preping leather

[utah leather]

what is the best way to prep ( clean ) your leather before dyeing, for some reason everything I have tried isn't working, accidently sprayed rubbing alcohol on my hide and when I dye a strip of leather it has little spots on it that won't except the dye. I have tried denatured alcohol, acetone( to clean the strip before dyeing and then the leather won't except the dye at all ) tired of wasting my leather, I have never had this happen before, what am I doing wrong,  ??????

[JLSleather]

I don't do anything to it.  No acetate, no alcohol, no acid, .... Have you purchased leather with some type of coating or finish on it?

[fredk]

Where are you getting your leather from?

I rarely clean or prep veg tan leather before working on it. I've never had any problem of any area refusing dye. I do have some upholstery leather which is pre-dyed and has a sealant on it. To cut thru that I wash down with cellulose thinners aka lacquer thinners [?]

I wash down the leather with cellulose thinners once or twice. I mean wash it, not just wipe it over. I use a rag well soaked in the thinners. This does remove oils from the leather but I put some back later with a nfo mix

[utah leather]

6 hours ago, JLSleather said:

I don't do anything to it.  No acetate, no alcohol, no acid, .... Have you purchased leather with some type of coating or finish on it?

I didn't used to but I thought I read on here where some people were preping it with something ( deglazer ) before dyeing and someone said that deglazer was just alcohol, DNA, acetone , ? something The hide might be shot if I can't figure out what is going on with it

[mdawson]

9 hours ago, utah leather said:

what is the best way to prep ( clean ) your leather before dyeing

 

Hi, I noted this thread a while back, but not tried it so cannot comment on whether it would be appropriate for your situation, I'll be interested to hear how you make out.

 

[johnv474]

Again, where is the leather from?  Does it appear to be natural, undyed veg tan? Was this in the bargain bin? What dye are you using?  How are you applying it? Has anything happened to the dye, such as freezing?  Any or all of these factors can be a factor.  We can't see what you're looking at so we need help with context or background information to give better answers.

Speaking of which, a picture is worth a thousand words.

That said, the rubbing alcohol, by itself, shouldn't interfere with dye.  Is it only in the area where the alcohol hit the leather that the dye won't absorb?  The spots that don't accept dye could be within the normal range of acceptability but your expectations are higher.  Or, they could be glue, wax, or some other contaminant that splashed, flicked, or fell on the surface.

Or, it's is possible that you simply received a hide that simply was a lower grade.

In general, cleaners would go in roughly this order, in order of increasing strength: water, alcohol, soap, dish soap/detergent, vinegar, ammonia, spot remover/dry cleaner, contact cement thinner, deglazer, acetone.  I used deglazer on a pair of over-oiled boots once and, after a few passes, watched the factory dye smear right off.

If I have a question about the leather's history I clean it with saddle soap to remove light amounts of oils, dirt, polish, etc.  If a test piece doesn't dye properly then I may go up to spot remover. It's not common that I need to do more on an undyed piece of leather.

If you are using water-based dyes then get something else.

Hope this helps some.

-JV474

Edited May 9, 2019 by johnv474

[utah leather]

On 5/8/2019 at 8:58 PM, johnv474 said:

Again, where is the leather from?  Does it appear to be natural, undyed veg tan? Was this in the bargain bin? What dye are you using?  How are you applying it? Has anything happened to the dye, such as freezing?  Any or all of these factors can be a factor.  We can't see what you're looking at so we need help with context or background information to give better answers.

Speaking of which, a picture is worth a thousand words.

That said, the rubbing alcohol, by itself, shouldn't interfere with dye.  Is it only in the area where the alcohol hit the leather that the dye won't absorb?  The spots that don't accept dye could be within the normal range of acceptability but your expectations are higher.  Or, they could be glue, wax, or some other contaminant that splashed, flicked, or fell on the surface.

Or, it's is possible that you simply received a hide that simply was a lower grade.

In general, cleaners would go in roughly this order, in order of increasing strength: water, alcohol, soap, dish soap/detergent, vinegar, ammonia, spot remover/dry cleaner, contact cement thinner, deglazer, acetone.  I used deglazer on a pair of over-oiled boots once and, after a few passes, watched the factory dye smear right off.

If I have a question about the leather's history I clean it with saddle soap to remove light amounts of oils, dirt, polish, etc.  If a test piece doesn't dye properly then I may go up to spot remover. It's not common that I need to do more on an undyed piece of leather.

If you are using water-based dyes then get something else.

Hope this helps some.

-JV474

thank you for everything but my leather comes from Moser Leather out of Ohio and I have been buying his leather since I started 5 years ago , never had a problem. I actually call him and I tell him what I'm looking for and he will pick it out for me and mail it over here, you don't get that kind of service these days and thats why I buy from him ( Jim Moser ) . I never used to do anything to the leather, I would just dye it ( all I use is alcohol based dye from fiebings ) then 3 coats of Resolene, thats it. I read somewhere that people were cleaning the leather before they dyed it . So at first I just used DNA or rubbing alcohol to strip the resolene off if I redyed something, no problem, all was good so I thought I would try it on my 8 oz veg tan leather to see what the difference was. ( it's weird because the first few pieces I cut from this hide were fine ) ( black dress belts ) then after the rubbing alcohol everything turned to shit, I even tried DNA nd acetone just to see what would happen ( same thing ). So I cut a few more and didn't do anything, just dyed it , same thing plus the little specks from the rubbing alcohol. I'm ready to give up on this little business ( this is 1 reason plus I'm tired of trying to convince people that my belts are better than the belts you buy at wal mart ) all people see is price, I have a couple belts to finish ( 1 is a gift for a vietnam vet ) then I think I will call it quits, just tired of dealing with stupid people that don't understand common sense.

[mikesc]

I'm wondering if your "rubbing alcohol" hasn't got something else in it..some rubbing alcohols contain traces of oils ..some say on the bottle for example "with oil of wintergreen"..even if yours doesn't say so..it may have been made in a place where they also make rubbing alcohol with "additives"..and been contaminated..oil of wintergreen ( and many other "additives" ) will make a "resist"..that will stop your dye from "taking" if you get any drops of it on the leather...If that is what has happened..Then fredk's "washing" way is about the only way to get the surface to absorb evenly again..

Edited May 18, 2019 by mikesc

[johnv474]

On 5/18/2019 at 4:28 AM, utah leather said:

thank you for everything but my leather comes from Moser Leather out of Ohio and I have been buying his leather since I started 5 years ago , never had a problem. I actually call him and I tell him what I'm looking for and he will pick it out for me and mail it over here, you don't get that kind of service these days and thats why I buy from him ( Jim Moser ) . I never used to do anything to the leather, I would just dye it ( all I use is alcohol based dye from fiebings ) then 3 coats of Resolene, thats it. I read somewhere that people were cleaning the leather before they dyed it . So at first I just used DNA or rubbing alcohol to strip the resolene off if I redyed something, no problem, all was good so I thought I would try it on my 8 oz veg tan leather to see what the difference was. ( it's weird because the first few pieces I cut from this hide were fine ) ( black dress belts ) then after the rubbing alcohol everything turned to shit, I even tried DNA nd acetone just to see what would happen ( same thing ). So I cut a few more and didn't do anything, just dyed it , same thing plus the little specks from the rubbing alcohol. I'm ready to give up on this little business ( this is 1 reason plus I'm tired of trying to convince people that my belts are better than the belts you buy at wal mart ) all people see is price, I have a couple belts to finish ( 1 is a gift for a vietnam vet ) then I think I will call it quits, just tired of dealing with stupid people that don't understand common sense.

For what it's worth, I, too, would trust leather coming out of Moser.  I think sometimes they buy leather and resell (not certain, though).  

As MikeSC pointed out, maybe the alcohol had something else in it.

Your predicament with dyeing that piece is a bit perplexing.  Fiebings makes a dye prep, that is supposed to help the dye soak into the leather deeper/faster/better... and I believe the active ingredient is ammonia (but I dont know if there are other important ingredients).  You have already used stronger chemicals than those in this process.  If your dyes and everything work on other leathers I'd begin to think maybe a portion of that hide didnt quite get fully tanned or something.

Hope you get it figured out.