Vinegaroon tutorial

[lazybum]

LAZYBUM WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE...........

woah sorry if I offended anyone

I had always thought of that phrase as any exclamation as offensive as "holy smokes"

Edited March 1, 2011 by lazybum

[jasonsmith]

Does it matter what grade steel wool you use? They have fine and coarse steel wool. Don't know if one is better than the other?

[marine mp]

Jay,

From what all I've read, the finer, the better. Meaning the more "000" the better. I use steel shavings, so I cannot speak from experience. Semper-fi Mike

[c4ck4]

I just wanted to add on my results and notes. I bought some really cheap steel wool from the dollar store, x12 pads for only $1 is a steal! They didn't have any oil on them and dissolved wonderfully.

My first batch completely failed because I got some stainless steel wool pot scrubbers that were practically impervious to the vinegar.

I have a complete tutorial posted on my site at http://outlandforge....ing-vinegaroon/

This kind didn't work AT ALL:

This stuff worked really really well and dissolved quickly:

Filtering very little metal out:

Results after neutralizing pH in baking soda and quick rinse in tap water:

[rccolt45]

I have a complete tutorial posted on my site at http://outlandforge....ing-vinegaroon/

Thanks so much for a great tutorial. I have my first batch brewing now. May I ask what the procedure is for neutralizing. Do you let the vinegaroon dry then mix backing power and water and apply it like a toothpaste?

[c4ck4]

I'm basically flying by the seat of my pants here. What I did so far was guided by reading little bits about it here and there online and putting it all together. I documented what I did in case it works as well for others. I heard that the acidity of the vinegaroon could damage the leather so after a quick soak in the 'roon I just mixed up some backing soda and water and swished it around in there for a few seconds until it stopped bubbling. The idea being just to limit the contact of acidity on the leather to as short of a time as necessary to complete the blacking.

I only dunked the leather in the 'roon for probably 30 seconds, and I swirled it around a bit to be sure that there were no air bubbles blocking the surface. Lots of air bubbles out of the leather because its very porous, so after a quick dunk and swirl it was as black as it would get. Then basically repeat in the baking soda solution, wash off the soda in tap water and call it good.

Visually my results look good to me, I haven't tested for longevity and strength though.

Here is the final cuff from the same piece of leather shown in my previous post. The full grain part is as black as my Fiebing's black dye. The edges and under side are a bit more blue/grey looking though.

[rccolt45]

Looks good to me. I have had alot of problems with black dye lasting so I am excited to try this.

thanks Rob

[lazybum]

I'm basically flying by the seat of my pants here. What I did so far was guided by reading little bits about it here and there online and putting it all together. I documented what I did in case it works as well for others. I heard that the acidity of the vinegaroon could damage the leather so after a quick soak in the 'roon I just mixed up some backing soda and water and swished it around in there for a few seconds until it stopped bubbling. The idea being just to limit the contact of acidity on the leather to as short of a time as necessary to complete the blacking.

I only dunked the leather in the 'roon for probably 30 seconds, and I swirled it around a bit to be sure that there were no air bubbles blocking the surface. Lots of air bubbles out of the leather because its very porous, so after a quick dunk and swirl it was as black as it would get. Then basically repeat in the baking soda solution, wash off the soda in tap water and call it good.

Visually my results look good to me, I haven't tested for longevity and strength though.

Here is the final cuff from the same piece of leather shown in my previous post. The full grain part is as black as my Fiebing's black dye. The edges and under side are a bit more blue/grey looking though.

You might want to try soaking it in the roon for a longer time

Usually you will be able to get a deeper black throughout with a longer soak

Edited April 28, 2011 by lazybum

[c4ck4]

Thanks I'll give that a try. I was planning on experimenting with it a bit and trying some different things. I've been really busy with other things lately so this hasn't been a priority.

[KAYAK45]

Awesome tutorial! Would love to see this pinned please :D

I'll second the pin idea. I came back three time until I actually "got IT"

Everybody for years will need this one!