Sealing leather

[PappysLeather]

What is best to seal leather after dying it? How do  apply it without taking the dye off? I think I just ruined a project I was working on for a customer when I was sealing it and it started removing a lot of the black dye. I am about to throw in the towel doing leather work if I cannot dye it and the dye stays on when I seal it. I was spraying super sheen but it had a lot of bubbles and I used a sponge to try to spread it out to get rid of the bubbles. Last time I sprayed it left spots where the bubbles were.

[TargetRockLeather]

Two questions:

1) What kind of dye are you using? If you use Fiebings Pro Dye that won't wipe off once it's dry.

2) What are you trying to accomplish by "sealing" it? Again, if using the Pro Dye it's quite durable and shouldn't need to be sealed. Super Sheen, Resolene and other products will somewhat protect the finished piece and shouldn't disturb the dye. If you're trying to protect the piece from harsh weather, there are far better products out there than super sheen.

[JazzBass]

I agree that the Pro dye is far superior to many others...
Another thing to do though, is to brush your piece after drying. Pigment that does not penetrate should be removed before sealing with Resoline, Super Sheen or other waxes/oils, or you can get running or rub off from the unabsorbed pigment.

[PappysLeather]

I used black antique first but wasn't as black as I liked so went over it with usmc black. I buffed it after it was dry with lambs wool.

Edited July 15, 2019 by PappysLeather

[PappysLeather]

Is there something else l can use now to help even it out. It has some dull spots where I tried to get dye on it where it came off

[TargetRockLeather]

From my experience with antiquing finishes, they don't penetrate as dye would. In fact I think it would act as a barrier preventing the dye from penetrating. I'm guessing that's what happened in your example. It looks very blotchy in the picture. Did you use a dauber to apply the dye? if so, perhaps using a piece of lambs wool to apply it would even it out. You might even try dip dying it. It's probably going to be difficult to get it even with the antique finish on it.

[PappysLeather]

Will oil base dye penetrate the super sheen I put on it?

[dougfergy]

Probably not, and if so , not evenly, in my opinion.  I'm going with what was said about the antique being a sort of finish that the dye has a hard time penetrating.  Then you put super sheen (finish) on top of that.  You might be able to scrub off some of the finishes with alcohol or leather cleaner/deglazer from Fiebings, maybe?  Then use pro dye again and see what you end up with.  I've used antique finish as a base coating and it always ends up looking somewhat blotchy and "antique" which I was going for.  For a solid coloring, it's best to use pro dye.  A sponge brush might work for that large a piece.  

[PappysLeather]

Here is a picture of finished project

[wizard of tragacanth]

Nice project. It looks great! So, how did you fix this?

USMC Black gives a very deep black but it leaves a great deal of particulate on top of the leather. It must be buffed off before further treatment and it takes a great deal of work, feeling like it will never end. Fiebing's Pro Oil should also be buffed after applying, but there will be very little rub-off. Also, you may notice that USMC Black and all of the non-oil dyes really tend to dry out your leather and make it very stiff. Sometimes this can be an advantage, as in a holster that needs to maintain it's shape. Still, I cannot put up with the rub-off with those dyes... drives me nuts. 

BTW, the general rule of thumb on applying any kind of liquid top-coat is to go with very thin applications. You can do multiple applications but make sure they are thin, every time. You could use neutral shoe polish and not have to worry about it.

nick 

Edited July 19, 2019 by wizard of tragacanth