Black dye running??

[weo]

Hello all, Earlier this year, I completed my first Damascus hunter and not having any leather making experience (or equipment) I had a local leatherworker make me a custom sheath. Today, when I was cleaning my knife, I moved the sheath with wet hands and I noticed black dye running off on my fingers. I put a corner of the sheath under the faucet and as the water washed over, the dye was rinsing down the drain. Is this normal/OK? If not, any suggestions? (other than not letting the sheath get wet)

I'm hesitant to take it back to the maker because I'm not really happy with his work for a number of other reasons (didn't make good color choices, got glue on my blade that I'm having trouble removing, and he took 4 weeks longer than he said he would...)

Thanks for the advice.

 

[ninjahawk]

Maybe he used water based dye or just a poor quality dye. But even then, you'd generally put a top coat on there to prevent moisture from having that effect on the dye. That shouldn't be happening, obviously. Perhaps he soaks the leather in dye rather than dobbing it on, and oversaturated it. Either way, I'd say that applying some Carnauba cream or resolene would certainly help to lock in the dye and repel water so it can't mix with the leather. Heck, even something as simple as neatsfoot oil or other leather care products would probably do the job.