Stains

[Brice]

Hi, I am new to working with leather and am having a problem.

I have seen a lot of talk about dyes but nothing about stains.

I tooled a belt and then I used eco-flo saddle tan stain, then I finished with eco-flo super sheen. I let the stain dry before applying the sheen.

Now comes the problem, when I wore the belt I ended up with stain on my pants.

What the heck, I thought the sheen was supposed to prevent this problem.

I used three coats of sheen.

I have never tried using dyes so I am not sure if they work the same when applied. I like using the stain because of the way the cuts and depressions in the leather get dark. LIke I said I have never

used dyes so I am not sure if they will do the same thing.

So what am I doing wrong? Why is the stain getting on my pants?

Thanks.

[Cyberthrasher]

So, your problem is one that I've had a lot of issues with when it comes to the how-to videos and Tandy's literature all together. Stain should be considered a liquid antique, so when you're looking around for information, go that direction. It really shouldn't be used as a dye in my opinion. You SHOULD start using dyes. They're a lot easier to work with. But, you'll want to use an antique to make the tooling really pop out if that's what you're after. My problem with the literature is that they don't do enough to explain the differences between dye, antique, stain, or finish. As it is, based on there videos, a lot of people think you can just slap some SuperSheen on something and it will stop the dye from penetrating that area. It's a HUGE disservice to the craft and all the people who go looking for information on how to get started.

Now, problem #2, SuperSheen = CRAP. If you want a similar product, try Resolene. But, there are several good finishes out there, SuperSheen is NOT one of them. There's lots of info here on how to use Resolene, so do yourself a favor and research around a little bit on that (it can be tricky sometimes if you're not familiar with it).

[Brice]

Thanks for your help!!! This helped a lot !!

[cjdevito]

Stain should be considered a liquid antique

This.

Stain can be very useful in applications where you're resisting part of the work but want a color that isn't conveniently available as a real antique. It also offers a number of different color choices from most of the dye lines, and if you want very light coats that are almost translucent stain can do some really interesting things. But it definitely has it's limitations; it takes practice to apply it evenly, it doesn't really penetrate the leather so scratches on the surface will really show up, and since the pigment really does mostly just sit on the surface it can definitely bleed onto you. Buffing the hell out of the leather after the stain has dried helps with that last part.

And yeah, SuperSheen is crap. Just about any other finish you could pick will do a better job. Lots of folks swear by Resolene, I personally like BeeNatural's RTC Sheridan Resist, but anything is going to be better than SuperSheen.

If you decide to try dyes most here will recommend Fiebings. I also like tandy's line of eco-flo pro dyes, but not even I think much of the regular tandy eco-flo dyes.

[Cyberthrasher]

And yeah, SuperSheen is crap. Just about any other finish you could pick will do a better job. Lots of folks swear by Resolene, I personally like BeeNatural's RTC Sheridan Resist, but anything is going to be better than SuperSheen.

I promote it's use because it's easy to obtain (since so many people "have" to buy from Tandy because it's close to them) and it provides good results for about the same price. I do have a bottle of RTC sitting on my bench waiting for me to quit being lazy and try it. I just haven't had time to run any tests on it, so I won't use it on an order, and I really don't like telling people to get it until I've at least seen the results.

[Brice]

Just wanted to say thanks guys for your help!

I got my dye and resolene yesterday and it works great !

I thought just to see what would happen, I applied resolene over the stain and it still rubbed off.

But thats ok, I am sticking with dyes.

[Cyberthrasher]

Yes, the Resolene will lift the "stain", as well as antique too. That's one reason it's important to use it in LIGHT coats of 50/50 with light pressure. That helps to keep stuff from getting moved around too much. I like to spray my first coat of Resolene for that reason. After that, there's enough of a barrier to prevent anything from lifting off with successive coats.