Dip Dyeing

[Red Cent]

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=25572

Well, Zack White has leather now.

[BigJake]

I have to chime in here and admit to being a user of RJF leather. In the beginning I only ordered veg tan and was satisfied with the product. Later I order some drum dyed black and was satisfied with that as well. My last order included an order for a medium brown drum dyed double back. When it arrived I was surprised to see that the flesh side had little or no dye at all and the penetration on the hair side was very minimal......like it had been sprayed. I called Roger and he stated it was in fact "Drum dyed" but not all the way thru. I'm still trying to figure out how that could be managed. Reqardless, I though I could still use it. I tried some scrap pieces using an arcylic sealer and it turned out OK. I'm thinking this would save some time in the holster making, so cut out a pair of holsters and a belt which would be a matching set. I ocassionally use a product sold by Weaver called Leather Firmer which is used in place of water during the wet forming. Never had a problem before with this product. So I dip the holsters in the leather firmer and some of the dye leached out in the chemical. Put the holsters out to dry with the pistols inside. The next day after partial drying they were almost chocolate brown, much darker than before diping. Again, no issues with this product when using natural veg tan leather. Now I had to try to match the belt to the holster color or use the leather firmer on the belt. I was able to match the color using a spray gun. The customer likes the rig even though it was darker than what he originally ordered.

My take on this and must be taken as my opinion only is RJF is dying the veg tan himself using a sprayer. He did mention to me in an earlier conversation that he had spent many hours in a spray booth dying leather........in his past. This was months before my issue with the med brown back. I think he still gets his product from Throughbred and their quality may have slipped a bit, even with the veg tanned. The opinion I now have is I will buy drum dyed black only from RJF and the browns from another source. As a side note, the black is dyed thru and thru and the Leather Firmer has no effect and the dye does not leach out.

[Troy I]

After reading through this post...I'm a little concerned and confused. ..who is a good supplier for leather straps, 1.25 inches wide, 9/10+ oz, and of course veg tanned.

I have purchased from Ludlow in the pass, but I remember reading a post that he is trying to sell his business and his website shows his leather straps are out of stock. Out of the 30 straps I purchased, about 5 were very soft and stretched very easy. ..in other words unusable for my projects.

My stock is really low and I need to resupply ASAP. I use the straps to make M1907 rifle slings.

Troy

[camano ridge]

I get straps from Springfield leather they are HO andI have not had any problem with them.

[Red Cent]

Today I received two double shoulders from RJF. They look beautiful. I asked Roger to pick out a couple firm hides and he did. Noticeably harder to cut the 8-9 ounce shoulder. The 5-6 ounce feels firm also. Going to dip dye holsters tonight and see what happens in the morning.

[Red Cent]

I hate to dye leather!

[Dwight]

I hate to dye leather!

Me too, . . . but if it turns out like it should, . . . sure beats trying to color them with a sharpie marker.

Here are two belts I made today, . . . one is saddle tan, . . . the other is sunburst. Both dip dyed in a 9 x 14 pan in about 3/4 of an inch of dye (about a pint and a half). Both dyes were 50/50 mix of dye and thinner.

Somehow, . . . one of us is doing something the other one is not doing, . . .

But even though I don't like the process, . . . I like the product.

May God bless,

Dwight

[SteelcityK9Cop]

Disclaimer: I am a leatherworking noob

When I started I bought a giant box of scrap leather from Springfield Leather... I noticed that there were all kinds of different types of leather in there.. spongy stuff..dense stuff... all took dye different. Some dipped mahogany looked dark brown and some dark brown looked almost black.

I ordered a W&C side for holsters and belts.. have not had an issue dip dying at all. I'm getting good penetration with two dips (letting first soak in and then going for second and will rub it in a bit with my gloved fingers.

I think there is a direct correlation between leather quality and dipping results.

I am also dipping my Resoline...one good dip soaks in quick... a second is a little tricky...if I dip too long the risk for it to settle on top and not soak into the grain increases.

[Red Cent]

I dipped the new leather in full strength Fiebling's Pro Oil Dark Brown. I used a baking pan and immersed the holsters and spread the dye around generously with gloved hands. The I laid them flat on the concrete floor. The next morning, no dark edges but several areas looked like cordovan. I am finishing the holsters today and airbrushing any areas that reddish.

I have Golden Brown which looks like a light walnut color. I also have Saddle Tan, Light Tan, and Mahogany.

I made this belt and tried to match holster color (Mahogany).

Saddle Tan looks OK.

And, of course Vinagroon always works.

Either I got ahold of some weird leather or Dark Brown has to go.

[Treed]

Red.... of course the biggest thing as others have said is the quality of the leather. I have struggled as others with dye when I first started and learned a thing or two. First any leather you will use has spots that absorbed differently.... Next is that dye is a solid suspended in a liquid. Any leahter that you are going to dye will have oil, waxes and other impurities that are left over from the tanning or picked up from handling, around a shop etc.

1 When I am ready to dye I clean my leather with a oxlic acid,,,,(numerous threads on other products).

2 I dampen my project with water to open up the pours in the leather (drying back to original color)

3 I shake my dye to mix everything up, the dye will settle to the bottom and the liquid will move to the top ( I use Fieblings pro dye mixed 50 50 with denatured alcohol, like lighter colors)

4 I select the pan and pour the dye.... I pull off 3 to 4 sheets of paper towel ( I use the blue shop paper towel... better absorption and don't come apart)

5 I then dip my project making sure that the whole projects is covered well. Remove and let excess dye run off just a couple of quick shakes.

6 I grab a towel and start buffing my project to remove all excess dye. I buff and buff making sure any dye that has not penetrated is removed from the project.

7 No matter what the dye job looks like I set it aside and let it dry. Some areas will absorb more and some areas less and with drying time the dye will move or migrate to the dry areas evening out the dye job most of the time. I then oil and dry to see how the whore process took. There are some leather that need touching up after.

This process works for me but as in leather there are as many ways of doing the same thing as there are leather workers. The biggest thing is removing any dye that has not initially been absorbed. If this is allowed to set on the leather it will evidently be absorbed causing a darker area or will dry on the top leaving a solid dye that will rub off onto clothing or hands. When people have rub off issues most of the time it is because of dye not being absorbed (do much dye, bad dye, bad leather, old dye, etc) or because the initial dye looks blotchy they keep adding dye and evidently there is more dye than the leather can absorb.

It takes a lot of practice and practice to find the right process... I know living in the Northwest that my process in the summer is different than winter with all the rain and humidity.

PS..... holsters are really hard item to get the dye job to match the belt. As you mold and push the leather around on the holster you compress the fibers making it tougher for the dye to absorb. The belt does not get this treatment so its absorption is greater. When doing a matching set I usually will use a glass creaser on the belt to compress the fibers trying to even out the absorption rate.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Treed