Dying Question

[TomG]

Have any of you had any luck dying upholstery leather.

I tried using spirit dye (Feibings) allowed to dry overnight, topped it with leather balm w/ atom wax.

a week later, I am getting some rub off.

Any ideas?

Tom

[joet]

Have any of you had any luck dying upholstery leather.

I tried using spirit dye (Feibings) allowed to dry overnight, topped it with leather balm w/ atom wax.

a week later, I am getting some rub off.

Any ideas?

Tom

The problem you are having is thus: upholstery leather is chrome tanned. All tooling leather is vegetable tanned. The Feibings dye is made especially for the tooling leather. There is a dye for upholstery leather, but can't think of it right off hand. You might try Zach White at http://www.zackwhite.com/home.php they carry other types of dye and paint.

[ChuckBurrows]

Did you deglaze/remove any surface finish before dying? If not that's most likely your problem. FWIW - I use Fiebings for dying chrome tan of different types all the time and no problems at all....well no more than any other leather anyway......

Also after dying did you buff the surface clean of any residual dye? Fiebings dye always leaves a layer of "powder" on the surface that should be removed before finishing.

If teh chrome tan is a bit oily you may need to use one of the acrylic finishes/sealers rather than Leather Balm.