Getting An Even Finish Using Fiebings Dye

[wvcraftsman]

I'm sure this is beating a dead horse. The last several pieces I've dyed have had light and dark spots. I'm using a wool dauber to apply the dye. I've tried wiping it off as soon as I noticed it was too dark. The darker dyes seem to be worse than the lighter dyes. Any suggestions? Is there a book that can help me?

I might add that USMC black is great to have around too!!

[Luke Hatley]

Go back and read the post on air-brushes....or.. i use the preval sprayers from tandy

or a better paint store.yes it works....

Edited March 6, 2011 by Luke Hatley

[wvcraftsman]

Go back and read the post on air-brushes....or.. i use the preval sprayers from tandy

or a better paint store.yes it works....

Thanks Luke. I'll check them out.

[Big O]

I've had good luck using Fiebings Leather STAIN and diluting it with either neatsfoot oil or denatured alcohol. Then I use one of those disposable foam paintbrushes and apply it to the leather. I apply it quickly, and keep brushing at all different angles - vertical, horizontal, and both diagonals, in turn.

I tried Fiebings Pro Oil Dye, and it soaked in so fast I couldn't really brush it around. My solution to that was to swear off of it and go back to the stain. But airbrushing or dip dye might work, too......

[Johnny B]

I wet my leather then air brush my finish on. I can feather the edges or darken them to my liking.

[wvcraftsman]

Thanks Big O and Johnny. I actually have an airbrush that I've never used. It came in a kit with something else I wanted. I guess I'm gonna have to find an airbrush compressor and try the airbrush.

[benlilly1]

It wouldn't be that the dark spots are from your hands? I learned to have clean dry hands. NO lotions. I found this out after tooling a piece and dyeing.

[wvcraftsman]

It wouldn't be that the dark spots are from your hands? I learned to have clean dry hands. NO lotions. I found this out after tooling a piece and dyeing.

No, I was careful that my hands were clean. I think that I was swabbing a little too slow and caused it to be too dark.

[terrymac]

I use a lot of Fiebings Pro Oil in the dark brown color, and I just keep putting it on until it all evens out. I apply with disposable foam brushes, and for what ever reasons, different parts of the leather take the dye differently. Perhaps it is the amount in the brush, or areas of the leather tanned a little differently. What I have found is that regardless how much I put on, it remains a dark brown. I apply, let it soak in, find the lighter areas, and go back over it, sometimes 3 or 4 times. I have never had the dyed area turn anything than what I would expect dark brown to be. Maybe it is just dumb luck, but it works for me.

Terry

[wvcraftsman]

I use a lot of Fiebings Pro Oil in the dark brown color, and I just keep putting it on until it all evens out. I apply with disposable foam brushes, and for what ever reasons, different parts of the leather take the dye differently. Perhaps it is the amount in the brush, or areas of the leather tanned a little differently. What I have found is that regardless how much I put on, it remains a dark brown. I apply, let it soak in, find the lighter areas, and go back over it, sometimes 3 or 4 times. I have never had the dyed area turn anything than what I would expect dark brown to be. Maybe it is just dumb luck, but it works for me.

Terry

Maybe that's part of my problem too. I was using the mahogany oil dye and it was darker than I thought it should be, but maybe that's just the way it is.

[Chief31794]

I use the mahogany and some of the other "darker" shades and I find that other than USMC Black they are all too dark so I cut them (normally 5:1) with Denatured Alcohol, they seem to cover more even and have a better color (thats 5 parts alcohol to 1 part dye). You can experiment and see what works for you. I find that if I don't cut them, they all get very close to USMC Black.

Ken

[wvcraftsman]

I use the mahogany and some of the other "darker" shades and I find that other than USMC Black they are all too dark so I cut them (normally 5:1) with Denatured Alcohol, they seem to cover more even and have a better color (thats 5 parts alcohol to 1 part dye). You can experiment and see what works for you. I find that if I don't cut them, they all get very close to USMC Black.

Ken

Thanks Ken. I will have to experiment with that and see what looks best. How do you apply it? airbrush? wool dauber?

[saddletramp saddlery]

if your dyeing a full piece ill pour my dye into a small tub and use a piece of sheeps wool,i use fiebings oil dyes and seem to get a nice even finish with this method

[Treed]

Getting a good dye job is so dependent on so many things. Leather is a lot like wood in that different areas of the same hide has different absorption qualities. Then you add external problems such as oils, waxes, dirt and other things picked up off the bench, hands and tools.

I clean or deglace my leather before any dying. There are leather products for this, I use oxalic acid (wood workers bleach) to do the job. Keep a spray bottle of it mixed up and spray it on, rub it down with a good shop paper towel.

Leather is a material that is made up of fibers. Loose fibers will absorb differently than tighter so you need to open up the fibers to get an even dye penetration. I do this by handling my leather as I would to case the project for tooling. I give it a quick dunk in water or sponge on a liberal amount. I then let the leather set so that some of the water can be absorbed and swell the fibers. As in tooling when the leather has dried somewhat back to the natural color that I will dye.

Dye is a solid suspended or mixed in a liquid. With time as liquid will evaporate from the mixture you will get very small chunks of the dye. These chunks will not penetrate, and will just set on top. Make sure that your dye is well mixed be for you start. The most difficult way to apply dye is with a brush or dauber. As you touch the leather with a dye loaded dauber the dye is deposited in a large amount and absorbed, but as you move the dauber less and less is deposited. With painting on most surfaces the material is hard and you have time to move the excess paint around to even out the amount applied. With leather there is no extra to move around, basically more dye is absorbed into the leather as you touch the leather then when you finish. The only way to get an even dye job is to load the fibers up evenly with dye on the whole project. To get and even load on the fibers is with a airbrush that evens the flow of dye to the leather or dip dye. I like the dip dye to get better penetration deeper into the leather.

Dip dye, I place the leather into the dye long enough to see some small bubbles start to rise. This is a very short time and made sure that the whole project gets the same time in the dye. As I remove my item from the dye I shake off the excess dye into the bucket. I place the item onto my dye bench and immediately take paper, shop grade towels and remove the excess dye. As you place the item down you will see that areas have absorbed the dye into the leather. There will be areas that the dye has puddled, these are areas the the leather as absorbed what it wants in dye. If left the liquid will find someplace to go or will evaporate into the air. If left you will get a darker spot than the other areas, it will also be the areas that will have dye rub off after the item is finished. The rub off is because there was excess dye left that could not penetrate into the leather. With the paper shop towel I will rub and polish my leather, making sure all excess dye is removed.The biggest problem I had starting out with dyes was trying to be to perfect. As i finished applying the dye I would see light and dark spots so I would immediately start to try an even the color out. I would then get to much dye in one area and not enough somewhere else. I now dip and clean off the excess then leave it alone. You will see area that are darker but as the leather drys most of the color will even out. Sometimes I will have to do a touch up after a complete dry, but most of the time I let the leather dictate the final color. Good wood workers know that each piece of wood will have variances and uses these to produce a one of a kind piece.

Any way these are just my ideas and what has worked for me. I do know that I spent may hours practicing my tooling and other leather working skills. I would never actually practice my dying. After I ruined my fantastic projects, I finally practiced dying and figured out what worked for me.

Bobby Rose

rocknrholsters.com

.

[Jimbob]

Getting a good dye job is so dependent on so many things. Leather is a lot like wood in that different areas of the same hide has different absorption qualities. Then you add external problems such as oils, waxes, dirt and other things picked up off the bench, hands and tools.

I clean or deglace my leather before any dying. There are leather products for this, I use oxalic acid (wood workers bleach) to do the job. Keep a spray bottle of it mixed up and spray it on, rub it down with a good shop paper towel.

Leather is a material that is made up of fibers. Loose fibers will absorb differently than tighter so you need to open up the fibers to get an even dye penetration. I do this by handling my leather as I would to case the project for tooling. I give it a quick dunk in water or sponge on a liberal amount. I then let the leather set so that some of the water can be absorbed and swell the fibers. As in tooling when the leather has dried somewhat back to the natural color that I will dye.

Dye is a solid suspended or mixed in a liquid. With time as liquid will evaporate from the mixture you will get very small chunks of the dye. These chunks will not penetrate, and will just set on top. Make sure that your dye is well mixed be for you start. The most difficult way to apply dye is with a brush or dauber. As you touch the leather with a dye loaded dauber the dye is deposited in a large amount and absorbed, but as you move the dauber less and less is deposited. With painting on most surfaces the material is hard and you have time to move the excess paint around to even out the amount applied. With leather there is no extra to move around, basically more dye is absorbed into the leather as you touch the leather then when you finish. The only way to get an even dye job is to load the fibers up evenly with dye on the whole project. To get and even load on the fibers is with a airbrush that evens the flow of dye to the leather or dip dye. I like the dip dye to get better penetration deeper into the leather.

Dip dye, I place the leather into the dye long enough to see some small bubbles start to rise. This is a very short time and made sure that the whole project gets the same time in the dye. As I remove my item from the dye I shake off the excess dye into the bucket. I place the item onto my dye bench and immediately take paper, shop grade towels and remove the excess dye. As you place the item down you will see that areas have absorbed the dye into the leather. There will be areas that the dye has puddled, these are areas the the leather as absorbed what it wants in dye. If left the liquid will find someplace to go or will evaporate into the air. If left you will get a darker spot than the other areas, it will also be the areas that will have dye rub off after the item is finished. The rub off is because there was excess dye left that could not penetrate into the leather. With the paper shop towel I will rub and polish my leather, making sure all excess dye is removed.The biggest problem I had starting out with dyes was trying to be to perfect. As i finished applying the dye I would see light and dark spots so I would immediately start to try an even the color out. I would then get to much dye in one area and not enough somewhere else. I now dip and clean off the excess then leave it alone. You will see area that are darker but as the leather drys most of the color will even out. Sometimes I will have to do a touch up after a complete dry, but most of the time I let the leather dictate the final color. Good wood workers know that each piece of wood will have variances and uses these to produce a one of a kind piece.

Any way these are just my ideas and what has worked for me. I do know that I spent may hours practicing my tooling and other leather working skills. I would never actually practice my dying. After I ruined my fantastic projects, I finally practiced dying and figured out what worked for me.

Bobby Rose

rocknrholsters.com

.

Nice info here, thanks for the write up!!

I like to try airbrush next....dipping makes sense!!

Again, thank you for sharing!!

James

[wvcraftsman]

Thank you Bobby. That was really great information. I will have to try the airbrush.

[r lenna]

[]

I found that you can even out thge stain by using purell. I use it right after I stain. it has worked out well for me its a little cheaper than having to get every thing you need to air brush

[dbusarow]

[]

I found that you can even out thge stain by using purell. I use it right after I stain. it has worked out well for me its a little cheaper than having to get every thing you need to air brush

That's interesting. The wipes or the liguid?

Thanks,

Dan

[wvcraftsman]

That is interesting. I'm guessing the gel type? Does it dry out the leather much?

[r lenna]

I used the gel type, and it doesn't dry it out. it seems to enrich the color also

[Dwight]

I'll put another plug in there for the dip dyeing routine.

I tried brushing, . . . swabbing, . . . foam brushing, . . . finally listened to an old pro who has made literally thousands of holsters, . . . his first step is to cut out the shapes, . . . step 2 was to dip dye the pieces in 5 gallon vats.

I tried the dip dye routine, . . . it is "almost" exclusive for me now. I use two cake pans, . . . one for black, . . . one for browns, . . . don't do pink or blue

May God bless,

Dwight

[gauravgodbole]

On 3/10/2011 at 9:42 PM, Treed said:

Getting a good dye job is so dependent on so many things. Leather is a lot like wood in that different areas of the same hide has different absorption qualities. Then you add external problems such as oils, waxes, dirt and other things picked up off the bench, hands and tools.

I clean or deglace my leather before any dying. There are leather products for this, I use oxalic acid (wood workers bleach) to do the job. Keep a spray bottle of it mixed up and spray it on, rub it down with a good shop paper towel.

Leather is a material that is made up of fibers. Loose fibers will absorb differently than tighter so you need to open up the fibers to get an even dye penetration. I do this by handling my leather as I would to case the project for tooling. I give it a quick dunk in water or sponge on a liberal amount. I then let the leather set so that some of the water can be absorbed and swell the fibers. As in tooling when the leather has dried somewhat back to the natural color that I will dye.

Dye is a solid suspended or mixed in a liquid. With time as liquid will evaporate from the mixture you will get very small chunks of the dye. These chunks will not penetrate, and will just set on top. Make sure that your dye is well mixed be for you start. The most difficult way to apply dye is with a brush or dauber. As you touch the leather with a dye loaded dauber the dye is deposited in a large amount and absorbed, but as you move the dauber less and less is deposited. With painting on most surfaces the material is hard and you have time to move the excess paint around to even out the amount applied. With leather there is no extra to move around, basically more dye is absorbed into the leather as you touch the leather then when you finish. The only way to get an even dye job is to load the fibers up evenly with dye on the whole project. To get and even load on the fibers is with a airbrush that evens the flow of dye to the leather or dip dye. I like the dip dye to get better penetration deeper into the leather.

Dip dye, I place the leather into the dye long enough to see some small bubbles start to rise. This is a very short time and made sure that the whole project gets the same time in the dye. As I remove my item from the dye I shake off the excess dye into the bucket. I place the item onto my dye bench and immediately take paper, shop grade towels and remove the excess dye. As you place the item down you will see that areas have absorbed the dye into the leather. There will be areas that the dye has puddled, these are areas the the leather as absorbed what it wants in dye. If left the liquid will find someplace to go or will evaporate into the air. If left you will get a darker spot than the other areas, it will also be the areas that will have dye rub off after the item is finished. The rub off is because there was excess dye left that could not penetrate into the leather. With the paper shop towel I will rub and polish my leather, making sure all excess dye is removed.The biggest problem I had starting out with dyes was trying to be to perfect. As i finished applying the dye I would see light and dark spots so I would immediately start to try an even the color out. I would then get to much dye in one area and not enough somewhere else. I now dip and clean off the excess then leave it alone. You will see area that are darker but as the leather drys most of the color will even out. Sometimes I will have to do a touch up after a complete dry, but most of the time I let the leather dictate the final color. Good wood workers know that each piece of wood will have variances and uses these to produce a one of a kind piece.

Any way these are just my ideas and what has worked for me. I do know that I spent may hours practicing my tooling and other leather working skills. I would never actually practice my dying. After I ruined my fantastic projects, I finally practiced dying and figured out what worked for me.

Bobby Rose

rocknrholsters.com

.

Sorry for reviving such an old post...Bobby do you cut the dyes with alcohol? If you do what ratios do you use?

[bikermutt07]

I have a cheap 3 ounce Tandy hide. The only way to dye it is dip dyeing in full strength. 

If I try and cut the dye with alcohol it comes out very weird looking. It looks a putrid shade of what ever color I'm using. The only way to make this leather look acceptable is dipping.

My point? Sometimes it's the leather not the process. I always test on scraps now before I get too far into a project.

[Treed]

I use a 50-50 split most of the time just to get the colors I want...... It is easier to add more layers of dye to get darker colors...... that depends on the color that I am striving for as on some projects I will use different cuts.... the leather also is a factor which the tanning process can affect the color or absorption process. The biggest thing is to test on scrapes of leather from the same project and keep records. 

[Tacblades]

I have been following this topic a very interesting read. 

I spray my leather with a fine mist spray of water.  Then use a wool dauber,  and just put a good coat on comes out real nice.  This is with the feibings alcohol dye.  I do find it much too dark tho. 

So only just today i have tryed diluting 3 to 1 bio ethanol to dye,  it came out great,  much better colour and more control. Left is just dye,  right is diluted. Its a lot darker than on the picture.  Mahogany. 

 

Edited October 17, 2016 by Tacblades