Cleaning Leather In Preparation For Dyeing

[R Petersen]

Hello all. This is my first time posting here, though I have been following for a while. I have a few questions which I hope you can help me with.

I am quite concerned with the use of acetone, which I have read must be used for cleaning leather before dying. This is because I use my living room as workroom, so the furniture and air would/could both be affected. I'm not sure how much, but I have read that acetone is a quite noxious chemical, so I don't want to take any risk. What I wonder is, are there any other chemicals/cleaners which could be used instead of acetone? Even if it isn't be as good at cleaning as acetone, I'd still be interested, as I am still very much at the practicing phase. Secondly, my father has a large workroom, where I could use acetone without any worries, but it's rare that I visit him. I'm thinking that I could bring cut leather pieces to him and clean there, then do edges, tooling, stitching, dying etc. afterward. Would the acetone affect the ability of the leather to take the later treatments? Or would the effect be canceled anyway during my handling of the leather, as it'd probably get more or less dirty?

English is not my native language, so there may be some creative grammar in my posts.

[Johanna]

I have never used acetone on vegetable tanned leather. In extreme cases, maybe lemon juice or oxalic acid, but in the normal course of work, there is no special preparation needed before the finish work begins. Just follow regular routines like not carving on newsprint, keep your hands clean and so on. Acetone would dry out the leather, and you are right, the fumes would be awful. (I have a 12 yr old who loves to paint her nails!)

Johanna

[DCKNIVES]

I agree with Johanna, just keep your work area clean, wash your hands before doing any work.Oxalic acid( also called wood bleach,is available in most home improvement stores) works very well in removing stains,dirt,etc. and is not near as toxic or smelly as acetone.Alcohol is also a good prep, but is only good on some cleaning.Dave

[R Petersen]

Thank you both. That is very good to hear . I really don't like using dangerous chemicals, but both my leather books mention acetone, so I assumed that it must be used.

[Chief31794]

Never saw anything about acetone being used as a prep for dying/finishing. I use lemon juice, I take concentrated lemonjuice (grocery store) and mix it 1:1 with water, works great for me.

Ken

[StevenSiegel]

Never saw anything about acetone being used as a prep for dying/finishing. I use lemon juice, I take concentrated lemonjuice (grocery store) and mix it 1:1 with water, works great for me.

Ken

DON'T USE ACETONE!!! IT IS DANGEROUS UNLESS YOU ARE TRAINED IN IT'S USE. IT WILL RUIN LEATHER!!!

If you have purchased natural, vegetable tanned leather and are looking to prep it for even dyeing, try either oxalic acid or a 3% borax/water solution. I am sure that there are other members on this board that can help you further.

When leather has already been finished with a full pigment coat, sometimes ethyl acetate would be used to strip the finish, but not for prepping.

Please BE CAREFUL

Regards,

Steven Siegel, CEO

Siegel of California, Inc

[hidepounder]

Well I agree with everybody else. I've never heard of using acetone on leather either. I always clean my leather with oxalic acid before dying and antiqueing. I just think it helps keep my antique finish nice and even.

Bobby

[StevenSiegel]

Well I agree with everybody else. I've never heard of using acetone on leather either. I always clean my leather with oxalic acid before dying and antiqueing. I just think it helps keep my antique finish nice and even.

Bobby

LONG LIVE COWBOYS!!

[JJLeatherworks]

I agree with everyone else here on the use of oxalic acid to clean leather, works wonders in removing the unseen fingerprints and marks left by metal contact with wet leather. I have a heads up though, don't put it in a spray bottle to apply unless you have good ventilation, it will combine with the moisture in your lungs and nasal passages and irritate them. Always use the least amount of any chemical that gets the job done, and read the MSDS if you are unfamiliar with the chemical. Your liver, lungs and skin will thank you.

Well I agree with everybody else. I've never heard of using acetone on leather either. I always clean my leather with oxalic acid before dying and antiqueing. I just think it helps keep my antique finish nice and even.

Bobby

[quikjimmy]

Well I agree with everybody else. I've never heard of using acetone on leather either. I always clean my leather with oxalic acid before dying and antiqueing. I just think it helps keep my antique finish nice and even.

Bobby

What kind of consistency is your acid solution?

I'm worried about wetting the leather too much on the surface and diminishing the detail of the tooling.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[hidepounder]

What kind of consistency is your acid solution?

I'm worried about wetting the leather too much on the surface and diminishing the detail of the tooling.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

I mix 40 cc's to 16 ozs of water (Ihave a 20cc scoop). Take a trimmed woolskin, saturate it with the oxalic acid solution and carefully apply it evenly over the tooling. Stop and lightly scrub and dirty spots, pencil marks, eetc., bu tDO NOT saturate the leather.......you'll be just fine!

Hope this helps....

Bobby

[js5972]

I have done a few tests with Oxalic acid. It cleans, but always seems to darken the leather. I do a lot of color dyeing, so I usually want the leather to be as light in color as possible. Does anyone else experience this?

[R Petersen]

Hi again all. I'm the original poster, and as I just noticed that there's still a bit of life in this thread, I decided to post an update. I have had to take a long break from leatherworking, and have only just started up again, but I have just dyed for the first time, and I must say that I am very pleased with the result. For those who were worried, I can say that I used nothing but water and the dye itself - I might use oxalic acid if I ever need to dye something really evenly(sp?), but I like the (very) minor variations that were left after dying with no cleaning beforehand.

However, the reason that I'm updating is also that I were in a leather shop the other day, and had a strange experience. The shop is one of those old, dedicated, 'existed since 18xx' shops, so they know what they're doing, or so you'd think. Anyway, I bought some dye and the lady at the desk asked me if I had everything else needed for dying. I asked her to clarify, thinking that she might have a tip or two, and the first thing she mentioned was acetone for cleaning... I didn't buy any, but still, I were surprised after what I have read here. Maybe it's just some regional thing?

[Viking Queen]

Sounds like you've gotten great advice here about the use of acetone on your leatherwork. Trust the forum members.

I just wanted to comment on your use of the english language, since you mentioned it is not your "native" language.

You've done a great job with your grammar, and punctuation. I'm so impressed! It must be daunting to jump on to a forum and post in your non-native language, but keep up the good postings! Good luck with the leather work too!

Take care, Viking Queen:You_Rock_Emoticon:

[Phatdaddy]

Ironically I logged on today to look for this thread as i'm making a sheath and inadvertantly must have had dirty hands and got some grime on my project.

When cleaning the leather with oxalic acid or in my case today lemon juice do you have to do anything afterwards? Just let it dry before dying? thank you.

[hidepounder]

Ironically I logged on today to look for this thread as i'm making a sheath and inadvertantly must have had dirty hands and got some grime on my project.

When cleaning the leather with oxalic acid or in my case today lemon juice do you have to do anything afterwards? Just let it dry before dying? thank you.

I've heard some people say that you need to rinse off when using lemon juice. I've never done that and heve never had a problem. I use oxalyc acid all the time and I don't do anything but let let it dry.

Bobby

[Chief31794]

Use either Lemon Juice or Wood Bleach lightly and then just let it dry. I normally wipe the entire area so there are no differences seems to help keep the dye and finish more consistent.

Ken