RobDude30

I gave up on the water based dyes, however, I think if you try sealing with one of the acrylic based products you may get better results. You can try Resolene. Take a sponge, wet it, and wring it out. Apply a very small amount of Resolene to the sponge and wipe very lightly in one direction on your belt. If you can see a milky appearance, you are applying it too heavily (make another very light pass with the sponge to even it out). Allow that to dry and apply another very light coat. I apply 3 or 4 coats in this manner and have ended up with a very nice finish. After the first or maybe the second coat, you should not see any more dye rubbing off.The key here is patience. Use very light coats of Resolene, very light pressure, and let it dry well. Some folks dilute the Resolene, but I use it full strength. Also, a lot of folks on here airbrush their finishes which I understand works very well. I just don't have the room for that kind of setup. I hope this helps.

I just made a gun belt and the first time I tried it on it developed wrinkles in the tongue end. Is there something I can do about this? Is there a process to prevent or minimize the effects? Thanks! Rob

I'm no expert, but have been playing around with Resolene for about a week now and this is what I do: I allow the dye to dry well, buff until nearly no color comes off, then apply a VERY light coat of the Resolene using a damp sponge. I try to only make one pass with the sponge and use a very light touch. If I can see any of the milky appearance, I will make another very light pass with the sponge to even it out. I then allow this to completely dry. I apply 3 or 4 coats, letting the Resolene dry between each one. Using this method, I have been getting very little color rub off, and only on the first coat. I have also been getting a very smooth appearance that doesn't look like plastic. I think the key is to use the Resolene very sparingly with a very light touch on a damp sponge, applying as many light coats as it takes to get the look you want. Hope this helps!

This place is awesome! I think I am finally making progress in the right direction. I made another double-thickness belt, deglazed it, oiled it, then applied the Fiebing's alcohol based dye. I plan to let the belt dry overnight, but have already buffed out the keeper and applied a couple of coats of resolene. I applied the resolene with a cloth and had only a very, very, very light ruboff on the first coat. I can see why a lot of folks on here use an airbrush. The airbrush would likely keep from having a problem even with the water-based dyes. Thanks for all the advice!

I'm beginning to agree, Dave. As a matter of fact, I returned some EcoFlo dye and some TanKote to Tandy today and bought some Fiebings alcohol dye and Resolene. Planning on giving them a try over the weekend. I also bought some better quality leather and am already amazed at the difference that makes.

Thanks for the help King's X. Very good advice! Do you think I should oil before I dye or after? Most of what I have read says to oil after dye. I'll give them both a try and see what happens. I can definitely agree about experimenting first on some scrap. I ruined a very nice belt that I had spent quite a bit of time on just trying to get the finish right. I'm about to start on another one but plan to get my technique right before I apply any more dye.

I did some more playing around last night and may have found what is going on. The leather I have been using is a piece of Tandy leather from the after Christmas sale. Got it cheap so it is probably very low quality. With that being said, I took a scrap and deglazed it until it was a totally different color (much lighter). I had to rub pretty hard and used a lot of denatured alcohol -- pretty much soaked the leather through. I then let the scrap dry overnight and applied some dye this morning. The dye on the piece came out MUCH lighter than the other pieces I have attempted, and seems to have soaked in quickly. I rubbed the dye in until I liked the color and then immediately buffed lightly with a clean cloth. I got nearly no rub-off so I'm guessing that this one may work out right. I'll buff it again tonight and see what happens. What is the proper deglazing method? Should I be looking for a color change, or maybe an even appearance in color of the leather? Is it correct for the leather to be very wet with denatured alcohol after deglazing? Thanks for all of your help. This forum is great!

I have one of the WalMart cutting boards that you mention and it has already cracked in several places. It does work, but likely won't last very long.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I don't want to give up on the Eco-Flo just yet because I have a few bottles of the stuff! The part that is so aggravating for me is that the TanKote seems to just dissolve the dye or something and it rubs off so easy. Water does the same thing. I have some leather that I dyed more than 10 days ago and it does the same exact thing. It's like it never dries, although it will not rub off until wet. I'll give the Super-Shene or Satin-Shene a try and see how that goes. If I don't have better luck, I may have to give the Fiebing's a try. Anyone else having this problem?

Hello All, I'm another newbie trying to learn to work with leather and would appreciate some help. This particular project is a heavy weight belt. I cut and stitched the belt, used denatured alcohol to deglaze, then dyed the belt with Eco-Flo light mahogany dye. I rubbed the belt with a soft cloth shortly after applying the dye, then allowed it to dry for about 16 hours or so. I came back and buffed with a cloth until barely any color was on the cloth. I then applied a light coat of neatsfoot oil and allowed to dry overnight again. I then buffed again with very little color coming off on the cloth. I then began to apply some TanKote with a dauber. When applying the TanKote, the dauber gets completely the color of the dye and I can actually see the dye coming to the surface. Any ideas as to what I am doing wrong? Thanks! Rob