Newbie Having Trouble With Dip Dye

[BBAYS]

Folks, I'm ready to pull out what hair I have left.

I bought two double shoulders from Weaver in 8/9 oz. Using two parts Fiebings oil dye to one part denatured alcahol.Just a quick dip not soaking it.

The problem I'm having is that it dries like a peice of wood and its cracking even with a good coat of neatsfoot oil.

I thought I had studied enough on here that this is a common approach to dyeing.

Is it my mixture or the leather. HELP

[Randy Cornelius]

It's the Alcohol, I would not use it. Just use the oil dye straight from the bottle. I make a lot of holsters from Hermon Oak and I use oil dye and never delute it. Just use a scrap of wool and work the dye in until it's completely covered, let stand a few minutes and give it another coat. You should not have any problems with streaking if you work it in good. I think the alcohol is sucking all the moisture out of the leather and that is what is causing the cracking. Try straight oil dye on a scrap piece and see if it cracks. If it does it may be the leather but I would think it's just the alcohol.

rc

[Dwight]

I'll agree with Randy on this. Lose the alcohol.

I regularly use Feibings dyes, and all but one are the oil base.

I do not dilute the oil base unless I am looking for a specific effect, but I dilute one of their spirit dyes by 1 to 1 for a certain color I use in some of my products. When I do dilute, I use the Feibings product for that, . . . and have never, ever encountered the problem you mention.

And, yes, . . . almost all of my stuff is dip dyed, . . . for me and my products, . . . it gives a more predictably uniform color.

As an aside, . . . I did do a western rig one time, . . . it was dip dyed in a 95% thinner / 5% dye solution to give an "aged" and "worn" look. I was thrilled with the product (still have it in my personal collection) and there was simply no cracking or anything like that. Again, Feibings oil base dye and their reducer.

May God bless,

Dwight

[BBAYS]

Thanks folks, was trying to make the dye stretch a bit further. I did pull out some Herman Oak scraps and tried it on them this morning. Put it in front of a space heater and quick dried them. Absolutely no problems. Just as supple as ever. As the saying goes, You get what you pay for. The extra money I saved by not buying Herman Oak got spent on a lesson learned.

[Lobo]

From what you have described I suspect that the denatured alcohol may be the problem, or contributing to the problem.

I regularly use isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol with dyes with no problems. I have also used rubbing alcohol (70% strength) for wet-forming, particularly when completing large orders on a short schedule, and never experienced what you are describing.

I would not recommend using a heat source when drying leather that has been saturated, or heavily treated, with any alcohol. Alcohol is flammable.

Another possibility is the leather. Weaver's is an excellent source and provides excellent customer service. Weaver's offers Hermann Oak veg-tanned, and also offers imported leathers from several sources. Every tannery uses a different process, even for similar tanning methods, and the final results will vary. The problems to be expected when using leather from different sources include differences in ease of cutting, differences in forming, differences in appearance, differences in how the leathers will take dyes and finishes. For these reasons I stick with one supplier of known quality and consistency.

I have settled on Hermann Oak veg-tanned for everything, and the consistency of product has been excellent.

Wickett & Craig also provides excellence and consistency, and is a great source. But, I would not expect identical results from HO and W&C products, so I would choose one or the other for best consistency.

Best regards.

[Shorts]

I think the DA is your problem because of your mixture proportions.

The only time I've pork-rinded a holster was when I washed it in Acetone I dilute Angelus with DA on my HO and it's been fine. I don't dip, I swab generously.

As for the drying the holster, use more airflow and less heat. Everyone here likes to crank up the oven but really that isn't necessary. You need to move the moisture out and the air flow allows a little lower temps so you don't burn your house down.

Edited January 27, 2011 by Shorts