I’m going to try to dye my light oil western saddle a brown color. I’ve read on other threads that people have had success with Fiering’s leather dye but they’re 4 oz and I have no idea how much it will take to do my saddle? anyone have any ideas? or tips?
This is the link to the leather dye:
http://shop.fiebing.com/c/leathercraft_dyes_leather-dye
Is this a new saddle, or a used one that is still light colored? I get new leather tack, use Leather Honey on it, and it does darken several degrees just with just that. Also leaves the leather a LOT more flexible and soft. I am still working Leather Honey into my new western saddle, needs a couple coatings to get it softer, able to turn the stirrups. The light areas are coming along nicely in “browning up” so saddle isn’t quite so glaringly light colored. This is going to be a using saddle, so not “looking like a rookie” with a new saddle is part of my goal! I always have liked how well used saddles brown up with being conditioned, sweat on, exposed to the sunshine of use. Lovely shades of brown to me!
Leather Honey used to be called Harness Honey, is a great product. It isn’t cheap, but does go a very long way, is excellent for leather. Not for synthetic products or shiny stuff like Patent leather. I am a convert, once I got some and tried it.
You probably should get some scrap leather the color of your saddle, do some experimenting with the dyes before tackling the saddle. You could get the light leather scraps from a saddle repair place. You may need to mix a couple of the shades of brown, to get a color you like. Write EACH recipe, so you can repeat the combination in correct amounts for the color to be consistant on the entire saddle. Then after dying leather, you will need to work in conditioner, so leather dye gets down into the pores of the leather and stays in.
The bottles you show have a fair amount of dye, but for a western saddle, I would think you need at least two that size, to have enough for all the layers of your saddle. Get some extra daubers, like what comes with the dye. They get kind of hard after being used. You may need to do two dye coatings or touch-ups after letting saddle dry for a couple days, so extra daubers will be handy. If you mix the colors, obviously you need more bottles of both dyes, so you can combine them and have enough.
Talk to the saddle repair folks, get some tips or help from experienced people that dye leather regularly. Our local repair folks are really helpful, you could call and ask for help if there is no local places. Ask for Tom or Vicky, they work leather in the repair shop.
https://www.tomswesternstore.com/index.php?route=information/contact
Yes, use and oiling and cleaning the saddle will go a long way to take a light oil saddle to a medium brown. Light oils have to be taken carefully and use only non-darkening cleaners because of it, and they normally darken even still. I bought a chestnut brown saddle in Dec, and with just a few oilings and lots of riding later it is mellowing and darkening into a much darker saddle. I painted it with neatsfoot oil a few times to help break it in and get the squeaks out. (baby powder really isn’t helping it) It isnt quite to fully broken in even with riding in it 5 days a week since Dec, but it is getting closer. I just got the higher standards leather balm that I will be trying on it the next time I can focus on it.
You’ll need a deglazer to strip any surface coating/sealer first, and even then any oil that’s been applied before may reduce absorption. It’s also tough enough to get dye even when the saddle is just pieces of leather, let alone assembled, so break things down as much as you can. Lots of leatherworkers use airbrushed dye to get even coating, though even there different parts of even a single piece will absorb dye at different rates.
As a result, for the tack I make for myself I’m a big fan of “oil it and use it” lol
Fiebings makes an oil based dye - get that if you can. The one you linked to is alcohol based and those make it much harder to get a nice even colour - especially over a large area like a saddle. Both types of dye are available in a larger bottle (about a litre here - sorry, not sure what that is in imperial measures, but it’s 5-7 times the size of that little one). I think one of the large bottles might do a whole saddle.
Your best shot for getting good even colour is to take the saddle apart as much as possible and then use a piece of sheepskin to apply the dye - forget the stupid weeny little daubers. A scrap of sheepskin that is 4"x4" would be a good size. Pour the dye into a bowl (an empty, washed margarine/yoghurt/cottage cheese/etc type container is ideal as you won’t have to worry about cleaning it afterwards!) and dip your sheepskin scrap into it. Wear latex/plastic gloves! And put loads of newspaper down underneath your work area. Apply the dye to the leather with big overlapping circles - rub it all over, dipping the sheepskin as needed. Don’t be stingy - thin coats are very difficult to get even. Pick an area that is well ventilated to do the work - I used to do it in one room where I could shut the door and leave the window open while it dried (if weather cooperated I’d have a fan blowing out the window too).
Consider picking a dye shade a bit lighter than you want. I always oil leather after dying and this darkens the colour. I’m far from soaking the leather in oil, but I am generous with it.
But seriously - get the oil dye (it says oil right on the front of the bottle) and a chunk of sheepskin.
[QUOTE=aktill;7085035]
You’ll need a deglazer to strip any surface coating/sealer first, and even then any oil that’s been applied before may reduce absorption. [/QUOTE]
Acetone***.
I bought a piece of light-colored tack that I want to darken. It has a shiny finish on it… put there to keep the leather “ever virgin,” no matter how much horse sweat and dirt it sees. I got it at Broken Horn in Los Angeles where they have an in-house saddle shop; the guys who made it and put the finish on were the same ones who told me to use acetone to get it off.
It’s tooled. I’m not afraid to strip it and oil/use. I would be afraid to dye it.
OP, I really think you should get a professional opinion before you dye your saddle.
Just dyed mine!
[QUOTE=Carlybrianna;7083910]
I’m going to try to dye my light oil western saddle a brown color. I’ve read on other threads that people have had success with Fiering’s leather dye but they’re 4 oz and I have no idea how much it will take to do my saddle? anyone have any ideas? or tips?
This is the link to the leather dye:
http://shop.fiebing.com/c/leathercraft_dyes_leather-dye[/QUOTE]
I just bought a light/medium oil flex tree off of e-bay and decided I wanted it black. I used the feibings professional oil dye and it came out great! I had one 4oz bottle for it because the seat is suede and the fenders/jockeys rough out so I had to use the suede/rough out dye for that. I would suggest 2-3 bottles of dye if you have smooth fenders/jockeys. I could have probably used 2 bottles of the suede dye. It came out a bit streaky on the fenders and I realized I missed a couple spots on the seat with a full coverage application. I don’t show or anything so it works for me!
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/v/1061190_10151679732047278_103735875_o.jpg?oh=557a24d428b41aea6339aa00624057b3&oe=51EEF69B&gda=1374624934_9007e0a060fa78da9e570529ba465e07
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/v/1057952_10151679725447278_537135464_o.jpg?oh=deb38bab4e9c263a1ec780798845b1ab&oe=51EEDDC1&gda=1374634492_3e49161dc9e3e2bd7875e9eb685cde85
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/v/1056574_10151679729012278_2046875241_o.jpg?oh=4e62e582c50cf270d5557c3cced2b931&oe=51EEACB1&gda=1374640249_2d8a1ec6e0a47737d23c36558ccdd646
I also did a one-ear bridle and reins with the same bottle of professional oil dye (forgot to use deglazer on it first but it still came out awesome… no pics though…) I plan to go over the suede and rough out again in the future just to see if I can get rid of the streaky look.
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