How to buff without your arms falling off

[Ashley55]

Thank you all for the excellent advice! I will absolutely try reducing the dye, I think perhaps I was putting it on too thick. I just finished a black piece, just the regular black not the USMC, and buffed and buffed and buffed until finally no dye was coming off. I didnt have any problem with rub off after resolene after that. 

[Ashley55]

Me again! Have been doing all kinds of reading and YouTube watching lately and it seems like people either have the same problem or no problem at all (with lots of dye coming off when buffing). Which leads me to this question:

Does the quality of the leather affect how the dye is absorbed and how much pigment gets left on the surface? 

I will admit, I am using Tandy leather, the cheapest Tandy leather... And with all my reading I've also learned that this is not the best kind of leather to use for most things. So could this also be contributing to my issue?

[battlemunky]

I have used all sorts and honestly haven't paid too much attention to it. Some rubs off a lot and some doesn't but I find it all rubs off to some extent. I'll have to pay more attention and see.

[fredk]

6 hours ago, Ashley55 said:

Me again! Have been doing all kinds of reading and YouTube watching lately and it seems like people either have the same problem or no problem at all (with lots of dye coming off when buffing). Which leads me to this question:

Does the quality of the leather affect how the dye is absorbed and how much pigment gets left on the surface? 

No, its the dye. I recently, only 10 days ago, used an oil dye I'd bought from a maker in England. I used it on my game board. It took several coats to get the dyed areas looking even. Then after an hour or so I started to buff it and guess what ? Nothing, absolutely no dye came off on my cloth, and I'm so used to getting a dirty cloth using Fiebings dyes.

When I brushed on a sealer over the dyed areas nothing changed, no dye came off.

As for it 'might have been the leather?' no, I've used other dyes on those two leathers before and got dye off thru buffing.

[Ashley55]

Well there goes that thought LOL

Today I was buffing some pieces I dyed yesterday. One had a single coat of saddle tan, and the other was black. I coloured up a whole rag with the saddle tan. The black, next to nothing coming off! I prepped them the same way, the only thing that was different was I cut the black piece from the other side of the hide. I'm going to try dying a piece from that side again tomorrow with the saddle tan and see what happens...