oil had on the coloration of the saddle. This will help you judge the color and saturation of the dye you will use since I am assuming you will also be using oil on those pieces as well. The last step of the testing of the pieces of leather you try your dye on would be to add a coat of oil to it since in normal use you will routinely oil it.

I hope this helps.

BillB

[JC Javelle]

Ah, I understand! I will try this tomorrow and see how it goes. Thank you!