Help With Dying

[hogdog]

Hello i'm new to this form and was hoping someone could help me out with a few questions I have. I have recently bought some new veg tanned belt strips that I was going to use to make the guys at my fire station a truck belt. I have made one and I have a few concerns about it. The belt was a natural color and I dyed it black finished the edges and used a sealer but when I punch holes it seems like just the very top layer is black. Is that how it's supposed to be or is it supposed to dye more in to the leather? I'm just worried that the black outer layer is going to scratch off and you will see the natural color. Did I miss a step or do something wrong or should I use different materials. i looked at other belts that are black all the way through. thanks

Edited January 2, 2012 by hogdog

[pete]

Hello i'm new to this form and was hoping someone could help me out with a few questions I have. I have recently bought some new veg tanned belt strips that I was going to use to make the guys at my fire station a truck belt. I have made one and I have a few concerns about it. The belt was a natural color and I dyed it black finished the edges and used a sealer but when I punch holes it seems like just the very top layer is black. Is that how it's supposed to be or is it supposed to dye more in to the leather? I'm just worried that the black outer layer is going to scratch off and you will see the natural color. Did I miss a step or do something wrong or should I use different materials. i looked at other belts that are black all the way through. thanks

Unless you really soak or dip the piece the dye won't penetrate all the way though. That would be way too much anyway.

I have recently dyed a belt black(USMC Feibings) for my wife. I put 2 coats on with a sheepskin, let it dry and buffed it. Then I applied a coat of Bick's #4 and no rub off.

I know that there have been a million postings here about rub off with black, but I got NONE!

Let me know what happens.

pete

[hogdog]

thanks. i did two coats of USMC Feibings and a day of using it there are marks were it scratched off and you can see the natural color

[pete]

thanks. i did two coats of USMC Feibings and a day of using it there are marks were it scratched off and you can see the natural color

you must have had a glaze or resist of some kind on the leather. I can't imagine dying a piece and having it scrape off as you described. Did the leather feel really slick or shiney when you started? Did if feel as though there was a coat of something on the surface? I ask because if you even accidently drop a speck of dye on good veg tanned leather you will scrape through to the other side just trying to get it off!!

pete

[hogdog]

It was smooth and a little shinny. Can I use a deglazer to remove the dye and start over. It looks more like I painted it

[TOM123]

Is the USMC FIEBING'S an oil dye? (I'm not familiar with USMC) If it is then yes you can use a deglazier or go get a can of acetone from the hardware store it should take most of the black off and what ever finish is on the leather, let dry completely.

this will dry the leather out so when you die the leather it should soak in very fast no pooling on top of the leather, give it at lest two coats, you might try a different brand of die, KELLY'S die from ZACKS might help it has more oil in the mix.

also you could mix a little oil in the FIEBING'S if it is an oil die.

DO NOT mix oil with an institutional die (water based)

good luck with this as I know how frustrating this can be, I have had die soak in in one place and not in others all on the same peice of leather and you try all kinds of things to save all the work you have already done.

let us know how thing work out.

[Matty]

I've been conducting dye tests with horsehide strips I got from Spfld. Had no luck with the regular Fiebing's. Perhaps the problem was that I wasn't using deglazer? I dyed pieces dry. I soaked them through with water and others with 91% isopropyl, before dying. I could not get the dye to penetrate beyond the surface. Yes, I know this horsehide is "jacked" (compressed), medium, hard jacked, whatever. I dunked a piece in hot water and watched it unjack, dyed that too. Still no penetration. AND, more importantly, the rub off was excessive. The dye, EVERY color I tried (black, dark brown, navy blue, ox blood and kelly green) was rubbing off. I know horse hide is notorious for not taking dye, on top of this stuff being further compressed, so I was coming to the conclusion that it is pointless. Don't bother trying to dye this stuff. I read about someone using just neatsfoot oil to color their leather so, not having any, I started messing around with Obenauf's LP and leather oil and it turns this stuff a very nice rich brown color, and an even darker brown with a second coat. Penetrates all the way through too WHEN applying light coats to the flesh side and waiting for it to soak through. Otherwise you'll over oil the leather.

In the meantime thought I'd give Fiebing's pro oil a try. Got a bottle of deglazer too. Had no idea what I was supposed to do, so I merely wiped down the pieces I had cut from the strips with the deglazer before dying them. This time it was only black, brown and green. I did several tests today applying the dye to the flesh side and much to my surprise when slicing into the strips after letting them dry for a few hours, the dye did penetrate significantly. Not only that, but the rub off for each color was insignificant. Now, it remains to be seen if the deglazer was the key to the penetration. I assume it was, since I did one piece without deglazing it, and another that was soaked with 91% isopropyl, and the dye did not penetrate like the deglazed pieces. Must be something about the ethyl acetate that allows the dye to really get in there. Also, the black and brown pieces, when dry to the touch, resembled drum-dyed leather as the grain side was a dark shade and the flesh side was lighter shade of color. Someone mentioned Kelley's has more oil in it? Eventually I'll try it and probably Angelus' dye too.

Lastly, I took one piece that took the black dye really well, and did a LP and Oil test on it. Rubbing the preservatives in did not lift the color at all, unlike when I tried this with the regular dye test pieces. After a couple of hours drying, when buffing gently with a regular paper towel, there was some color rub off. Could be that the preservatives moistened the dye and I didn't let it set / sit long enough. Oh well, more tests to preform and I'll probably have more to tell later.