PappysLeather Report post Posted July 19, 2019 Do leather dyes get old and not work as good? I was applying a dye I have had for awhile and it didn't seem to go on very well. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rockoboy Report post Posted July 19, 2019 The solvent can evaporate, so that can change a dye. I think the worst thing that can happen to dyes, coatings and adhesives is massive temperature fluctuations. Anything near freezing or getting close to boiling is bad. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Handstitched Report post Posted July 20, 2019 I have in past been given all sorts ...stuff, like tools, ....and old dyes etc. I think its just a way to clean out their sheds and off load their crap ...onto me . With water based dyes, some are sort of OK, some I have been able to re-use, but some have dried out, and as Rockoboy said, the solvent or spirit based dyes can evaporate , I chuck those out. But what sort of can be used, I test on a piece of scrap. I was once given a home made ' leather dressing' made of God knows what "oil" ...it smelt like rotting roadkill ...in the bin it went HS Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nrk Report post Posted July 24, 2019 On 7/19/2019 at 10:08 PM, PappysLeather said: Do leather dyes get old and not work as good? I was applying a dye I have had for awhile and it didn't seem to go on very well. yes. especially depends on dye type (water based, oil, spirit) spirit and oil evaporate Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikesc Report post Posted July 24, 2019 (edited) yes. especially depends on dye type (water based, oil, spirit) spirit and oil evaporate Actually, spirit(s)/ solvent(s) evaporate, oil(s) oxidise/ polymerise. it is even a bit more / lot more complex than that..but..they ( spirit / solvent or oil dyes ) both get older..some spirit / solvent dyes you could get lucky with , add more solvent and re-dilute them again, but, much better to throw them, or at least not use them for anything that you want seen.. They will also risk "bleeding through"if you add solvents.. Oil dyes are not possible to "re_dilute" as they will have changed chemically..you could add solvent, but they will never be the same. Best to get rid of either once they have "gone over", why take the risk of spoiling something that you have put a lot of time into , just to save a few dollars on fresh dye. Water based dyes evaporate ( the water part does ) and also change chemically when they are left..adding water or solvents back into them doesn't recover them properly.. Seal all stock airtight, keep it in the dark, ( preferably in dark glass bottles* ) only take out as much as you are going to use. *if you can get any of those glass marbles, even kids marbles, they don't have to be dark, add them to any dyes in the bottles that you are storing so that the level of liquid is as close to the caps as possible, restricting the amount / volume of air that the dye is in contact with in it's bottle will help them to last longer.Adding glass marbles brings the levels up.Reduces the air volume..Lab technique :) In chemistry labs you use clear glass marbles..clean kids marbles will work for dye. Edited July 24, 2019 by mikesc Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
