Vigaroon Black

[JRCHolsters]

I mostly make my holsters from Horsehide, so I try not to dye my holsters black, as I think it covers up the natural beauty of the grain. Of course, every once and a while a customer wants black and that's what he gets. I have tried all the various black dyes with varying degrees of what I consider success.

I was reading on some forums that pertain to blacksmithing and came across the idea of using old fashioned Vigaroon to "dye" the leather black. Essentially you disolve some fine steel wool in white vinegar and the result is Vigaroon. It doesn't actually dye the leather, as much as it reacts with the tannins in the leather to turn black, through chemical reaction. I figured it was worth trying.

I mixed up about 20oz of vinegar with one 0000 steel wool pad in a jar with a loose lid. It creates gases, so you don't want a tight lid. After a few weeks, I had this brown/black slurry. Pretty nasty looking stuff. I strained it through a paper towel and proceeded to dab some on a test piece of Horsehide. low and behold, it started to darken immediately. I went on to try it on a pattern of leather and so far so good. After about 3 coats soaked in, the leather is turning a nice shade of black, and interestingly, it does not cover up the grain of the Horsehide.

Here is a picture of the leather with the initial "coats" of Vigaroon. It looks a little splotchy, as I just put on a new coat and it is partially drying. You want to be sure to wash the leather in baking soda and water afterwards to neutralize the acids from the vinegar. I will take more pics once the holster is done next week.

I thought some of you may find this interesting and would love to hear in anyone else has tried this.

[Wishful]

Yes, I have and it works great. I soak it in a small bucket full - just takes some time to learn how long to leave it soak to get the right color black. There are several discussion on this here on the site.

[JRCHolsters]

Ha, of course I see this after I did a search with the right spelling. Oh well, great stuff so far! I am looking forward to being able to offer a better quality of black that doesn't hide the leather grain.

[jazzdude1200]

Ha, of course I see this after I did a search with the right spelling. Oh well, great stuff so far! I am looking forward to being able to offer a better quality of black that doesn't hide the leather grain.

I used this dye process on a Bass Strap I'm putting together

SEE!!!!!!

I didn't like the way the black turned out (maybe I didn't leave it in solution long enough, my leather guru told me the this type of dying does not wear well, what I did do was seal it with Tandy Super Sheen I like it now and I'm sure my brother will too.) This piece of leather was not the greatest but it worked for what I wanted to do with it.

Peace

Jazz

[JoelR]

The VG holsters I have done in the past have all been dipped. Only issue I had was now that they are about 2 years old, the one is more of a dark brown and the other is almost a purple color. Both were made from the same hide and from very similar portions and both were sealed with Tan Coat. That being said, I have a batch of VG brewing right now to experiment with some more. My old batch used apple vinegar while the new batch is using white vinegar.

[TwinOaks]

Please do a search on " Vinegaroon" and you'll see the discussions we've had about it. One of the most important steps that people tend to overlook is to oil the leather after applying the brew. The process chemically alters the leather and the oils/tallows need to be put back in the leather. Sweating on it does the same thing, but takes a little longer. Properly done, a piece blackened with vinegaroon will take on a deeeeeeep black and maintain a surface patina akin to Patent Leather......and here I go starting to retype the other discussion threads........<sigh>

[joke55]

You have to oil the leather after VG and the soda bath. Until I oiled my first piece, I was disappointed in the look, but now it's the only black I use...mainly because it is through and through, not just a surface dye.

Like was written before me, if oiled properly (I give it a number of oilings) and properly maintained, it should always give a deep beautiful black finish.

[marine mp]

JRCHolsters, Having used vinegar black for some time now, I find it is great for holsters that do not require much detail to molding. A wet-molded holster in vinegar black doesn't hold the molded shape like the dyed holsters do????? Don't understand why, but that is what I find. Also, if you are gonna do any tooling, do it before you vinegaroon it. The leather seems to get, for lack of a better word.."tougher" and is quite difficult to tool after it is dipped. My thoughts. Semper-fi Mike