Re-Dying Shoes

[kgg]

Got a new airbrush and my son got a couple pairs of shoes. They were just crying out to be re-dyed from the factory brown color. This is the first time we have ever re-dyed any footwear and the first time using an airbrush.

I think it did a nice job when coupled up with my 5 gallon air compressor. The price of the shoes was about $100 for each pair rather then the normal $500 to $700 but the color was an awful brown, sort of reminded me of diaper brown.

One pair was Horween VegTan in about 6oz weight and Docs are 4.5 to 5oz these days. While a nice brown for Oxfords these are Derbys. Derbys I think they are supposed to be a bit more sporty than business orientated Oxfords.

The second pair are CF Stead ‘Full Grain’ Calfskin in full brown. They were supposed to be a full grain calfskin leather but they appear to have a stamped in pattern. This give a top appearance similar to the Doc Martins ‘smooth’ plastic leatherboard. It appears they added in black dye to the ‘cracks’ and then rolled on a brown dye to the top. Those things give the shoe a faux full grain effect. All in about 4oz leather weight. For a pair of shoes costing around $700 they would have been a disappointment.

However since they cost less then a pair of sneakers these days and with a little work they are now presentable. I think both pairs came out decent enough.

Process
Pure 100% Acetone to remove the dye and factory applied sealant.

Tape the edges of the shoes.

Apply the dye with the airbrush. The airbrush used was a Paasche  H3 with a 1.05mm tip. The air pressure was set to 25PSI on a 5 gallon compressor.

1 Coat Saphir Teinture Francaise Red 9cc + 3 cc 99precent rubbing alcohol
Then immediately followed by
1 Coat Saphir Teinture Francaise Bordeaux 9CC + 3 cc 99 precent rubbing alcohol

Let sit in sun and do the same to the other shoe.

1 Coat Saphir Teinture Francaise Red 9cc + 3 cc 99 precent rubbing alcohol

Immediately followed by
1 Coat Saphir Teinture Francaise Bordeaux 12cc

The shoes dried to the touch in under 10minutes and were fully dry in less then 2 hours.

Comments are always appreciated.

kgg

[Burkhardt]

Did the leather dry out at all?

[kgg]

10 hours ago, Burkhardt said:

Did the leather dry out at all?

Yes. As expected the dark cherry shoes dried out with Angelus dye. Its a powdered pigment based dye and is very hard on the leather. Even though there is less pigment in the bottle it also takes 12hrs or more to dry to the touch vs. dry to the touch in minutes and (basically) fully dry in a couple hours w/ Saphir. With that said Angelus is still better and results in a more supple leather than Rit-Dye which goes stiff as a board hard. Basically if Rite Dye is a 10 on hardness scale, Angelus is like a 7 and Saphir is like a 3 (Fiebings Pro is pretty much a 3 to 4).

No. Also as expected when the saphire teinture was used on the the leather there was no major / noticeable difference in the flexibility of the leather. Saphir also is a powdered pigment based dye, but somewhat like Fiebings Pro 'oil based' Dye they first add the pigment to an oil, then add the colored oil to the Ethel alcohol carrier. Its a lot easier on the leather and dyes much better with a cleaner less splotchy end result. However, you still have to add an oil back into the leather at the end as they all dry out the leather. I personally prefer a jojoba oil (as close to old school sperm whale oil as you can get) + shea butter (via Saphir dye cream), then mink (to seal), then either beeswax or 'shoe polish' + carnuba wax finisher for polish.

I should have added the process for the Process for the Dark Cherry shoes.

Process for the Dark Cherry Shoes:

1 Coat Saphir Teinture Francaise Red 6cc + Saphir Teinture Francaise Bordeaux 3cc + 3cc 99precent rubbing alcohol

Then immediately followed by

1 Coat Saphir Red 6cc + Saphir Bordeaux 6cc + 3cc 99precent rubbing alcohol

Let dry in sun while doing this to other shoe

 

Then

1 Coat Saphir Red 3cc + Saphir Bordeaux 9cc + 3cc 99precent rubbing alcohol

Then immediately followed by

1 Coat Saphir Bordeaux 12cc

 

This was a little too light for my tastes so added a fifth coat of

Angelus WineTone 6cc + 12cc rubbing alcohol

The high amount of rubbing alcohol, combined with powdered pigment allowed the fluid to hit and spread out into the cracks in the faux full grain better but was still enough pigment (when dry) to give the nice 3D look back to the trash-tier/faux ‘full grain’ leather.

Took 12 hours to “dry” at which point I used a hair dryer to finish the drying.

3 Coats of Saphir Medaille d'Or Crème Burgundy to finish. Followed by mink oil to seal. Followed by bees wax and pure carnuba wax on toe box.

kgg

 

 

[Pascal1980]

Hello kgg,

thanks for your detailed report of your shoe dying project. I intend to redye my old shoes as well.

I am thinking about investing into Angelus Leather Dye or the much more expensive Saphir Teinture Francaise.

Hence you would recommend the Saphir Teinture Francaise over the Angelus Leather Dye?

Best regards, and greetings from Frankfurt/Germany

Pascal