Pre-stain cleaning

[Carnivore]

I recently used Eco-flo stain ( black) on some 3 oz. Veg-Tan leather.  After the stain was absorbed and dry there was a bluish tinged residue visible under some light conditions. The residue had a swirl pattern from the applicator I used. The question I have is , should I have cleaned the leather before staining and what should be used?

[fredk]

a/ the blue, sometimes a silvery, look is the unabsorbed dye near the surface of the leather. buff it, buff some more, buff again and again That should get rid of the tinge

b/swirl pattern; did you thin your dye? thinned dye put onto damp leather; the damp leather helps the dye to spread evenly and thinned dye can penetrate deeper before drying. A couple of coats put on this way should give you even colour with no application marks

c/ only clean leather if you really need to, to get rid of any suspected contamination. Cleaning removes some of the leather's natural oils

[Carnivore]

Thanks for the tips fredK! I will try them out.

[bullmoosepaddles]

Also a base coat of navy blue, or midnight blue followed by your black will produce a deeper more even black.