Re-dying finished and tooled leather products

[fredk]

3 hours ago, Bobadouba said:

Not sure if meth is legal here. J/K.

Not sure exactly what kind of products we’re talking about here, though. I’ll do some research and try to figure what those products would be. Thank you again!!! You all are amazing.

Sorry; I keep forgetting the language barrier.

Meths , short for methylated spirits, a wood alcohol, bought from every chemists [drug store] or even supermarket. Here it is dyed purple.

Cellulose thinners, aka lacquer thinner, for cellulose based paints which are mostly used on cars

[Rockoboy]

23 hours ago, Bobadouba said:

Not sure if meth is legal here

Meths or methylated spirits is also known as denatured alcohol.

[ScoobyNewbie]

I’m pretty sure he was making a joke guys.

[Sheilajeanne]

22 hours ago, fredk said:

Sorry; I keep forgetting the language barrier.

Meths , short for methylated spirits, a wood alcohol, bought from every chemists [drug store] or even supermarket. Here it is dyed purple.

Cellulose thinners, aka lacquer thinner, for cellulose based paints which are mostly used on cars

LOL!  Like they say, the United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language!  I had to think for a bit about meths, but eventually figured it out, as it is often called methylated spirits or methylated alcohol here in Canada.

[Gabriel Rasa]

I wouldn't recommend acetone -- yes, it'll take off the finish, but it's extremely caustic and it'll take off the top layer of your leather too. (I mean -- just think about the fact that there are literally no gloves that acetone won't eat through (butyl rubber will buy you the most time, but even that will lose in the end), and then think about what it's doing to the leather.) I used it on a project I wanted to re-dye, and I wish I hadn't, because it visibly, permanently dulled the surface. Even resolene couldn't bring back the shine afterward.

I haven't tried Fiebings deglazer (it's not legal where I live), but from what I've heard, it seems to be the tool for the job. (And everything else Fiebings makes is on point, so I believe it.)

[fredk]

Your acetone is quite different to mine.

I just checked the label on my bottle of industrial acetone. There is no mention of it being corrosive, to skin or anything. The label recommends its use for; removing fibre-glass resin from tools [which I use it for], as a strong de-greaser and as a nail polish remover. I also use it for cleaning up superglue bottle tops and spills, as a superglue release, and for cleaning adhesive gum off scissors and knife blades. In use I put some on a cloth and apply to the tool - I've never worn gloves with it and I have all the skin on all my fingers

[Gabriel Rasa]

2 minutes ago, fredk said:

Your acetone is quite different to mine.

I just checked the label on my bottle of industrial acetone. There is no mention of it being corrosive, to skin or anything. The label recommends its use for; removing fibre-glass resin from tools [which I use it for], as a strong de-greaser and as a nail polish remover. I also use it for cleaning up superglue bottle tops and spills, as a superglue release, and for cleaning adhesive gum off scissors and knife blades. In use I put some on a cloth and apply to the tool - I've never worn gloves with it and I have all the skin on all my fingers

Wild. O_o

The stuff I have causes an endothermic reaction with gloves, goes cold and shreds nitrile in under a minute. (I was using it to dilute alcohol-based dyes for dip-dyeing for a while, hence the gloves, cuz I didn't want to walk around with pitch-black hands afterward. XD) When I was using it to strip the sealant off the aforementioned project, I wasn't wearing gloves, just applying it with a rag and doing my best to keep it off my hands, but where it did get on me, it left a super-thin layer of dry, whitish skin. Not a big deal for the user, since skin cells replenish themselves so quickly, but leather can't exactly do that, so it's not something I'm keen to use anymore.