Staining Before Or After Assembly?

[lionfly]

In my research, I've seen quite a few examples of leather workers who will assemble something (like armor) first and then do the staining. Can anyone comment on the pros and cons of that? I've always stained my individual pieces first and then assembled, but perhaps there's an advantage that outweighs the difficulty of staining in hard to reach places?

[Grey Drakkon]

Just a guess, but a couple of reasons I could think of assembling it all is: 1. Expediency. If You're using an airbrush, those hard to reach spots aren't really that hard to reach, and having to prep everything just once instead of over and over as each part is done saves a lot of time. 2. Consistency. It's a bit easier to match everything when you're doing it all at once.

Of course, I could be way off.

[Dwight]

Very few things I do are stained first, . . . I dunk em all when they are assembled.

Admittidely, . . . for my Centurion armor, . . . I used pre-dyed leather, . . . but would have dunked it after assembly if I had not used pre-dyed.

I do not put any of the metal: buckles, chicago screws, conchos, etc. on the work, . . . but it is sewn, burnished, sanded, stamped, all that stuff then it is "dunked" and done.

I have an air brush, . . . but no paint booth yet, . . . so I cannot really comment on that.

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited September 8, 2014 by Dwight

[camano ridge]

One of the big reasons for staining before assemby would be thread color. When I am doing a holster with say white thread on a black holster I dye first then stitch. If thread color does not matter it is more expedient for me to dip dye the whole thing.

[lionfly]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. It sounds like if you don't dunk (which I don't) and you aren't airburshing (on this project there's gonna be a toooon of hand painting details) then there's no reason to assemble while undyed.