for all you "vinegar-oonies"

[pete]

after all these years I've NEVER had an order for a black item. That is until my best customer(my wife) handed me a 1 1/4" belt and asked if I would make her a new one and black. I've been reading about vinegaroon here for what seems like years and wanted to let you all know what I found. With NO BLACK experience, I resorted to my old routine of mixing with Bicks #4. and guess what?

I mixed Bick's with USMC black, 50-50, put it on with a paper towel, painted on straight USMC black with the same towel, then a coat of straight Bick's with the paper towel. Took about 3 minutes to complete the entire belt, (no waiting between treatments) and I got a great looking belt that stayed black(not purple), didn't rub off, and felt totally smooth .

Hope this helps some of you in your quest for BLACK projects.

pete

[MADMAX22]

Whats the bicks again?

[whinewine]

Whats the bicks again?

It's a dressing/conditioner/whatever, that has a unique property: you can mix dye with it & the dye won't migrate all over the place, unlike dyes normally do. Springfield Leather (Kevin Hopkins' business) carries it, also Beilers in Ronks, PA, among other places. Just google Bick or Bick 4 & it'll come up. There are threads here also about it. Do a search.

russ

[firewallsrus]

cool. I gotta find some of that stuff. Biker gear is almost always black by default.

It's a dressing/conditioner/whatever, that has a unique property: you can mix dye with it & the dye won't migrate all over the place, unlike dyes normally do. Springfield Leather (Kevin Hopkins' business) carries it, also Beilers in Ronks, PA, among other places. Just google Bick or Bick 4 & it'll come up. There are threads here also about it. Do a search.

russ

[CTS]

after all these years I've NEVER had an order for a black item. That is until my best customer(my wife) handed me a 1 1/4" belt and asked if I would make her a new one and black. I've been reading about vinegaroon here for what seems like years and wanted to let you all know what I found. With NO BLACK experience, I resorted to my old routine of mixing with Bicks #4. and guess what?

I mixed Bick's with USMC black, 50-50, put it on with a paper towel, painted on straight USMC black with the same towel, then a coat of straight Bick's with the paper towel. Took about 3 minutes to complete the entire belt, (no waiting between treatments) and I got a great looking belt that stayed black(not purple), didn't rub off, and felt totally smooth .

Hope this helps some of you in your quest for BLACK projects.

pete

Thanks for the tip. I handcraft leather instrument straps. I have been using Tandy, and Fiebings products since the 1970s, even used the Omega dyes back then. Now I also use some Eco-flow stuff.

I rarely get a request for black either, but I had a recent order for two almost identical black leather straps with "gold lettering" (the gold work is another story). So to get better penetration and guard against scratches I dipped the straps in Fiebings Black dye. I allowed to dry, buffed and then dipped a 2nd time. I buffed and buffed and thought all was off. You could wipe it with a wool pad, paper towel or sponge and it seemed pretty color fast. Then I tried buffing with a wash cloth and I kept getting rub off. I "blackened" about 3 cloths all over before I was done and that was for the first strap. After doing both straps HOURS had went by. I was never so frustrated.

With that behind me, I started applying coats of Fiebings Acrylic Resolene and though I usually do that successfully, I must have applied a few heavy coats, because before long in some places I could buff briskly and peel the clear finish right off, so I gave things an alcohol scrub, and started buffing out again. This time I continued to get rub off in those places. I reapplied more LIGHT coats of Resolene. I only hope all stays on because my clients also play at outdoor festivals and chances of getting wet do happen. I know that even with mahogany (though there is not much rub off) you get "bleeding" even applying the Resolene and after several light coats, you also get color off if you run a small amount of water over the project. I am frustrated with products that say they will "not alter color" and claim to be "water repellant" when they in fact are NOT.

I did a recent strap with mahogany color and after about 20 coats finally got the tough as nails finish I desired.

I have never had an easy time with BLACK.

I am willing to check out this Bick #4 product you spoke of.

I also remember reading somewhere of a better top coat finish than the Resolene....will check both out.

Thanks!

CT