Feibings die all look the same colour

[Northmount]

Yes neetsfoot oil does darken leather all by itself.  If you are using a dark dye, that may not be a problem.  But if you wish to maintain the lighter original colour of the leather, don't use it.

Tom

[cradom]

I just discovered this problem myself. My mahogany almost looks black. Then I found that if you bend and flex the leather, the color comes out, kind of like pull up. I will dilute it next time though with alcohol. Does that need to be denatured or will isopropyl work?

[Webicons]

2 hours ago, cradom said:

Does that need to be denatured or will isopropyl work?

Either one will work fine.  The extra water in the isopropyl will slow down dry time but negligible.  Always test dyes out on the exact leather you will be using and as close to the same cut of leather. Different cuts absorb dyes at different rates. 

[Mattsbagger]

That's why I switched to an airbrush. I get a nice even color that is the color I want.

[fredk]

A suggestion; and I'm not being facetious or silly with this. Get your colour perception tested. 95% of men have some degree of colour blindness whereas only 10% of women have some colour blindness [figures are approximate] I am colour blind. On a scale of 1 [perfect colour perception] to 10 [black & white only] I come in at about 8

Most browns and dark browns, dark greens and very dark blues look the same to me

[Webicons]

9 minutes ago, Mattsbagger said:

That's why I switched to an airbrush. I get a nice even color that is the color I want.

That’s a skill that I’d like to someday pickup.  I can see that being a game changer.  Just seems like a lot of work and cleanup.  On my to do list though. 

Do you have any photos of airbrushing using dilutions of the same color? That would be interesting and relevant to this thread. 

[battlemunky]

Airbrushing really isn't that much extra work. Cleaning up may take 5 minutes and use a few thimblefuls of isopropyl and a couple paper towels.

[bikermutt07]

2 hours ago, battlemunky said:

Airbrushing really isn't that much extra work. Cleaning up may take 5 minutes and use a few thimblefuls of isopropyl and a couple paper towels.

Does it save a bunch on the dye supply?

[Mattsbagger]

Way Less dye! 

[garypl]

1 hour ago, bikermutt07 said:

Does it save a bunch on the dye supply?

Mutt, you would be amazed how much less dye you use when you airbrush it.  Granted, the dye doesn’t penetrate as deep as when you dip it or apply heavily with a sponge or dauber, but I find it perfectly acceptable for most of m6 projects.  Airbrushing dye is very forgiving - hard to mess anything up!

Gary