Hello,
Do you have some advice on moisturizing and bringing back the softness of leather after dyeing? When I dye the leather myself (Either with Giardini or Fiebings), especially with thinner leather like 1.0mm-1.4mm, I find that the leather looses its soft touch and becomes sligthly cardboard'ish. It also affects the backside of the stitching because the awl seems to rip the surface of leather at the corners.
Personally I sometimes use neatsfoot oil, but that never gave me great results and only partial improvement.
Have you got some advice here?
Cheers, Radek
yeah, like Radoslaw, i stopped dying leather, i just buy them dyed from the tannery and that's it. it saves lots of time and hassle.
Thank you for the responses! That's some great advice here!
I'm starting to think that dyeing leather complicates the process too much. I'm starting to think about selling small goods to the people and the additional work is quite considerable but the effect is not always great.
How does it happen then that leather dyed in tannery has a much better feel? Is the dyeing chemistry so much different?
I can see @Philip you understand the physics of dyeing pretty well. Do you know why the surroundings of holes become lighter in color than 'unpunched' parts? It feels to me like there is not enough penetration of dye in the leather. On top of that, under the pressure and friction of the awl blade the dyed fibers break up or collapse which probably leads to lightened marks.
The issue with spirit dyes and water based dyes (which contain some ethanol/methanol to aid penetration) is that they degrade the natural oils that are still in the leather from tanning. It also dehydrates the leather as well.
You can remedy this to some degree by adding oils back into the leather, but you are only reducing the friction between the fibres. The problem of the fibres being dry and stiff still remains. But now you have the issue of the new oils preventing re-hydration of the fibres.
This leather will eventually crack after a few years of use. Usually where it flexes.
Options:
Use oil based dyes.
Add oils when the leather is nearly dry (if using water based).
Dye leather when thick, re-nourish, then split.
Buy the right colour in the right thickness from the supplier.
I use A LOT of neatsfoot oil. It is the only I found that can bring back the leather suppleness. It doesn't go back to 100% pre-dying temper mind you.
Would love to know if there is another solution.