calanneh Report post Posted November 6, 2008 Hey LWers! Had a idea this morning (yeah it hurts to think in the morning...)!! I got a big plastic tub out in the back yard with a buncha pieces of broken up cedar fence planks. All untreated natural cedar. I cut the planks up and use as firewood when camping with the Scouts just in case we can find any dry stuff around the campsite. I noticed that the tarp over it had shifted and filled with water. The last good rain we had was Hurricane Ike back in Sept, so that water has been in there for about 7 weeks. It was so dark it looked like a nice glass of ice tea when I started pouring it out.... I stopped as soon as I saw the color of the water and thought....vinageroon from cedar??? Got a few pieces soaking in it right now....gonna let em set in it for about 30 mins to try for a nice rich brown or dark tan. Any predictions on how it will turn out????? William Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
barra Report post Posted November 6, 2008 (edited) If anything you have made a nice batch of edge stain. It should burnish up to a rich colour. Here are two batches I made last night. I collect bark. In this case eucalypt and boil it up to extract the tannins. The milk carton with jumbo on the side is just the straight boiled up bark solution. In the zip lock bag contains a hard sap that the eucalypt oozes out. I 3/4 fill the soft drink bottle with the straight solution and boil up the sap in about 600ml (pint) of water and then add this to the dark stain. I use this on my edges to dampen them and then burnish with either a canvas rub rag or a burnishing stick. It comes up smooth as glass. Barra Edited November 6, 2008 by barra Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rawhide Report post Posted November 6, 2008 If you think about it, it makes sense. When tannery's tan leather, they use bark from trees. This is one of the ingredients that gives the leather it's color, so you'll probably get a nice tan or brown out of it. Marlon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
calanneh Report post Posted November 7, 2008 Well, I let two pieces soak for about 30 mins and they darkened a little...... I put one back in for about 3 hours and it darkened a little more..... I let them dry for several hours and their wasnt a big change.... So I just dropped them in (midnight) and let them soak til noon and see what that does. At this point, I ain't expecting a big change...... Will let yall know what I come up with. William Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChuckBurrows Report post Posted November 7, 2008 (edited) A couple of notes: 1) Vinegaroon aka ferric acetate is not technically a dye - it is a chemcial reagent where in it reacts with the tannins in the leather in order to change the color at the molecular level. 2) Dyes and stains are different critters altogether - they are essentially pigments, generally mineral or vegeatble, in a carrier - the difference between the two is dyes are pigments mixed with a carrier and stains are the same but also include a binder/fixative. On the other hand some folks consider dyes as being generally based on ground up mineral pigments and stains being based on vegetable matter such as leaves, barks, berries, etc. Leather dyes are powdered pigments in a carrier - the pigment that doesn't penetrate or later leeches out is what causes ruboff. That's why you need to seal with a fixative. Cedar water becomes dark due to the leeching of it's vegeatble pigment into the water along with the tannins. Like tea, coffe, or walnut hulls the intensity will be based on teh concentration of those two items. Try boiling some of the cedar in the already stained water for a while, strain off the liquid, and then reduce it - you should get a stronger solution. Then try dipping into warm water mixed with baking soda for a moment or two - the baking soda acts like a fixative and helps bond the color to the leather and will also help darken the leather by reacting with the tannins in the same way as the vinegaroon. Start with a tablespoon or two to a quart of water. And as always experiment on scrap from the same hide...... hope this helps...... Edited November 7, 2008 by ChuckBurrows Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
calanneh Report post Posted November 10, 2008 Well, let the pieces of leather soak for a total of 14 hours and the above predictions were correct, no significant color change. I could have gotten them darker by rubbing a little neatfoot oil on them. Thanks for all the input folks! It was worth a try! William Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
