CHANGIN' IT UP . . .

Mr. Legendary Leather will be the first to tell you how

frustratin' it can be to get an exactin' dye color on leather.

I think we can all understand how a variety of leathers

might show off the same dye color differently, but most of

us would find it hard to believe that the same piece of

leather can also reveal very different results.

 

A year ago, in May, the Missus blogged about the holster that

Mr. Legendary Leather made for Brother Scrub Brush . . .

 

 

. . . while the dye color was supposed to be closer to a shade of tan,

the leather chose to reveal more of a mustard color. Brother

Scrub Brush took politely to this little 'snag', however, he was

a might happier when Mr. Legendary Leather discovered

a way of changin' the color to somethin' a might more appealin'.

 

 

Naturally Mr. Legendary Leather tested this method on an old piece of

leather before he tried it on the holster he made for Brother Scrub Brush.

He was very pleased with the results and thought some of you fellow

leather artisans might be able to use this method down the road. This

method only works if you are going from a light color to a darker one.

 

1.

First, he rubbed some mineral spirits (found in most hardware stores)

 on the holster. Mineral spirits is basically an alcohol-based laquer thinner.

This takes off any finishing wax and dirt that is on the leather.

 

2.

He then let the leather dry. This doesn't take very long, about 15-20 minutes.

 

3.

Next, Mr. Legendary Leather applied the darker dye color. He kept applying

this until he reached the desired color (anything was going to be better

than that mustardy color).

 

4.

Then he let the new darker dye color dry overnight. In the morning he

was able to tell if the dye had dried evenly, which it had. If not, he would have applied touch-ups

and let it dry thoroughly once again.

 

5.

Since the mineral spirits is alcohol-based, it can suck out too much of

the natural moisture in the leather. So the next step was to apply an oil

of some kind to restore the moisture back to the leather. Olive oil works

good, however, Mr. Legendary Leather prefers to use Neatsfoot Oil

from Tandy Leather Factory. He applied one layer to the

holster and let it soak in for two hours.

 

6.

Mr. Legendary Leather then came back and rubbed off the excess oil.

 

7.

He then waited another hour before proceeding to step #8.

 

8.

The last step was to apply a wax finish. This holds the moisture in the

leather and gives it a nice overall look.

 

 

The result was a more pleasing color which made everyone

involved very happy . . . especially Brother Scrub Brush!