Fiebings Pro Oil Dye Vs. Fiebing Regular Dye?

[skyblast]

I spoke with Fiebings this morning regarding the regular oil vs Pro oil. I buy the Pro 2 cases (8 gal) at a time. (for whats it worth I pay $48 gal).

He says the Pro is much better than the regular and both can be Airbrushed.

I have officially taken the plunge. I returned the two quarts of spirit dye and and now own three bottles of pro oil dye. Thanks everyone for the great advice.

Now time to tackle the airbrush...

[ABC3]

Let us know how you do. Any good advice FOR a newbie would be welcomed.

Good luck.

[katsass]

Soon I will be attempting to airbrush my holsters instead to dipping them.

Question: When airbrushing is it better to use pro oil dye or is the regular Fiebings dye ok? Actually for that matter which is a better dye to use....for any application dipping or airbrushing? Does it even matter or is one better than the other for certain things.

Curious. If I do decide to switch.... Feibings professional is so much more expensive!!

Any airbrush advice before I take the plunge? I think that I have all the equipment I need to get started. Now I'm just staring at it kind of nervously trying to work up the nerve to get started.

Thanks

For what it's worth, I use only the Pro Oil dyes. Tans and browns. I also do all my dying with an airbrush. A little practice and you can get it down pat, even with the Harbor Freight inexpensive airbrushes. The oil dye just seems to come out more uniformly. An example or two done with the H.F. setup. Mike

[ABC3]

Katsass;

Great looking work. I need to learn how to do that. My compressor should be in tomorrow.

I'll give it a try.

[Skald]

Shaking a dead thread to life here, instead of posting a new one.

I can't really grasp the differences here, between oil and spirit dyes. Might be a matter of what you intend to do, I suppose. Anyway, I am about to make some dog collars now soon. And I have quite complex patterns of leather carving on them, and I want to color these. I intend to stain them afterward, and "seal" with Fiebing's Resolene when I am through (or do you have better suggestions?), but what dyes should I use? The colors should preferably not "run" all too easy, as the works are quite detailed. I tried some spirit dyes earlier, and they did the trick, but now I want other colors - and I am not sure whether I should stick to spirit dyes, or try oil based ones?

The most important is "solid covering" and durability, so what are the advantages of spirit dyes vs. oil based dyes?

[billymac814]

I airbrush my stuff most of the time and I tend to prefer the spirit dyes. I can't tell a big difference in the way they cover however the smell of the oil dyes bothers me much more than the spirit dyes. I've used both on the same project too with good results and experimented with mixing the two together, I don't know if it's right or wrong but it worked fine for me.

[joquarter]

Never thought of using an airbrush by coloring the leather .

Learning every day something new here, .

[Sparks]

I used an airbrush for the first time on my last project. The portmanteau that I have displayed in my gallery was airbrush dyed using Fiebing's dark brown. Then I edge coated by hand with brown edge coating--also Fiebing's..

I might have put the dye on a little thick to get it all even looking, and it bled like crazy every time it got a drop of water on it. When I finished it I used a Red Wing Shoes product called "All natural leather dressing." the leather dressing is a combination of pine pitch, mink oil and beeswax. I found the shoe product at the Red Wing shoe store here in town. After putting the leather dressing on the case, it evened out most of the variations in dye (caused by the leather getting wet), and now the dye does not run, period. I haven't tried yet, but I could probably take it swimming with me and the finish would hold up fine. Check my gallery for pics of the portmanteau.

Sparks

Soon I will be attempting to airbrush my holsters instead to dipping them.

Question: When airbrushing is it better to use pro oil dye or is the regular Fiebings dye ok? Actually for that matter which is a better dye to use....for any application dipping or airbrushing? Does it even matter or is one better than the other for certain things.

Curious. If I do decide to switch.... Feibings professional is so much more expensive!!

Any airbrush advice before I take the plunge? I think that I have all the equipment I need to get started. Now I'm just staring at it kind of nervously trying to work up the nerve to get started.

Thanks

[Leerwerker]

Both Fiebings dyes have one huge drawback: In the time that the dye travels from the airbrush nozzle to the leather, a huge percentage of the solvent evaporates. This means that the dye doe not penetrate as far into the leather as would have been ideal. Regular Fiebings is more of a culprit here than the Pro Oil Dye.

The slightest scratches to the leather shows.

The new waterbased dyes are far superior when it comes to airbrushing. Their 'solvent', water, travels all the way to the leather and helps the dye penetrate deeper into the leather. Cleaning the airbrush is also easier.

[RobDude30]

I recently began using the Pro Oil dyes and have had very good luck with them -- I have been able to get much more even coverage than with the regular spirit dyes. I do not airbrush. I use either a rag or a dauber to apply, depending on what I am dyeing.