Strange grey spots on new veg tan?

[TonyV]

If any of those spots grow or change shapes it could be mold/mildew.

[AlZilla]

5 hours ago, Yukonrookie said:

The last thing I want to do is complain about something that’s my own fault, but I just can’t see what I did wrong.

Contact them, explain it just as you have here and ask if they have any ideas. They might be aware of an issue.

Maybe you'll come back and report on a company that took great care of you.

[Northmount]

6 hours ago, Yukonrookie said:

Thanks for the reply.
Hmm, no I keep my leather area free from any iron/metal work. I also just got the leather that same day and got to work on a test piece right away. What you say sounds plausible though. Do you think there’s any way it got contaminated during or after the tanning process? There’s a very strange smell to it as well. Not sure if this warrants me contacting the supplier and ask some questions? The last thing I want to do is complain about something that’s my own fault, but I just can’t see what I did wrong. As I had mentioned before this leather is different in other ways as well. Would sure love to get to the bottom of this. Even if just so I understand. 

Chuck has it right!  Spots that vary from light blue gray all the way to black are a result of a reaction between the tannins in the leather and iron contamination.  It could have happened anywhere after tanning until it arrived on your bench. 

A year or so ago, I had a nice piece of leather that was going to be part of clutch purse with horses figure carved on both sides of the purse.  I cased and transferred my pattern onto the leather bagged it over night.  In the morning, I came back to it and there was this blue spot outside of what would be the carved area, so couldn't be hidden with tooling or dye.  There was a tiny piece of metal embedded in the leather just below the surface.  So it had got there during the tanning or finishing process.

Like Chuck says, keep all iron filings and fleeings (fine particles of metal dust in the atmosphere) away from your leather and off your bench.  Even turning on a fan could be enough to blow iron dust laying on any surfaces around your work space.

As a matter of interest, you can look up vinegaroon, used to 'dye' leather blue/black.  It's really not dye, but a chemical reaction.

[Yukonrookie]

@chuck123wapati @TonyV @AlZilla @Northmount 

Thanks for all the replies, guys. This means a lot! Yeah, those spots are all over the whole piece of double butts. They seem to be imbedded right into it. I’ll give the supplier a call in the morning. Let’s see what they gotta say. As it is I can’t use it. If it was the odd spot here and there, I wouldn’t mind much, but all over the place isn’t a good look. Not even for hobby work, imo. 
 

@DieselTech I dyed a little piece with pro dye saddle tan and once it dried those spots were still visible some.  Was worth a try though. Thank you. Btw was there any particular reason you asked to try dyeing it? Just curious.

Anyway, thanks again everyone. Greatly appreciated. 

[Northmount]

3 minutes ago, Yukonrookie said:

I dyed a little piece with pro dye saddle tan and once it dried those spots were still visible some.  Was worth a try though.

Dye will only hide it if it is the same colour and density or darker. 

[DieselTech]

55 minutes ago, Yukonrookie said:

@chuck123wapati @TonyV @AlZilla @Northmount 

Thanks for all the replies, guys. This means a lot! Yeah, those spots are all over the whole piece of double butts. They seem to be imbedded right into it. I’ll give the supplier a call in the morning. Let’s see what they gotta say. As it is I can’t use it. If it was the odd spot here and there, I wouldn’t mind much, but all over the place isn’t a good look. Not even for hobby work, imo. 
 

@DieselTech I dyed a little piece with pro dye saddle tan and once it dried those spots were still visible some.  Was worth a try though. Thank you. Btw was there any particular reason you asked to try dyeing it? Just curious.

Anyway, thanks again everyone. Greatly appreciated. 

The reason I had you try a piece to see if the spots would disappear from the dye job. 

& if the spots did not disappear after the dye job, I was going to say as others have mentioned. Iron contamination within the leather. 

[Yukonrookie]

22 hours ago, AlZilla said:

Contact them, explain it just as you have here and ask if they have any ideas. They might be aware of an issue.

Maybe you'll come back and report on a company that took great care of you.

I heard back from the supplier and they said they’d send me a new piece. So it seems that, I’ll be able to report back on a company that takes care of their customers and I will very happily do so. Thanks for your reply.

[greygeist3191]

Maybe High iron in your water? 

[AlZilla]

5 hours ago, Yukonrookie said:

I heard back from the supplier and they said they’d send me a new piece. So it seems that, I’ll be able to report back on a company that takes care of their customers and I will very happily do so. Thanks for your reply.

Hey, congrats on a quick resolution. Way too often people go straight to Defcon 1 instead of just calmly explaining their concern and letting the vendor respond.

Edited November 5, 2024 by AlZilla

[Yukonrookie]

On 11/5/2024 at 1:10 AM, AlZilla said:

Hey, congrats on a quick resolution. Way too often people go straight to Defcon 1 instead of just calmly explaining their concern and letting the vendor respond.

Yup, for sure. I think a good company is willing to make things right if they know about it. These days I feel people sometimes give a bad review without giving the business a chance to make things right. Mistakes or accidents happen and to me a good business is the one that is willing to fix it. All that within reason, of course. Also, not always a bad review is warranted. I remember reading a bad review where the fault lies with the customer not using the product correctly, for example. Obviously oftentimes a bad review was definitely the way to go, in order to warn other potential customers.
Anyway, thanks for your replies. I will follow up with how this turned out with the supplier.

On 11/5/2024 at 1:09 AM, greygeist3191 said:

Maybe High iron in your water? 

I was able to rule that out. After I used tap water I the then ended up using distilled water.