Vinegaroon Fading

[Viking Queen]

I am puzzled.  8 months ago I made a shoulder holster for a friend.  I used vinegaroon to color the leather.  I followed Chuck Burrows' instructions for making and using the vinegaroon.  When I finished it the holster was a deep true black.

I made the vinegaroon using degreased steel wool, 2 large pads to 1 gallon of vinegar.  After about a month I strained it well.  All the steel wool had dissolved by 2 weeks time. 

 When I used it on the leather I dipped the leather, let it set a few minutes then neutralized in baking soda water then rinsed well in clear warer.  I let it dry 24 hours and it came out a deep grey color after drying.  I used a small amount of olive oil rubbed in and wiped off then 2 coats of  Mop and Glo diluted 50/50 with water.  I air dried the holster between finish coats.  After that was dried well and edges were burnished,  I buffed in a very light application of soft bees wax.  The leather I used was Herman Oak.

I saw the holster the other day and the whole rig is now a very very dark brown.  At night or in not very bright light it looks black, but in bright daylight it is dark dark brown.   It seems to have faded.  It is not exposed to the sun when used or stored, and is rarely used.

Does anyone have an idea what might have happened and how to prevent this in the future?

My friend is keeping the holster as he likes it, regardless of the color, but I am not happy that the color has faded.

This was my very first adventure into making and using vinegaroon and I am disappointed andI had hoped to use it for all my "black dye" projects.

Does anyone have an idea what went wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,  Viking Queen

P.S.  I tried to take a picture of the color change, but of course it shows up black in the pictures.

[Sanch]

I have had the exact same thing happen.  The problem in my case was the amount of time the vinegroon was allowed to set on the leather.  Keep in mind also that it works on a chem reaction with the tanins in the leather  my 2 fixes= soak longer. And just do not use it. Not worth the worry...fiebings USMC black or nothing....you can also wipe the holster with denatured alcohol allow to dry and reapply the vinegroon heavily and allow it to work longer on the tannins. But for all that trouble you may as well just wipe it with denatured alcohol coat it with a good alcohol-based leather dye such as what I mentioned then top coat it again. Me and vinegaroon do not play well anymore plus it just stinks.

[Viking Queen]

Thank you....I suspected it might be something like that.  I do have the USMC black dye on hand.  Have you experienced any issues with rub off of that dye after using it or does vigorous buffing and sealing it well take care of that issue?

 

live and learn, I guess.  Thanks again!

[NVLeatherWorx]

And also keep in mind that products like Mop-n-Glo and other NON-LEATHER intended items can, and will, have an impact on how things maintain their appearance going forward.  Shortcut methods are one of the biggest issues that most leather workers face (and yet they are being promoted and recommended constantly), especially newly minted hide manipulators.  There is a reason why there is an entire category of products that have been specifically made for use with leather and they have a very long and proven record of success which pretty much explains why you will always find your way back to them eventually.  Every new leather worker would benefit so much more from just going with the proven methods and materials that are designed to be used on leather instead of trying to find the cheap route out.  I think there are enough examples of how "cheap" ends up becoming an issue or a disaster yet we still see this being addressed at least once per week in some fashion or another.  Research, research, research, and then, if it seems too good to be true and so simple then it is possibly NOT the way to go.

[Viking Queen]

NVLeatherworks......thank you so much for your wise advice.

[YinTx]

I have a black belt I used vinegaroon on almost 2 years ago, and it is still pitch black.  I did a lot of research at the time on vinegeroon, and I never saw someone try to make it with 2 steel wool pads to 1 gallon of vinegar.  I think I used almost 2 pads to 16 oz vinegar, and it set for over 2 weeks brewing.  Strain, use, clean with baking soda mixture, rinse well, let dry, oil and finish.

I happen to have a bunch of Fiebeng's Pro-Oil Black that I am using right now with great success, but for belt linings I like the vinegaroon since I don't worry about the rub off.  Both approaches have been around for ages.

As NVLeatherWorks said, tried and true is best to start with.  Experiment if you desire after that, knowing where to go back to when needed!  

 

Speaking from some experience, the hard part of course is knowing what is actually tried and true amongst all the info out there...

YinTx

[Viking Queen]

Thank you....I did some more research a few days ago and came to the same conclusion that you did....I need to use A LOT MORE steel wool in my "recipe".  Have a new batch brewing now and will try it out in a couple of weeks.

Thank you so much for your input and for sharing your experience.  I appreciate your comments.