Which first: dye or Tragacanth?

[nevadabob]

I'm making a dog leash. The "inside" leather belt strip is rough with sprigs. The nice lady @ the Tandy store said to burnish with Trag first then apply the dye. I'm thinking to dye first then burnish with Trag. Won't the burnishing first hinder the dye absorption? I've used the search feature without success. Thanks for any help.

[bob21804]

I agree with you. The trag will resist the dye. You also might want to consider just using some Bag-kote or Tan-kote to mat down the fibers rather than trag and dye.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

While I would not apply the Trag before the dye, I would try to get rid of the fuzzies somehow, as they will tend to make it more difficult to do a neat job of dyeing. Normally I would get rid of the worst of the fuzzies on the back side by running the strap through a splitter,  taking off just enough to remove any superfluous flesh. I've read somewhere (it may have been Bob Park) to saddlesoap and burnish the edges BEFORE dyeing to assist in getting a neater edge. While this does help, I could never get as nice an edge with saddle soap as I could with Trag. I've tried applying the saddleoap, burnish, dye, and THEN Trag, and I could not get that slick glassy edge with the Trag AFTER the saddlesoap like I could with the Trag alone. But that could have been due to any number of things, not the least of which may have been operator error, as the source from which I borrowed that method had outstanding edges. As with so many other things in this craft, experiment on scrap to see what works the best for you.

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

I agree with Sioux .  As for me, I quit using Tag a long time ago because I wouldn't use enough to use it all up and alas, it would sit on the shelf and get dried out.  I still use saddle soap and water initially, and then die, and lots of elbow grease in between. Usually when I am working on a saddle, I will find myself picking up each piece of the saddle many times during fitting, construction , phiniftering, and final assembly.  Each time I pick up a piece I give it a lick on the burnisher.  By the time it all goes together, I have achieved the result I like, shiny edges.

Bob

[nevadabob]

Thank you for the help!

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

I do the same thing on the saddles Bondo Bob!  It seems then like I'm not spending quite as much time doing edges as if I did the edges all at one time.  And of course many of the parts have to be done that way just due to the sequence in which they have to go together, but even the ones that can be done at any point, I do early on and then keep fussing with them throughout.

[Halitech]

If you don't have a splitter, you can also use a belt sander or a small plane to take off the fuzzies

[Mongo]

+2 for burnishing with water and glycerin saddle soap before dyeing.  I will also take a small scissors and trim the really long strands and sometime sandpaper helps.  Most of the time, I save leather that is "fuzzy" on the back for a project that I'm going to attach a lining to.  I try to avoid buying any veg-tan leather that is fuzzy on the back.  

[nevadabob]

Thanks again for the comments!