Question? Dyeing leather

Just bought a nice leather seat for my 35 P.U. Its in great shape, but..........Its tan and I would like to dye it red, so has any one done this with success, and how and what did you use? Thanks

 

Leather dyes are available in many colors.
The leather has to be really clean with no oil or grease anywhere.
It's hard to get the color distributed evenly by hand (vs. submerging in a tank)
But it gets a nice aged look that way.
After the dye has dried for a day follow up with clear leather finish, gloss or satin.
Practice on an area out of sight first.

 

Use the left-over Easter Egg Dye ... couldn't resist (sorry) Hoppy Easter

 

ive done a few items ...works well

try leathermagic.com or leatherique

 

Still Runnin, that easter egg dye my wife uses is that nasty pastel colored stuff, and happy Easter to you also. Steveo3002 ill check that stuff out. Thanks

 

try to stay away from waterbased dyes, they are hard to work with and usally streak. and you will have to take into account the tan colour when picking your red dye as the tan dye will make the red darker than you think.

 

I would by some from the auto paint dealer. Use in a spray gun.

 

Fiebing's leather dye. alcohol based and comes in a variaty of colors that can be mixed together to acheive the red you want. the label even says "now it's easy to change colors! works like magic!" great quality leather dye

 

i was told just the opposite , water based products are what all modern leather suppliers use , solvent based is old tech and more likley to crack

ive not used the solvent based , so cant comment ...but the water based are very easy to use and no streaking problems at all

 

This is very interesting. Does anyone have the real skinny on this waterbased vs. solvent based dye controversy?

 

I'm no expert but I just dyed a leather hoodstrap for my roadster and it came out great using dye that I ordered from Tandy Leather. Check out their website and call one of their stores and ask what they recommend for your situation. They were very helpful to me and the results were very good.

 

I have redyed leather many times. I recommend the products from Bill Hirsch or Leatherlique.

 

do not take your seat and go to town...

by a few scraps of leather similar to your seats. try a few different things and see what steps works best for your desired outcome.

I would clean the leather first

next step, I would suggest to use a deglazer, to stip any sealer from the top layer of leather. "Be careful, this shit will knock your sox off.

then I would dye the leatehr and allow it to dry for 12+ hrs. after that rub it with sheep wool or a soft rag to remove any dried un-absorbed dye from the surface. This step can be repeated to covor any streaking, or to achieve color every 12 hrs ( again try it on scrap leather first) (leather dye will stain anything, even your skin for a few days/weeks)

then use a neat foot oil or other leather oil to replenish essential oils to prevent any over drying from deglazer and/or alcohol dye. It can be applied with a scrap of sheeps wool, again let it dry for 12+ hrs each cycle. (again try it first on a scrap , oils will darken your leather and manipulate colors)

last step would be to seal you leathers top coat with a tan kote/leather sealer again let it cure for 12+hrs before repeating.

all of these items and scraps can usually bought through Tandy Leather Factory.

pm me with any particular questions. I will give you any answers I have or ask other professional leather workers what they suggest.

 

Thanks Rough Stock it sounds like your well schooled in this procedure.......................................I just looked at your albums, being well schooled is an under statement, your the PROFESSOR , love your truck I had a 51 f-1. Thanks Bruce

 

the reason we allways had problem with the water based dyes was the leather we had access to where chemical tans not vegtable tans. The chemicall tan are bad for having hard spot that aren't visable until you dye, and we found that the acohol based dyes worked the best on those areas. The only reason for cracking is if you don't put a proper sealer/finisher on top of the dye and you also need to treat leather once a year to keep it suble.

 

Bruce, was it your 40 I included in my OKC pics? I think it was, nice 40. Like your interior a lot. Joe

 

Dieing?
DRABC, start CPR!

Yeah, Im bored.......

 

mow to much..

Thanks for the compliment; but I am still a student of the craft. That will always be the case.
Perhaps you should take some pictures of your seat and post them on the thread
You should also photo document any steps you take towards completing it. It would definitely come up again somewhere, and probably be extremely helpful to the next guy.

excellent point...

yearly maintenance is key for longevity. and alcohol dye has better penetration on hard spots.

 

Okiedokie, I didn't see your post, was it pictures taken at the mini nats, I was only out there one day Fri. had to change the pressure regulator, Sat.mine has red interior, I have a weakness for black and red.

 

Tandy is switching to water based. Their old stuff is on sale.

 

Rough Stock, may be a while before I attempt to start dyeing it so this post may get a bit dusty