Dip dyeing leather straps

[Jason046]

I normally use a dobber when dyeing my black leather straps. I have a big order of straps though and felt dip dyeing using a large tupperware container would save me time. Anyone have experience doing this and offer any tips or prefrences

[mike02130]

Is it not feasible to buy pre dyed leather?

[fredk]

I've not had to do many straps recently, but, rather dip in a tray I got a length of plastic piping, about 4.5 feet long by 2 inches i/d.  I sealed up one end. I mount that vertically with pipe clips on the side of a small bench. I attach a piece of wire to one end of the strap for hanging up. Also using that wire as a grip I dip the strap into the dye in the piping tube. I let the strap soak for a bit then I draw it out, allowing it to draw, carefully, over the edge of the tube which takes off some liquid dye on the strap surface. Then I hang it up to dry. If the strap is more than about 4 to 4.3 feet, I just dip dye one end, up to about 2/3 length, draw it it and reverse it and dye the remaining part plus a generous overlap. As the leather is bring dipped dyed and the dye is allowed to soak in I find there is no noticeable difference on the ends of a long strap.

But the tube doesn't hold much dye, maybe 1 litre, and the leather soaks it up pretty quickly so a good stock of dye, thinned or not, needs to be ready to make sure all the straps are the same colour

[Jason046]

Thanks, I have seen a couple videos and figured black would be the safest color to do it on seeing as how its less blochy and streaky. We spray brown and red dye but the black i usually just dob but even 5 or 6 straps and it gets time consuming. figured dipping would go alot quicker taking care of both sides and edges at once

[Jason046]

7 minutes ago, mike02130 said:

Is it not feasible to buy pre dyed leather?

The reason we dont buy pre dyed leather is we do a wide variety of colors so its easier just to do it from scratch. Might look into that though. Also i like the price and quality of the leather we buy so its hard to change

[TomG]

I've dip dyed 7 foot straps for years now.
I use a Rubbermaid sealable tub that's about 10" long and 3-4" wide. I fill it with full strength black (1 tub for each color) and then coil the strap up and place it in the tank. I let it sit for 20-30 second or until the bubbles stop.
I then wrap a rag or paper towel around one end and draw the strap through it, wiping the excess off and I go. I then hang it from a simple rack I made using a 1/2" thick x 1" wide piece of lathing strip that I've driven small nails halfway through. This way, I can hang up to 50 straps on 25 nails, one to each side.
Now, for colors other than black, I do it differently. I hold one end of the strap in one hand and the rest up it wadded up in the other. I feed it down and through the dye, gathering the dyed end and releasing the undyed end as it passes through. I time it so each section of strap is only in the dye about 5 seconds. the key is to not stop the motion. It does take some practice. If you stop the motion for more than a second or so, you can get uneven coverage.
Or, mix your dyes so that a soak of 1t5 - 30 seconds gives the final color that you like. It's more pronounced on lighter browns and such. Play with it and once you develop the techniques, you'll daub very few strraps again.

 

[Arturomex]

1 hour ago, fredk said:

I've not had to do many straps recently, but, rather dip in a tray I got a length of plastic piping, about 4.5 feet long by 2 inches i/d.  I sealed up one end. I mount that vertically with pipe clips on the side of a small bench. I attach a piece of wire to one end of the strap for hanging up. Also using that wire as a grip I dip the strap into the dye in the piping tube. I let the strap soak for a bit then I draw it out, allowing it to draw, carefully, over the edge of the tube which takes off some liquid dye on the strap surface. Then I hang it up to dry. If the strap is more than about 4 to 4.3 feet, I just dip dye one end, up to about 2/3 length, draw it it and reverse it and dye the remaining part plus a generous overlap. As the leather is bring dipped dyed and the dye is allowed to soak in I find there is no noticeable difference on the ends of a long strap.

But the tube doesn't hold much dye, maybe 1 litre, and the leather soaks it up pretty quickly so a good stock of dye, thinned or not, needs to be ready to make sure all the straps are the same colour

A cylinder at 2 inches i/d and 4.5 feet long holds 2.79 litres.

[Jason046]

1 hour ago, TomG said:

I've dip dyed 7 foot straps for years now.
I use a Rubbermaid sealable tub that's about 10" long and 3-4" wide. I fill it with full strength black (1 tub for each color) and then coil the strap up and place it in the tank. I let it sit for 20-30 second or until the bubbles stop.
I then wrap a rag or paper towel around one end and draw the strap through it, wiping the excess off and I go. I then hang it from a simple rack I made using a 1/2" thick x 1" wide piece of lathing strip that I've driven small nails halfway through. This way, I can hang up to 50 straps on 25 nails, one to each side.
Now, for colors other than black, I do it differently. I hold one end of the strap in one hand and the rest up it wadded up in the other. I feed it down and through the dye, gathering the dyed end and releasing the undyed end as it passes through. I time it so each section of strap is only in the dye about 5 seconds. the key is to not stop the motion. It does take some practice. If you stop the motion for more than a second or so, you can get uneven coverage.
Or, mix your dyes so that a soak of 1t5 - 30 seconds gives the final color that you like. It's more pronounced on lighter browns and such. Play with it and once you develop the techniques, you'll daub very few strraps again.

 

Thats a really good idea, I think I will give it a try.Black isnt too much trouble soI would guess you dont have to worry about inconsistency doing it that way. 10 inches X 4 inches will fit the straps you use coiled up?

[TomG]

Yes. I've only had a slight issue when I used some 12oz saddle skirting, but it worked fine. Just pull it out slower and let it uncool as you do so.

 

[JLSleather]

15 hours ago, mike02130 said:

Is it not feasible to buy pre dyed leather?

where da like button?

5 straps I might dye

15 straps getting ordered already black

[battlemunky]

1 hour ago, JLSleather said:

where da like button?

He's back! Good to see you @JLSleather!

[maxdaddy]

A few years ago I started using vinegroon to make all of my strap handles black. It's a very forgiving, cheap, and fast procedure... Basically I can dump dozens of straps in a plastic bin with the 'groon and swish them around in it for a minute or so. Then lay them out for a few minutes on a flat surface. I see them turn dark black quickly and after a few minutes I rinse them en-masse in a water/baking-soda bin for a bit and finally rinse them in a bin with clear water. Start to finish in less than 15-minutes and I can do *lots* of straps at once. After they dry, buff a little and apply oil and you're good to go. The oiling takes much longer than the rest of the process since it is done with a dauber. 

Vinegroon may not be the best solution for this particular project but I recommend that you try it just to judge the range of possibilities.

 

[mike02130]

19 hours ago, Jason046 said:

The reason we dont buy pre dyed leather is we do a wide variety of colors so its easier just to do it from scratch. Might look into that though. Also i like the price and quality of the leather we buy so its hard to change

Yeah, I understand.  Buckle Guy sells premium dyed leather sides in a variety of colors.  They offer strap cutting service.  I think they charge 25 bucks per side.  Might cost more but if you figure your labor and frustration, it may be worth it?