Dying leather naturally

[ScottC]

Here is a method I have written for how to dye leather naturally, you could use it on your sheaths, pouches etc.

By following this method you can obtain red & brown colours.

Collect bark from either Oak, Willow or Sweet Chestnut. You need about a bin bag of bark. Boil water in a big container and put the bark into the hot water and steep it for an hour. Let the liquid cool down until cold. Measure the amount of liquid you have, now add the same amount of cold water into it. Put your leather into it and carefully stir all of it. Now wait at least a day. Bring up the leather and you should now see a colour change. If you want a stronger colour you need to make a stronger liquid.

To make a stronger colour liquid:

Take the liquid you have and heat it up to rolling boil. Put more bark into it and simmer it for an hour. Now let the liquid cool down until cold and once again put your leather into it, stir it and let it be in the liquid until it won?t change colour or you?ve reached the colour you want.


Scott.

 

[ScottC]

This was reccomended to me by Juha Rankinen by the way so you can rest assured it's not a load of rubbish. Maybe someone else could add to it abit more and it could be turned into an article.

 

[ESpy]

Also, for those who want to completely obscure the leather by dyeing it black the following works:

Dissolve steel wool, iron filings, nails, forge scale, whatever in vinegar until no more dissolves. The resulting fluid contains iron acetate which will react with the tannin in the leather to form iron tannate, a black complex.

Leave the leather in a short while, and it'll go grey; you may need to redip to get full black. It takes a while for the vinegar smell to go, but it does eventually - and unlike a black dye, this doesn't rub off.