Tinkering with Dye Alternatives

[Gosut]

With two minor projects, a whetrock pouch and yet another checkbook cover, I wanted to try something new. The whetrock pouch is made from scrap and is for a hard Arkansas stone about the size of a small whetrock. The plastic case for it shattered decades ago, and I happened to look at it last week and think "Hey, I can make a pouch out of scrap for it." Though I used another as a pattern, the leather was so tight I ended up casing it after gluing. That worked surprisingly well. Instead of leaving it natural, I decided to try baking soda to turn it brown. That worked with a test piece of scrap last year, so I wanted to see how it went.

I had already planned to used the vinegaroon I made last year for the checkbook cover. The test scrap I dyed with it turned out well, so I was optimistic.

For both, I steeped some store brand decaffeinated black tea and let cool. I dunked both in separate containers (store brand ziplock bags that leaked slightly) for about ten  to fifteen minutes. The whetrock pouch I put in a near saturated solution of baking soda and water. The checkbook cover got the vinegaroon treatment. Both are in different ziplock bags than I used for the tea treatment.

The baking soda is a surprising disappointment. After about a half hour, the leather has shown little to no darkening. The vinegaroon started to work before I sealed the bag,  The checkbook cover is currently a nice solid black.

Both the whetrock pouch and the vinegaroon will go back into the tea. I read a pamphlet on home leather tanning that suggested returning leather to tannic acid soak after the vinegaroon, so I'm wondering if the tannic acid will react with the remaining baking soda and ferrous acetate in the leather. I did see a pamphlet on home leather tanning that recommended this for vinegaroon, so it's not an original idea. May rinse the checkbook cover first in a solution of baking soda to neutralize any free vinegar.

At least I know not to rely on baking soda for brown.

[SUP]

For brown, why not just oil it and leave it out for a while? Leather becomes so dark, there is no need for any dye. You don't even need direct sunlight for it.

[Gosut]

I had planned to leave the whetrock pouch be after a short soak in the tea and a rinse, Just oil it and let it go, as you suggest. Unfortunately, I somehow got a little vinegaroon on my thumb, and when I rinsed the whetrock pouch, there was part of my thumb print. The pouch is just to protect the whetrock, so I was about to leave it be, then decided to dye it black to cover it. A little vinegaroon, a short soak, and it was done. Rinse with a baking soda solution, then soaked in tea again, then a final rinse.

Unfortunately, with all that soaking, the molded pocket went away. Wrapped the whetrock in plastic cling wrap and reformed the pocket. It's drying as we speak

After removing the checkbook cover from the vinegaroon, I rinsed, then poured the baking soda solution left over from the whetrock pouch failure into the bag. Let it soak a little,l then removed, rinsed, and set it soak a short time in the tea. Rinsed and wiped off the excess, but feared it was still drippy. It was a sunny day above freezing with a light to moderate breeze, so I hung it outside in the sunshine. Black color + sunny day + wind let it dry out in an incredibly short time.

The resulting leather was stiff, but seemed no stiffer than the whetrock pouch was after it dryed after casing. Have applied a light coat of neatsfoot oil and have it hanging inside to make sure it's all absorbed. That light coat has helped the stiffness.

So far I'm very pleased with the vinegaroon. That could change, but right now I really like it.

[SUP]

Yes. I have a pair of tongs that I keep only for my Vinegaroon to avoid that. It does not stain our fingers so sometimes we do not even notice we have it on our fingers. 

Is baking soda really needed after Vinegaroon? Leather needs an acidic pH of ~5 anyway and since the Vinegar we get is only 5% , it does not really drop the pH very much. A water rinse suffices, I should think. Water has a neutral pH of about 7, so it will bring up the pH of the vinegar treated leather from 2.5-3 to about 4.5-5, which is what leather pH should be. Raising the pH with baking soda might cause more damage than just rinsing the vinegar.

 

[Gosut]

I don't know if a baking soda rinse is necessary or not. Have read some comments by those who do and comments by those who don't. The pamphlet I read on home tanning did not mention a baking soda rinse, only following a dunk in the veg tan bath after the vinegaroon. I was hedging my bets, so to speak, with the initial soak in black tea, then a final soak in tea before the last rinse.