vinegaroon experiment

[badger]

I started a small vinegaroon batch 2 days ago with some rusty springs and some chinese rice vinegar(Pearl River Bridge brand) from the local oriental food store. Half a Litre of vinegar was £0.89, around a Dollar 29. I'm sure I'll find it cheaper, but I bought retail just for the experiment.

I wanted to try the rice vinegar out as I do a lot of Asian cooking and I'd noticed the smell was much less pungent than using regular white vinegar.

So, I cut a piece of 5-6 veg tanned shoulder and dipped it for 2 minutes. The solution was the colour of weak tea. It turned the leather a lovely dark steel grey, almost a charcoal black.

I made a strong solution of Sodium Bicarbonate and tapwater to neutralize it and soaked it through for a couple of minutes. Just for the sake of being thorough, I then rinsed the piece in running tap water.

Once oiled, the piece turned a really nice deep black. I let it dry and gave it a coat of Resolene.

There is a very slight metallic odour. Other than that it really doesn't smell at all, certainly not the strong vinegary smell I'm used to. I thought the Bicarb might help. I think the net result is a combination of the less pungent rice vinegar and the Bicarb bath.

Cheers

Karl

[tashabear]

What did you use for the iron oxide?

Never mind. I fail at reading for content today.

Edited December 31, 2008 by tashabear

[8thsinner]

Can you share a picture of the finished colour, I am interested.

Thanks

[badger]

It's only a small swatch, but I'll make a functional item and colour it with the 'ricegaroon'.

I'll post pics of that.

Cheers,

Karl

[UKRay]

Fascinating, Karl.

What sort of container are you using to keep this 'devil's brew' in?

I'm also interested to know how long you had to leave it 'stewing' before you used it?

Wanna be a bit more specific on the bicarb mixture recipe?

T'would be a kindness!

Ray

[badger]

Hi Ray,

The container is a glass jar with the screw lid just slacked a bit, so it doesn't explode.

You can't really go wrong with the Bicarb thing. I used two level teaspoons of normal kitchen Sodium Bicarbonate in two cups of tap water. I thought it would be strong enough and it seems to work.

The solution stewed for only 2 days and was the colour of very weak tea at the time of the first try. It's been a few days since, so I'll try another sample tomorrow. This time I'll use a larger piece of leather and I'll swab it instead of dipping. Also, I'll try the bicarb mix stronger.

Cheers,

Karl

[badger]

Update.

I ran a second test. The swatches in the pictures attached are around one inch by six, 5-6 Ounce veg tan shoulder.

From left to right:

1. Vingarooned and air dried

2. As above but treated with Skidmore's Restoration Cream (lovely!)

3. As above but treated with Skidmores, then Resolene

The flash picture is for comparison.

Cheers,

Karl

[MADMAX22]

Looks good, about what you would expect really. Just remember that different tanning groups of leather will be slightly different each time but usually can be cohersed into turning a nice black.

I think on my next batch I may try to find some of this type vingeger.

[8thsinner]

that turned out very nice, lovelt matt finish too by the look.