Colored Veg Tan?

[MtlBiker]

The last time I visited my leather supplier he showed me some veg tan leather 4-5oz that was already colored.  He had black, brown and tan.  He said that it could still be wet molded.  He calls it "Torino".  And it sells for $6.25 (Canadian) per square foot.  Other than the higher cost, is there any disadvantage to using this?  I asked how it should be finished and he simply said it was up to me.  (Novice that I am.  )

IF those colors work for my project is there any advantage to getting this versus dyeing a veg tan myself?  If I'm not mistaken he said the leather was more free of blemishes in the pre-dyed stuff.  It seems to me that it would be a lot more convenient for me to use this instead of having to dye (and wait for drying, multiple coats, ) etc. myself.

Thanks for any thoughts on this.

 

[fredk]

I have pre-dyed veg tan which I bought from Le Prevo.

IMO its brilliant. If you only need the colours you can get it in. In my case some shades of brown. No fussing with dyeing, cleaning up, potential bleed, et cetera. I don't really do any tooling but the leather takes a stamp impression very well

In my case I got the leather in one of Le Prevo's discount sales. It was still a bit dearer than the non-dyed but it saves more time value than the extra cost that it is. I mean, think of the time you need to spend preparing the leather for dyeing, dyeing time, space taken up whilst it dries, cleaning up you dye area - with this, just cut a piece off and you're good to go

This book cover was made from some of the pre-dyed

[Hardrada]

So far, pre-dyed veg tan is all I've used. Less risk of dye rub-off that way. Can you imagine a dyed-in-shop black belt smearing a customer's white suit?

Yes, it can be wet molded without issue. I've done that too.

For finishing, all I use is some Fiebing's Leather Balm with Atom Wax. No issues to date.

[MtlBiker]

@fredk and @Hardrada - Thanks very much!  I've just ordered (to be delivered) a piece of the black and one of the tan.  Each is supposed to be 15.25 sq ft.  And thanks for the tip about the leather balm.  I guess you apply that only to the outside?

For items such as skiving knife and axe sheaths I guess I'll continue using un-dyed veg tan but for nicer pouches, AirPod Pro cases, etc. the pre-dyed will save me a lot of time.

Months ago I'd bought some remnants from a different supplier and that's when I knew NOTHING about leather.  Now I know just an itsy bitsy tiny bit... Is there some way (that a novice could use) to tell the difference between a dyed veg tan piece from a dyed chrome tan piece?

Cheers!

 

[fredk]

3 minutes ago, MtlBiker said:

... Is there some way (that a novice could use) to tell the difference between a dyed veg tan piece from a dyed chrome tan piece?

Cut through the leather, get a clean edge. Chrome tan will (usually) have a blue-ish line in the centre of the cross-section

[MtlBiker]

2 hours ago, fredk said:

Cut through the leather, get a clean edge. Chrome tan will (usually) have a blue-ish line in the centre of the cross-section

Thank you!  I'll give that a try, and I'll especially be able to compare once my dyed veg tan arrives on Thursday.

3 hours ago, fredk said:

I mean, think of the time you need to spend preparing the leather for dyeing, dyeing time, space taken up whilst it dries, cleaning up you dye area - with this, just cut a piece off and you're good to go

Hmm... Your comment got me thinking that I'm missing something.  What's involved in that preparation of the leather for dyeing?  I've just been taking a damp sponge and (on clean veg tan) wiping the dye onto the leather.  Am I missing a step? 

Probably good that I've just ordered pre-dyed veg tan leather.

[fredk]

1 hour ago, MtlBiker said:

Hmm... Your comment got me thinking that I'm missing something.  What's involved in that preparation of the leather for dyeing?  I've just been taking a damp sponge and (on clean veg tan) wiping the dye onto the leather.  Am I missing a step? 

I like to wipe over the raw leather with one of these; cellulose thinners, Fiebings Dye Prep, isopropanol alcohol or acetone. Which one depends on which come to hand first. Any one of them will de-grease the surface and some of them will remove marks such as dirt from the surface. After using a prep, I let it dry then wipe the leather over with a damp sponge a couple of times before attempting to dye it

Chrome vs veg - chrome tan won't take a stamp impression very well nor wet mould

[Handstitched]

@MtlBiker   I use a  nat veg tan Torino. The Torino I get comes from Italy. Not sure if your supplier gets it from the same exporter/wholesaler  . Some other hides I use is called ' Capri'   also from Italy  .  Quite good stuff. 

I use the ' Torino'   nat veg tan ( 1 -1.2mm) for wallets,  custom cases etc. I can wet mould it  and dye it myself.  Had no issues with it. 

 

HS

[MtlBiker]

19 hours ago, fredk said:

I like to wipe over the raw leather with one of these; cellulose thinners, Fiebings Dye Prep, isopropanol alcohol or acetone. Which one depends on which come to hand first. Any one of them will de-grease the surface and some of them will remove marks such as dirt from the surface. After using a prep, I let it dry then wipe the leather over with a damp sponge a couple of times before attempting to dye it

I'm really glad you listed using all those products to prepare veg tan for dyeing...  I tried to find Fiebings Dye Prep here in Canada and was surprised that even Tandy Leather doesn't have it.  I found it on Etsy, but it was a 4oz bottle for $13.75 plus $36.09 for shipping!  Crazy!  And on Amazon Canada it's $5.86 plus $16.75 shipping but delivery is over two weeks!  So, I'm going to give the isopropanol alcohol a try, especially since I have some.  But surely the Fiebings would have other things to treat the leather.  I'm just not going to wait that long to get some or pay that much.     We're really not doing well in Canada when it comes to leather working products.

I didn't know about using a damp sponge on the leather before dyeing it.  Thank you for all the helpful advice you've shared.

 

[Hardrada]

2 hours ago, MtlBiker said:

I'm really glad you listed using all those products to prepare veg tan for dyeing...  I tried to find Fiebings Dye Prep here in Canada and was surprised that even Tandy Leather doesn't have it.  I found it on Etsy, but it was a 4oz bottle for $13.75 plus $36.09 for shipping!  Crazy!  And on Amazon Canada it's $5.86 plus $16.75 shipping but delivery is over two weeks!  So, I'm going to give the isopropanol alcohol a try, especially since I have some.  But surely the Fiebings would have other things to treat the leather.  I'm just not going to wait that long to get some or pay that much.     We're really not doing well in Canada when it comes to leather working products.

I didn't know about using a damp sponge on the leather before dyeing it.  Thank you for all the helpful advice you've shared.

 

Try Zelikovitz: https://www.zelistore.com/

Tandy is devoted to pushing their own house brand. Fiebing's is turning into an afterthought for them.

[MtlBiker]

14 hours ago, Hardrada said:

Try Zelikovitz: https://www.zelistore.com/

Tandy is devoted to pushing their own house brand. Fiebing's is turning into an afterthought for them.

Thank you!  I didn't know about that supplier.  They've got the product and the shipping was reasonable.  But because they didn't have a larger size, I ordered 3 of the 4 oz bottles.  Plus a corner punch that I'd been wanting.

 

[fredk]

Please note, or remember, that using any solvent to clean un-dyed / raw leather will remove its natural oils so it will need a feeding of nfo at some time