stained leather problem

C

camaroless

Joined
Feb 8, 2015
Messages
97
Please help me out. I am dying 8 oz leather with feinbings pro oil dye dark brown. When the sheath is done they look great. When I wet the leather to form fit the knife they dry with all kind of spots and ruin my work. Should I be putting resolene or something on the leather before I wet them? They look like the dye is getting washed out. Very disappointed.
Jb.
232323232%7Ffp83232%3Euqcshlukaxroqdfv3%3C386%3Evq%3D3268%3E76%3A%3E864%3EWSNRCG%3D3%3A974%3A6%3A7432%3Bvq0mrj

232323232%7Ffp83232%3Euqcshlukaxroqdfv3648%3A%3Evq%3D3268%3E76%3A%3E864%3EWSNRCG%3D3%3A974%3A6%3A7332%3Bvq0mrj
 
Last edited:
The widely accepted rule of wet molding is to do it first, let it dry thoroughly, then dye it. Pro Oil dyes do not react well with water.

EDIT: Striggy beat me to it!!! :p
 
I knew someone have a solution. Aint it hard to dye under the belt loop after its on ? Do any of you coat them with resolene or something for shine and water resistance ? I dye them once should there be multiple applications or is it just a waste of dye.. here is the sheath before I screwed it up
232323232%7Ffp83232%3Euqcshlukaxroqdfv3%3A73%3A%3Enu%3D3268%3E76%3A%3E864%3EWSNRCG%3D3%3A9652486932%3Bnu0mrj
 
I think you could try to put some leather conditioner on after dye to 'seal' the leather, then dissolve some of it in water and use that to wet the parts you want to mild. Just use a small brush or piece of cloth to dab the solution onto the area you need wet.
 
I haven't really found a spot that couldn't be reached with a sponge, dauber or q-tip. Only time I had an issue was when a tiny bit of cement was outside of the belt loop. Can't dye through that stuff. It's easy enough to apply a finish with a rag.
 
Never thot of q-tips I will definately try dying last. Yeah I slobbered glue once and made my scrap pile bigger..
 
To be honest, deep pouches like that do not need to be wet molded. Every pouch sheath I've ever made was dyed first then stitched, but never molded. Make em nice and firm fitted and no need for the additional wet molding.

Looked mighty good to me in that last pic!
 
Yeah, I really like the curves on that sheath. :p

Funny that this topic came up. I was looking back at some of my old threads earlier and it seems that I went through a bout of dying before molding. Probably worst case scenario too because I was using water based eco-flo dye. Didn't find myself doing that much after the first mess.
 
It did produce some pretty nifty color effects on some of them though. :D
 
On Spring Break right now, thankfully, those kids will drain the energy right out of ya if your not careful! :p

I've been taking a break from the forums the last few weeks, when its not fun anymore its time to step back, notice no web site or sub forum info below? Yep. When a forumite fusses and moans about something then turns right around and does the same darn thing, it gets old fast.
 
leatherman said:
When a forumite fusses and moans about something then turns right around and does the same darn thing, it gets old fast.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I totally understand. It's pretty hard to irritate me, but I've had what you describe happen and it's frustrating. I just bite my tongue and forget about it.

Well, I'm glad you are taking a break. Better that than getting totally burned out. After all, I've got so much to learn from you yet. :D

Enjoy your spring break my man.
 
What does everyone do for lighter colored stitching. Or do we just not wet mold and stain those?

Chris
 
Yeah im not sold on wet fitting but they do form fit well. A friend of mine bought a sheath thst was obviously coated with something. Really shiny, he wet fit a knife and no dye leached out and it stayed shiny and all one color. Have no idea what kind of dye or top coat it had just wish I knew. Tough when your a beginner and make a mess after the time and effort involved. Especially when you dont know why. I aint givin up ...
 
Salolan said:
What does everyone do for lighter colored stitching. Or do we just not wet mold and stain those?

Chris
Click to expand...
What do you mean? Are you concerned that you'll dye the thread?

One thing I've learned about stitching over black is to color the groove with a Sharpie instead of dye. Sharpie can leave a weird oil-on-water look on the leather, but the thread covers almost all of the ink in the groove. The ink doesn't transfer to white thread nearly as badly as dye and it ends up looking great.
 
That is exactly what I would be worried about, especially with a white or red thread.

Chris
 
White thread I'm not sure about, but red is fine. The worst I've seen is it darken a tad, but I probably wasn't paying attention to the drying.
 
Well rather than throw it away I tried kiwi shoe polish.....go ahead laugh but it really did a nice job. Stains are gone just enough color variation to add character. I think it looks ok.
232323232%7Ffp83232%3Euqcshlukaxroqdfv35395%3Enu%3D3268%3E76%3A%3E864%3EWSNRCG%3D3%3A978%3B%3B64432%3Bnu0mrj
 
You'll get no flak from me. First, I think it looks good, and second I had a very experienced craftsman tell me that the polishes are more effective than people give it credit for. He pointed out that those companies have spent millions on R&D. Obviously they aren't designed specifically for use on plain veg tanned, but apparently they do work better in that capacity than most give them credit for.

Always nice when you feel like you're going to have to bin something, then figure out a workaround. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top