Dip Dyeing

[Red Cent]

My first venture into the dipping of leather into a pool of dye may be my last. I was doing a double buckle and had three pieces cut. The main belt, the liner and the belt "strap" that encircles the main belt. I poured Fieblings dark brown pro oil dye that had been diluted 50/50 with alcohol in to baking pan. Almost to the top. I proceeded to place one end into the pan and fed the straps through the dye kinda slow. After drying, it was not fit for sale. Some long areas were lighter and some different in color.

So I slowly ran them through again. Streaked. Hung them over a drying bar in front of a fan and I produced the stiffest strips of leather I have ever encountered. I applied NFO to the fronts and backs and let dry. Then I did what I should have done. I airbrushed them. Came out really dark brown but looked good. Some slow bending of the leather brought some suppleness.

I (almost) completed the belt last night, thankful I didn't have to trash the leather. Here is a picture. It is obvious in the cold (90 degrees) light of day I need to put the airbrush to work a little more and finish some detail.

[JLSleather]

That the leather you got from New York? I had the same issue. Finally took that leather and threw it out. If I would have known, I could have just tore up a couple $100 bills and saved myself some time and aggravation.

[Dwight]

Well, . . . I have to admit I've never had that kind of trouble, . . . the worst problem I ever had was doing a bunch of belts one time, . . . not thinking, . . . got in a hurry, . . . dipped em and hung em up by the buckle ends to dry.

The next day they (except for one black one) were dry, . . . and the color ran from very light at the buckle end, . . . to very dark at the other end, . . . the dye had migrated.

What I do when my brain is in gear, . . . lay the belt on the down side edge for about a half hour, . . . flip it and let it dry for the next 24 hours or so. All of them come out nice and uniform, clean looking, and the correct color (most of the time anyway).

I also only use about 3/4 of a quart of dye, . . . isn't so messy that way.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Red Cent]

JL, this leather thing has got me so rattled about trying to figure good leather out, I, sometimes, go pour about three fingers of George Dickel and go set on the porch so my blood pressure comes down.

I am not sure what leather it was. I have some Zack White, some RJF, and a little of Tandy on the table.

If you laid the belt out on a table horizontal to you, about half of the belt (in a diagonal) was OK and the other half had a very dark red tint to it. After the second dip, the dark red area became a little more darker. I laid the strips out on the garage side deck in the sun. WOW! Now I know what will make a very stiff holster.

Between black specks turning up from out of nowhere to this makes a feller a little frustrated. I guess it goes with the territory.

JLS, was it that bad? What is interesting is that a very experienced leather maker over on Cas City (Chuck Burrows) just informed us he bought most all his leather from RJF. Go figure.

[Red Cent]

BTW, the center belt was sprayed with dark brown last night. After the picture I sprayed another coat of dark brown on it and I believe it is more brown now than red. Why the reddish tinge with dark brown Fiebling's Pro Oil dye?

[JLSleather]

Yeah, the leather was that bad. Downright spongey -- I wasn't even going to waste time tooling it. Like trying to leave a permanent impression in a marshmallow. I sewed an avenger style holster right quick, gonna try a color. It's what .. like 2/3 of a foot, so if it don't work, so what! Outside of the bend in the holster was almost black (darker than I thought that dye would even go) and the rest MUCH lighter.. just a band of dark down the fold about 3" wide. Thought as a 'last ditch' effort, I'd dye it solid black. Same results .. part of the leather sucked the dye right in, some wouldn't.

Took the lighter 6/7, gonna try maybe two layers. On a 50" strap, I could stretch it an inch without trying all that hard. Pathetic.

I did find a piece of the 3/4 to work as a LINING for a 'jeans' belt. The rest, I decided I didn't need the headache. Already out the money, no point in also being out the peace of mind. One other experienced holster maker didn't care for it either (same supplier, different batch). Oh, well.. now I know.

Oh, and Fiebing's browns have always had a reddish tint. If you don't like the reddish, go with the chocolate instead of the dark brown. Here's a couple belts I did WAY back, just for this display reason. Both dyed the same way, top one with "brown" and bottom with "chocolate".

Edited July 27, 2014 by JLSleather

[Red Cent]

Well, the customer wants a dark brown. To me that means darker than walnut. I have the Fieblings Golden Brown and it makes a beautiful a beautiful brown but not really dark brown.

I have two double shoulders coming from RJF. I asked him to hand pick some firm leather. We will see.

[Chief31794]

I won't be ordering any more RJF leather. Had some of the same problems above. Another problem I had with one item is that I taped the back to prevent dye, when I took the tape off (Duct Tape), the back side had "dissolved" from the tape glue, it was a mess. Plus, I bought a drum dyed side, color looks okay, however, I'm not sure how they dyed it, but the dye only penetrated the leather about what you'd expect from an air brush, other drum dyed leather I've used was dyed through and through. When I put a stitching groove in this, it needs to be redyed and you can't get a color to match perfectly. I bought 2 sides and a shoulder, I'm using it mostly on my black items, black is the only color I've gotten it to take consistently. I had been reading some of the complaints out here, wasn't going to add any but changed my mind. When I checked into this leather several members vouched for it as excellent leather and value, he may be getting it from a different place than he was.

Lesson Learned,

Chief

[robertmeco]

Well, the customer wants a dark brown. To me that means darker than walnut. I have the Fieblings Golden Brown and it makes a beautiful a beautiful brown but not really dark brown.

I have two double shoulders coming from RJF. I asked him to hand pick some firm leather. We will see.

Maybe mahogany would be the darker brown you are looking for.

[Red Cent]

Robertmeco, the dark brown dye came out OK, although the tint is visible on any non slicked edge. I burnish the belt holders but you can see the back side a little with the tint. And there are other certain places.

The interesting part is RJF gets his leather from a well known wholesale house. "Thoroughbred Leather is Jeff Ballard, who supplies Hidecrafters as well as many other clients- like RJF leather (one of the banner sponsors up above).

Johanna posted that in 2010.

Hope the next two double shoulders work.