Wood stain for leather.

[Clintock]

Anyone ever used wood stain to achieve a color on leather? I've searched forums and can't seem to find it anywhere. Asking because I have plenty of wood stain from various projects but no dye for leather. Wondering if it will dry enough to coat with leather sheen or resolene, or would it be too gummy. May just try some on a piece of scrap but was hoping someone knew before I went through the trouble. 

Edited March 19, 2017 by Clintock

[Halitech]

I've used Varathane brand Red Chestnut wood stain before. It does take longer to dry and takes more work to buff but it came out pretty close to the same color as when used on pine. Recommended? not really. Doable? yes.

[Clintock]

Appreciate it. I'm gonna give it a go and hopefully achieve lighter and darker areas. Might just have a leather paper weight when finished. 

[bikermutt07]

There is a guy on here that does some wicked holsters with wood stain. I have seen his posts, but don't remember his handle.

[Hunhunt]

Since I am primarily a woodworker rather than leather worker, I keep a lot of wood stains and dyes stocked. I've always avoided pigmented wood stains (think thin paint) for leather since I am afraid the results would be blotchy and unnatural looking. I actually don't use pigmented stains much for wood either. I prefer aniline dyes for wood to get a more transparent finished look. I've used the same dyes on leather with good results. The dyes I use are primarily water or alcohol based. I do apply a finish (Tandy's Eco-Flo Professional) over them to avoid any bleed-out. I recently used some Fiebings leather dye on a leather project and liked the results I got. It seems like the Fiebings dye was more color fast when applying the finish than the wood dyes I've used.

[Clintock]

Used a min wax stain late last night. It's mid morning and still hasn't dried completely. The color isn't quiet as dark as I was hoping for by I could always try to run another coat across it. will try to he a picture up. And that's the first holster I've made that required contact cement edge burnishing or forming. 

[JLSleather]

Wood stain works quite well.  I hadn't done it since I closed teh wood shop (due to space available), but THIS GUY does it very nicely.

 

[bikermutt07]

1 hour ago, JLSleather said:

Wood stain works quite well.  I hadn't done it since I closed teh wood shop (due to space available), but THIS GUY does it very nicely.

 

That's THE guy.

[Bodean]

I would make sure, if you try it, you don't use the stain with poly added.

[Clintock]

Update. I ran it over with another coat. I'd definitely recommend staining before stitching. Causes the stitches to swell. Don't know why. And stain before the use of neatsfoot oil. If any wax from the thread gets on the leather it doesn't want to take the stain well. Can also see where the stain soaked in more at the edges. But everything has a learning process and you never succeed without first learning what doesn't work. This one is going in the scrap bin. On the other hand, it does kinda old when done like that. 

[fredk]

Nerver, ever 'bin' an item that hasn't turned out how you expected it to

Someone else will think its great and pay decent money for it. If you have a 'bin' of rejects, failures or second-quality its not good publicity for your other work

I find finishing of leather products is like art; there are no failures, just things don't turn out how it was expected to

I think that holster has a certain antique & used look to it

Edited March 19, 2017 by fredk

[Clintock]

A

8 minutes ago, fredk said:

Nerver, ever 'bin' an item that hasn't turned out how you expected it to

Someone else will think its great and pay decent money for it. If you have a 'bin' of rejects, failures or second-quality its not good publicity for your other work

I find finishing of leather products is like art; there are no failures, just things don't turn out how it was expected to

I think that holster has a certain antique & used look to it

Appreciate that! It's kinda growing on me and for the first one, I can accept it. Really not looking to sell anything. Have sold a couple western holsters that were not molded or stitched but laced. If I am to sell a few things that would help with the cost of materials. Wife already says I have too many hobbies. And she might be right but don't let her know I said that.  

[ojd]

Hi, a bit late maybe but I'd like to share an experience with wood stain on leather.

I live rurally and always try to support local businesses. I very seldom buy stuff over the net. Mostly books though (abebooks or amazon). I can't get leather dye/stain locally so I thought I'd give wood stain a try. My local paint shop (very old school, they sell all the good stuff and are very friendly and will get most things others do not carry at all, like borax and shellac flakes) had a wood stain which comes in powder form in small satchels. I had a look at the msds and it turns out to be sodium chloride (table salt) and azo dyes. Which can be used for leather. The instructions said the powder should be dissolved in boiling water, or for stubborn woods, 50% water and 50% ethanol.

Had a look at the fieblings dye msds and it's mostly alcohols plus a mixture of azo and methine dyes. Hmm worth a shot.

Turns out it works fine. The leather sucks it up fine. That the dye can rub off might be an issue, so it needs sealing with wax/oil but otherwise it works ok. Works well on edges to.

Conclusion, try to find as pure dye as possible, without any additives. Azo dyes works.

[ojd]

Also, a photo might help. Unstained on the top. Stained below.

[dbltlk44]

Definitely works! I stained/dyed some chaps last weekend with Minwax oil stain in English Chestnut. The chaps were a buckskin tan/grey, and the English chestnut turned out a beautiful deep reddish-brown.

It did NOT stiffen the leather at all, quite the opposite. I'll be conditioning soon though, after I'm confident they have gassed off enough.

A couple caveats....the "paint thinner" smell takes a while to gas off, so I would leave whatever piece you stain/dye OUTDOORS for 3-4 days minimum. Maybe more, depending on your temps and airflow conditions. Since I did the 2 halves on different days, they have gassed off at a different rate...3 days on the 1st half, and the smell is just about totally gone, but the other half still had a bit of the smell. I expect the 2nd half will be ready to go tomorrow.

When I buffed it out, the excess stain was sticky as hell...so I used ISO alcohol on the buffing rag and buffed away. Removed the sticky quite well. Also removed just a trace of color on the raised areas so gave it a little bit of the antiqued/worn in look (which I really like)..very, very happy with how they turned out, and I'd use oil stain again in a heartbeat.

[Doc Reaper]

Use the wood stain, great choice of colors

[Bert03241]

yep I like mini wax wood stain on leather

[CdK]

Short answer, yes wood work stains can be used on vegtan with success, I used the spirits based ones.

Long answer. When I started leather craft in 1979 I was a broke schoolboy on a different continent than where I find myself today. When I first visited the USA in '93 one of the first store to visit was Tandy. Fiebings was something mentioned in the few pieces of print that got me started down this path. A number of my long ago projects were retrieved from my mothers estate and they look about as good when I had stained them using carpenters stain, she used some of them regularly. I would think that 40+ years of good service is a confirmation that my choice of stain was lucky.

[dbltlk44]

Just wanted to post a follow-up...

It's definitely something that can be done successfully, and I'm very, very happy with the color and finish. There is pretty much zero rub-off, so that is huge plus. I was going to top coat these, but I realized there wasn't much need to really. 

The ONE negative I will share, is the smell. I've been airing them out for a couple weeks now, and the scent of mineral spirits is still present, although quite diminished compared to freshly stained/dyed....but, only on the suede side. The dyed side has no smell at all really. Once I figure out the key to getting rid of the smell in a manageable time frame...I think I'll be golden.

Otherwise.. I'm quite happy with how it turned out, and I wouldn't hesitate to use wood stain again!

[ThisIsMyFirstRodeo]

Experimenting with same idea.

Plain old econo veg tan belly, just tossed in a ziplock baggy with a little bit of the dye, rubbed around for a couple seconds, kinda pressed excess off in the bag, and blotted with a paper towel rolling it across with my finger. 
This is just a simple crafting dye from hobby lobby. No clue what the effect will be, if it will hold, or if it will stain anything it touches. 
Anyone try RIT dye before?

But I’ve never dyed leather before, just stained, usually with water or soda, or a sharpie, or you get the idea. 
 

Clearly I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m happy to share my mistakes… er… technique development process. Yeah, I like that, technique development process…

After all, This Is My First Rodeo

[ThisIsMyFirstRodeo]

19 hours ago, ThisIsMyFirstRodeo said:

Experimenting with same idea.

Plain old econo veg tan belly, just tossed in a ziplock baggy with a little bit of the dye, rubbed around for a couple seconds, kinda pressed excess off in the bag, and blotted with a paper towel rolling it across with my finger. 
This is just a simple crafting dye from hobby lobby. No clue what the effect will be, if it will hold, or if it will stain anything it touches. 
Anyone try RIT dye before?

But I’ve never dyed leather before, just stained, usually with water or soda, or a sharpie, or you get the idea. 
 

Clearly I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m happy to share my mistakes… er… technique development process. Yeah, I like that, technique development process…

After all, This Is My First Rodeo

Having trouble dropping the resolution for some reason, but now dried, that’s the true color, didn’t bleed onto my fingertips at all handling and squeezing. Actually really happy with the results. I think I paid $3-4 for that bottle, and I used possibly 2Tbsp of it. 
 

Still need to see what happens if it get wet or oily, or how to gloss it up, but hey,
ThisIsMyFirstRodeo

[Northmount]

Moved this thread to Dyes, Antiques, Stains, Glues, Waxes, Finishes and Conditioners.

[Northmount]

21 hours ago, ThisIsMyFirstRodeo said:

Having trouble dropping the resolution for some reason, but now dried, that’s the true color, didn’t bleed onto my fingertips at all handling and squeezing. Actually really happy with the results. I think I paid $3-4 for that bottle, and I used possibly 2Tbsp of it. 

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