I Tried Dying Leather And I Hate It.

[Tallbald]

So I've been using homemade vinegaroon for blackening the three years I been teaching myself leather crafting. Many holsters later I still like it despite the baking soda neutralization step followed by rinse rinse rinse. Last night though I was feeling froggy and jumped. A lined holster blank tempted me to try dying the outside brown with a name brand solvent dye. My results were blotchy, felt sticky and the results were way darker than it was supposed to be. Is there a youtube tutorial I can study before attempting again? Everyone seems to love dying holsters but me.Thanks. Don

[Northmount]

Dilute the dye down to 50% or less, then build up in layers. Hard to get dye on smoothly using daubers or sponge, etc. Air brush works much more nicely.

Lots of posts about how to apply dye here. So try a few searches. Everyone has their favorite methods.

Tom

[HippieLee]

1. Always test on scrap before putting to work piece. Especially with a new dye.

2. I rather enjoy the process - I love watching a bland, pale piece of leather turn into rich, smooth dyed piece and then adding highlights or lowlights (depending on carving and tooling and all sorts of things) and glossing it and buffing it up until what was once just a chunk of cowhide becomes a burnished glowing work of art. Well, work of art is what I strive for but until I get more experience I imagine I'll settle for "didn't screw it up too badly".

3. I have only ever used Tandy's professional water stains and gel antique and so I have NO idea if solvent dyes need much different so since you specifically said solvent dye I'll give you Ian Atkinson who often uses Fiebings: Leodis Leather He has a lot of informative vids and I believe a few were specifically about dying.

4. I almost always apply my dye with a damp high density sponge and rub in circular motion covering as much as I can as evenly as possible and often go back and hit spots I think are too thin. Then let dry and apply more where needed. Then a lot of buffing with soft cotton cloth (lots of old t-shirts are cut up and pressed into service. My wife is mad I don;t cut up the ugly concert shirts instead of the plain white ones. She crazy.) You can probably go back and do more on yours to make it less blotchy but I doubt anything can be done about it being too dark. Did you use it straight or thin it? One of my teachers at the Tandy store uses Fiebings and I am sure I remember hearing him say he cuts his USMC black by at least 50% (with some type of alcohol they sell there for that) but hopefully an experienced user here will add to or correct that. Don't know if he does the same for browns.

5. No idea about the sticky - after it's sealed and finished maybe it goes away? I've never had sticky.

[DoubleC]

Tallbald, we all hate dying at first. After 3 years I still like my vinegaroon better than any dye. An air brush would probably make it easier but I put mine on full strength usually with a sponge. Some people say make sure your leather is clean, some say use this brush or that, but I think really like everything in LW it all comes down to practice. Just keep at it. Cheryl

[Tallbald]

Folks I know you all are right.I don't think I'm a lazy man but last night I really didn't enjoy applying, spreading, and wiping off excess brown dye. I won't lie- it did smell pretty good though. What resulted was a kinda blotchy appearance that may have been the leather (good Hermann Oak stuff though) but I'm sure it was my booboo. I never minded dirty hands but honestly it annoyed me that my fingers got a nice deep rich brown color that I wanted on the holster. I was out of vinyl gloves and thought "what the heck" and went ahead. Vinegaroon has indeed spoiled me since I started leather crafting. A woodworker, I had always ben irritated when steel screws in an outdoor oak project ran black streaks down the boards after time in the weather. But the idea of harnessing that iron and tannin reaction for good deeds was really attractive. My roon mixture is three years old and super strong. I just today cut it with water 50/50 to replenish roon lost to evaporation and use, and it still does the job in a matter of moments. Most all of the vinegar smell is gone, which I think should mean the neutralizing baking soda/water bath after soakng in roon can be shortened. When I first started using roon, my friends said I could not color concealed carry holsters because "everyone knows you're carrying a gun because you smell like a pickle!". As I write this, I'm brewing a super strong batch of tea and will pour in several days worth of used coffee grounds from my percolator. I'll funnel it into a plastic jug, fill the remainder with water and let it set for several days shaking it daily to mix well. Then I'll filter the stuff , add a half cup of vinegaroon as a "mordant" (something I have read about from a Google search), add a half cup of rubbing alcohol to retard bacterial growth and start experimenting. I'll post results, good or bad here so others might learn from mistakes I make. Don

[slickfork10]

I had a tough time with it too at first. Went through quite a few test pieces. Here's some things that I found: I never could get a good color with Tandy leather, even their high end stuff. It just didn't look right to me. I got good results with Wickett & Craig, Hermann Oak and Chiahin, so I don't mess with the Tandy anymore. That's just me. I have been using Fiebings spirit dye, mostly the British Tan. My customers seem to really like this color. I'll cut it 2 or 3 to 1 with denatured alcohol so I can apply multiple coats if needed. I use sheeps wool to apply all the finishes except the dye.

My process: 1. apply a decent coat of neatsfoot oil, let dry for a day or two. Usually I'm stamping or tooling something, after this It's pretty dry.

2. apply dye, cut 2 or 3 to1 for multiple coats if needed for it to be even. I use the round artists sponges from Hobby Lobby. Buff when dry.

3. If the leather has dried out too much from applying the dye, I might add another coat of neatsfoot.

4. If I have done a stamp or tooling I'll put on a light coat of Tan Kote as a resist (quickly, as it dries fast).

5. Then I will apply either the Eco Flo antique gel or the Fiebings paste. The gel will darken it a bit and bring out your tooling. Buff again to remove solids.

6. Tan Kote again to remove any solids and even up the color.

7. Lastly, a light coat of Wyosheen to protect it. This will give it a subtle shine.

Kieth Valley has a good you tube video of this process.

It's kind of a pain in the neck doing this process but I think you will enjoy the results. I've never done the black dye or the vinagaroon process. I just don't do black. I've tried doing some stuff with the USMC black, it seems the solids come off too easily. I only use it for a border or something like that. Hopefully this helps! It took me quite a while to somewhat figure this out!

[Dwight]

First off, . . . my dying is limited to holsters, belts, mag pouches, an occasional purse. All kinda flat stuff, . . . all small, . . . and all easily handled.

I have two 2 inch deep by 9 by 14 (more or less) cake pans. One is for black, . . . the other is for other than black.

I pour a 50/50 mixture of my desired dye into the pan (50 dye/50 reducer), . . . . usually a good pint plus, . . . then begin inundating the item. I dip it straight into the liquid, . . . it get "baptized" so to speak, . . . but not left to soak. Its 4 to 5 seconds at the most.

Pull out, . . . belts or long items get laid on their edge, . . . curled, . . . bottom edge down, . . . on a piece of cardboard. Holsters go on their back, as well as purses and knife sheaths, and mag carriers.

Let em dry for 24 hours, . . . if they are brittle dry, . . . add a coat of neatsfoot oil to the hair side (thank you Lobo) and let that dry for 24 hours. Burnish as necessary, . . . finish 90+% of the time with 50/50 Resolene/water. The dye is for the most part very predictable, . . . and very uniform. Occasionally a piece will be darker or lighter, . . . but we are playing with leather from different cows, . . . different tanneries sometimes, . . . whatcha expect????

I'm happy as a fat rat in a cheeze factory with my process.

May God bless,

Dwight