Help!: How Do I Avoid/fix This Dying Issue?

[LloydtownLeather]

Can anyone help me out? This issue keeps coming up for me in my dye-jobs. The leather is from Tandy, it has been well cased and then dried. I used Feibings Deglazer before dying. Usually there is a tiny spot or two like this that I may be able to scrape off with a knife before dying, but this one is just a mess... I can see these paint-like marks faintly before dying, but then when I apply dye, it really brings it out because these spots do not absorb dye! I can't clean it off without damaging the leather, and resoaking the leather does not seem to help either. What IS this and what can I do about it, either before I dye - or now.... HELP!??

[pete]

Oil you leather. after tooling and after it dries from the case-ing, give it a coat of evoo or neats and let that soak in(dry) I think that you are just seeing dry spots or hard spots . These can be made worse by deglazing as it REALLY dries out the leather and seals the pores.

[Bob Blea]

Hello,

From the picture it really looks like some sort of sealer or resist got on the leather. Do you normally use anything like Clear Lac or Satin Shene? The light marks don't look random, it actually looks like some other artwork sat on top of the leather and left a coating on the leather that is blocking your dye.

I don't have any experience with Fiebings Deglazer, but I just saw Pete's response. If he's right, you could oil it now and (if that doesn't even the dye job out by itself) maybe you could re-dye the piece and see if it comes out even?

good luck,

Bob

[Northmount]

What type of dye are you using? I was using some Tandy Eco dye, timber brown and had spots like this show up. I had bleached the leather with oxalic acid to even out the colour somewhat before dyeing. I've also found that having the leather slightly damp helps even out the dye, and reduce the amount it wicks into the adjacent leather. Anyway, on this piece, it still had some problems with even absorption. After several coats, the "hard" areas closed in and disappeared.

So I think the above advice to lightly oil the leather and let it soak in overnight should help a lot to reduce or eliminate the problem.

Also, look closely at the leather before you cut into it, and avoid areas that look look like it has wrinkles.

Tom

[LloydtownLeather]

Extemely grateful for your replies Pete, Bob, and Northmount. Thank you gentlemen!! I think Pete is on to something with the Deglazer. This was the first time that I used it aggressively having seen it recommended so many times elsewhere. The piece took days to dry out as it is very thick leather. I could not leave it without something on top to keep it flat because it wanted to warp so much. So when it was half dry, I put some clean papertowel and wood on top of it. When I looked it is next, was when I first saw the marks.

I tried Feibings pro oil tan dye on this, for the first time, as I usually use the EcoFlo Pro stuff, but I found that their Tan ws SO orange... I wanted a much lighter look. Alas, the Feibings is a lot darker than I would like too, even though I thinned it a little with the Feibings thinner. I definately think the neatsfoot oil is worth a shot, but I am wondering, is there any way to lighten the dye, or at least to prevent going darker in the next application? I have read some mentions of "bleaching". Is this what the oxalic acid is? Would that work? Is it correct I would find it in the paint dept of the hardware store?

[EquusCustomLeathers]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the leather looks like it's saddle skirting form Tandy? If so, the last saddle skirting hide I received had a lot of excess oil on the surface. Almost feels "greasy".. I had to clean it with oxalic acid a couple of times before I could do anything with it, then I let it sit for a couple of days. Seemed to do the trick. I got my oxalic acid from a Rexall pharmacy, if that is any help to you.

[LloydtownLeather]

Naw, it is a thick shoulder from Tandy. Certainly wouldn't say it was greasy... Thanks for the tip re being able to find the Oxalic acid at the pharmacy!

[benlilly1]

I've never ever had to use deglazer on any of my leather whether it was from Tandy or elsewhere. I think the marks are from laying the wood on the leather after the deglazing. I don't think there's any way to make it lighter and if you dye over it I'm sure it will be darker. Good Luck

[WoodBoneAndStone]

I'm not sure what I'm seeing in your pic. It almost looks like what they call bronzing but that may be a result of the lighting in your photo.

I know contact cement on leather will prevent leather from taking dye. Is it possible that glue accidentally got on the leather?

[LloydtownLeather]

No, it is not possible that I put on any glues, dyes, or finishes other than those used intentionally and previously listed, unless it could have come from the white papers towel. I think the only possibilities are related to the deglazer, something in the leather that I bought, or something to do with uneven, slow drying.

[TwinOaks]

Did the paper towels have any design on them or were the just plain white? If so, it may be a transferral of whatever is used as a mordant to keep the ink on the paper towel from running all over the place. After all, you were using deglazer, which is pretty potent solvent.

[LloydtownLeather]

Plain white paper towel...

[benlilly1]

Here's why I think laying anything on top of it is the reason...if it's anything like woodworking, if you stain a piece of wood and lay another piece of wood crossways on top of it, it takes the shape of that top piece and it's darker where that piece laid. WHY I don't know -but this happens with wood. I guess because it's slowing down the dry time.

[LloydtownLeather]

Well, I'm afraid oiling the leather did not work out so good. (pic attached) The leather soaked up oil like a sponge, but when it dried, it shrank so much that it ripped the pockets right off (it is a gospel cover and the pockets were for the covers of the book.) It did not disguise the stain at all either.

I was confused about the answers that suggested that the wood caused the staining because the wood was not touching the leather - I had paper between the leather and the wood. Now, a friend who used to work in the printing biz has told me it may well have caused by the bleach in the paper towel! That would make more sense, since I have never had issues with leather being affected by molding it around wood, etc., and the effect only happened where the paper was. Well, next time I will just put another piece of leather between the weight and the piece I am trying to dry flat. As you can see in the pic, I am working on gluing a different cover on top of the botched front piece, but I will still have to rewet the botched cover and see if I can get it to fit the book again. Wish me luck with that!

[TomG]

. Alas, the Feibings is a lot darker than I would like too, even though I thinned it a little with the Feibings thinner. I definately think the neatsfoot oil is worth a shot, but I am wondering, is there any way to lighten the dye, or at least to prevent going darker in the next application??

You can dilute the dye with denatured alcohol. I have few Fiebigns dyes that I don't have to dilute to some degree. they all seem to come out darker than what I feel the bottle label says.

For example, with browns....What I have done is taken a small plastic (Nalgene) bottle and put a measured amount of DA in it. Say 100 ml. than I add 10 ml of Medium Brown dye.

I took a long strap of leather and marked it off on the back with the percentage of dye. I just apply some to that section. Then add 10 ml and dye the next section.. and so on.

Of course, you will probably want to use smaller amounts... I just used the 100ml as an example. You can use 10ml of DA and 1ml of dye increments depending on how carefully you measure. But you get the idea.

Then just mark your bottles with the color anf mixture to remake it every time.

Now, I'm sure there are limits to the amount of dilution you can do and still have a durable dye job, but I have some stuff I've made for my dogs that get daily wear, and at 50/50 mix, they have held up well for years.

[LloydtownLeather]

Thanks for the tip, Tom. That sounds like an excellent way to approach it. I will give that a try!