Old time dyes: a How_to

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Can you cook in a cast iron dutch over for the iron? And how thick should it be after?
Coache

    I don't know why you couldn't, I've not done it that way my self, but it should work, it doesn't
 have to be thick at all, when I make my dyes , I use a 22 qt. pot with lid, I add water to about the 3/4 point on the pot, I find by just adding a few iron shavings it will darken my dye to my liking, if your cast iron pot is large enough, then it should work fine, if you only want a little, the size of the pot  wouldn't matter, or you could just do again until you have enough.

        tEN wOLVES  

[COACHE]

Thanks Ten Wolves, I have made some in the past but when taken out of the coffee and dryed, the leather is very stiff is this normal? Even after oiling it, it still pretty stiff. Maybe it's the leather I was using it was form Tandy leather 7-8oz ?
Coache

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Thanks Ten Wolves, I have made some in the past but when taken out of the coffee and dryed, the leather is very stiff is this normal? Even after oiling it, it still pretty stiff. Maybe it's the leather I was using it was form Tandy leather 7-8oz ?
Coache

      Your not putting your leather in hot coffee are you ??, I hope not, but the leather will need to be conditioned after dying, I use LEXOIL, as my first treatment, this will soften the leather up again , the leather doesn't have to be dry to apply it either, damp is fine,  this will put life back in it, after the LEXOIL, you can use your oil, but let the Lexoil have an hour or two to penetrate before doing it.

   tEN wOLVES 

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[GunClick Rick]

 I was going to ask something about coffee dying,the place i get my coffee is right around the corner and he roasts every morning at 5am,i was going to ask him what he does with the clean out stuff and wondered if it could be used for dying.He throws away cool burlap sacks and such too.Some of the ladies make purses from them.

[COACHE]

No the coffee is cool.  I looked in the old treads and Chuck Burrows used instant dark roast coffee, One jar of coffee to 3 jars of water and reduced to half. Have you tryed instant coffee as a dye?  or is using grounds a better choice? also have you tryed mixing coffee dye with vinagaroon?
Sorry for all the questions.
Coache

[TwoWalks Baldridge]

No the coffee is cool.  I looked in the old treads and Chuck Burrows used instant dark roast coffee, One jar of coffee to 3 jars of water and reduced to half. Have you tryed instant coffee as a dye?  or is using grounds a better choice? also have you tryed mixing coffee dye with vinagaroon?
Sorry for all the questions.
Coache

Just yesterday I was wondering about mixing coffee dye with vinegaroon.  I took a small bottle of coffee dye and added a small amount of vinegaroon.  I left the test leather in the mix about 10 minutes.  Today, being dry I compared it too a piece left 10 minutes in vinegaroon.  The mix is definitely a different color.  I would say it is a very dark grey with a slight brownish cast.  I plan to repeat this experiment again, this time using a piece of coffee dyed leather and putting it into the mix for 5 minutes to see what I get.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

  Pards, as I mentioned before, you can achieve different shades and colors just by experimenting, there is no one way of doing any of this, so have fun, what I posted, is my method, you can use it, or feel free to do your own thing, just using different coffee will give a different color, and how strong you make or how weak you make, mixing with other natural dyes will also produce different colors, so have fun coming up with what YOU like best !!!


              tEN wOLVES 

[TwoWalks Baldridge]

  Pards, as I mentioned before, you can achieve different shades and colors just by experimenting, there is no one way of doing any of this, so have fun, what I posted, is my method, you can use it, or feel free to do your own thing, just using different coffee will give a different color, and how strong you make or how weak you make, mixing with other natural dyes will also produce different colors, so have fun coming up with what YOU like best !!!


              tEN wOLVES  

I am new to leather working Ten Wolves, but I agree totally. I have been having as much fun playing with different combinations of dyes and times as I am having making beautiful useable items that myself and my friends can enjoy.  There must be a hidden chemist in me some place that is wanting to be released.     It has also given me a really great way to use a lot of this tooled scrap that I have been making.

[COACHE]

I'm makeing a Scout cartridge belt and will try a coffee and vinegaroon dye. hope to have it done by the weekend will post after it's done. THis will be my first cartridge belt so I'm crossing my fingers that it will turn out.
Thanks again for all the help you all have given.
Coache

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

I'm makeing a Scout cartridge belt and will try a coffee and vinegaroon dye. hope to have it done by the weekend will post after it's done. THis will be my first cartridge belt so I'm crossing my fingers that it will turn out.
Thanks again for all the help you all have given.
Coache

   Do a test sample of what you are going to use FIRST, BEFORE dyeing your leather, you want to be sure before you finalize.   Even a small amount of Vinegaroon will dominate the color!!!


                    tEN

[TwoWalks Baldridge]

  Do a test sample of what you are going to use FIRST, BEFORE dyeing your leather, you want to be sure before you finalize.   Even a small amount of Vinegaroon will dominate the color!!!


                    tEN

Ten Wolves, I took a piece of the coffee dyed leather that was still wet and placed it into the coffee/vinegaroon mix from yesterday for 10 minutes, it came out a grey brown color that is really cool and looks very antique, very cool.  Tomorrow I am going to put in another piece from the same coffee dyed piece but for only 5 minutes to see the difference.  Got to love playing with these natural dyes.  On a side note: have 3 pounds of the ground black walnut hull coming, so I will have another natural dye to play with.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

  TwoWalks, sounds like you're just having too much fun, these natural dyes can be a lot of fun to use, because you aren't ever stuck with just one color, I have found that even a short dip in Vinegaroon will give you instance color, the longer you leave it in the dye though the better the penetration and it will tend to go all through the leather, but the color will pretty much be the same, what you might want to try is using a sponge, and just dab your your leather here and there to give it a used rustic look,and then use your coffee dye over it, the trouble with mixing coffee and vinegaroon together is you will turn your coffee dye too black, and when dry and you do your conditioning and oiling, it might be too black for you, so try this on scrap first, just to be safe.

         tEN

[TwoWalks Baldridge]

Thanks Ten Wolves, I will try that sponge dabbing technique.  sounds interesting.  I have found you are right about the darkness with the vinegaroon on coffee, it does come out darker than I would like.  I oil my samples with Evoo just too see how dark they get.  I really look forward to the arrival of the walnut, this will probably be more in the color area that I like.

[Tallbald]

Just asking folks. When talk is of adding alcohol to retard bacterial growth, are we talking rubbing alcohol or drinking alcohol?

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Just asking folks. When talk is of adding alcohol to retard bacterial growth, are we talking rubbing alcohol or drinking alcohol?

     Rubbing Alcohol, I only use it in my Nut dyes, and it only works for a while, any scum that builds up can easily be scooped off, and your good to go.

                        tEN wOLVES 

[daddyeaux]

My bottle of coffee dye has a nice layer of mold on top. Should I skim it off and add some alcohol?

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

  You can skim it off, sure, mine gets that way over time, mine is a few years old now, but still does its job, you can add a little alcohol if you want, it will slow that down, but I find over time it still comes back, it doesn't bother me though, I just clean it off and I'm good too go.


                                  tEN wOLVES 

[daddyeaux]

Thanks for the advice. A little mold never hurt nothin.

[COACHE]

As I promised my belt and holster are done. I think they came out not to bad for my first. The belt is coffee & vineagroon combo,
1/4 cup of vinegaroon to 4 cups of reduced coffee sprayed on then wiped off after 5 minutes. Then after drying, two light coats of evoo then Tan Kote for the top coat. The holster is the same as the belt, but one coat of Eco Flo antique dark brown was added after the coffee & vinegaroon, then wiped the dark brown off with a wet paper towel right after applying it.
Thanks
Coache

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

 Howdy COACHE

        Well you did a great job on this rig, and I like your border tooling on the belt, one thing I would suggest is, when you cross over from on bullet loop to another, make sure you put a deep enough stitch grove in so the the thread lays under the surface of the leather, if not you will wear out your thread in no time, if you didn't do this, you can try to tap it down.
     
        Your coffee dye is nice, and even though you added that much vinegaroon you didn't get much dark or black out of it, that much vinegaroon in my die would have turned the die much more black than what you got, but I like the color you achieved, and doing the antique on the holster gives this rig a nice contrast, well done pard, you can be very proud of what you have made.

            tEN wOLVES