Darkening leather?

weo

weo

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Sep 21, 2014
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Hello all. Not having any tools, (or experience) I had a local craftsman make a sheath for my first completed knife (http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-replacement-WIP?highlight=gerber+replacement) and unfortunately, not too pleased with his color choice, so I'm wondering if there are any suggestions on darkening it to more closely match the handle.

FzFFmic.jpg


I asked the guy who made it and he said he already sealed the leather, but may be able to strip is if he could find the chemicals, but I'd rather not have him put any more time into this, and I had a few thoughts:
1. Take a brown permanent marker to it (this would be quick and easy, but not sure how long it would last). BTW: I'm not worried about it coming out a uniform color as a mottled look would/could match the maple handle.
2. Buff the sealer off using some high grit sandpaper (I've got up to 5000 grit on hand) and then using brown shoe polish (or above said marker).
I'd appreciate any thoughts/ideas.
Thanks in advance.
-billyO
 
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Scrub the sheath with 0000 steel wool.
Then apply brown liquid leather dye.
Wax with a coat of neutral paste shoe polish when finished.
 
If it is sealed you will need to remove the sealant. The steel wool idea may work but will probably not get the deeper recesses of the tooling. You may need a solvent to remove the sealer. Fiebings makes one that's called a deglazer.

In any case, I'd take it to a local Tandy leather store and ask for something to remove sealant and then buy a small bottle of Fiebings oil dye in the color of your choice. You'll want to seal it after dying, so use something like bag kote, or tan kote.

Hobby Lobby sells some leather dyes too.

In lieu of dying, you could remove any sealer and simply treat with neatsfoot oil to give it a natural light brown hue.

Good luck,

Mike L.
 
Perhaps after applying the leather dye, if it does not turn out dark enough, I have heard that Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP Leather Preservative will significantly darken leather. But it would help to have a scrap cut from the same piece of leather as the sheath was cut from, to test it out on.
 
The embossed portions are below the surface of the leather. The dye will be fine there. The steel wool will prepare the surface for the dye.
 
Do you know what sealant he used? If you're going for a mottled look I'd be tempted to dye right over the sealer. Acetone can be used to remove most leather finishes. Just do it uniformly. Also just setting it in the sun for a day or two will darken it significantly. I know folks that use the truck dash for this. It works. I don't really like to dye sheaths and just about won't. I'm a warm 100 percent neatsfoot oil kinda guy. My opinion, better for the leather and gives ya a longer lasting sheath.
 
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