Can I dye veg tanned leather before Wet forming?

[R.H.Clark]

I've been using Fiebings dye. I want to construct a sheath using two pieces of leather two different colors and a piece of exotic wood. I would like to try to advoid any dye bleeding into the wood or trim piece.

 

[leatherman]

I've always dyed afterwards.

Hopefully someone has tried it before and can let us know how it went.

 

[rayban]

I have wet molded after dying before with no problem...make sure you get the leather all evenly wet or you'll run the risk of water stains.

 

[R.H.Clark]

Thanks for the input. Is there a better way to keep the dye exactly on the different pieces without bleeding into the wood or each other? I'm making a nordic style sheath with exotic wood and two color leather.

 

[sheathmaker]

I have never done what you are going to attempt, but if I was going to do it, I would "block cut" the individual leather components and then wet dye them. Wet dye is to get the leather really wet and then apply the dye liberally and let it really penetrate. (Find the tread where Mike T explains his method). Then when the leather with the dye is completely naturally air dried, cut out the pieces and assemble and then wet form. I'd recommend at least 24 to 48 hours for complete drying and then buff the leather with a soft cloth or paper towels to remove any service residue of the dye from both the grain and the flesh side, and then cut out. This process will be as near as you can duplicate the drum died leathers from the tannery.

This is the very reason I buy four colors of drum died leather from Wickett and Craig, but I use a lot of leather so a whole side of one color is not a big deal for me.

Paul

 

[Beo-wulf]

There is a lot of good advice here.
I have done a few sheaths with differants colors before.
There should not be a problem to dye the seperate pieces first then assemble.
Let them dry really well, and dye some scraps to use as a test to see how they react when you oil it or put on a protective coat. Differant ones have differant bleeding results.