HELP!!! Messed up dyeing my sheath

[Suffolksteve]

Hi all,

I am in the process of making my first sheath on a real shoe string budget as there is too much month for this month pay check and I have messed up!

I was using very strong brewed coffee to dye the leather, a test piece found i needed to soak it for 10 minutes. Anyway, me being impatient with not enough coffee to submerge the entire sheath i make it as wet as i can with a rag, as it's drying I can tell it has done nothing. So I brew up a bigger batch of coffee and when it has cooled I submerged the sheath in the coffee for ten minutes, however the sheath wasn't fully dry and where it was wet has absorbed more colour as you will see from the pic.

So here's where you experts come in, what should i do?

 

[John Fenna]

I cannot see the larger version - but it looks cool in the thumbnail!

 

[Suffolksteve]

Thanks John.

I am very happy as it is my first go, but there is basically 1 CM of darker brown all round the edges and in the middle it is more of a tan brown. Just hoping I can even it out some, just don't know how!

I am not sure what I should do next either, I am thinking of waxing it as I would like it a little stiffer but I do have linseed oil as well so I don't know. Any suggestions would be good

 

[HillBill]

Just leave it as it is, if it works for the job it was made for, then its all good. It doesn't look too bad anyway. I have seen far far worse.

 

[rancid badger]

I agree with Bill, just leave it as is.

but if you want to do a bit more with it; what about dark tan or black kiwi?

A coat of polish and a good buff up and it'll gleam.

I certainly wouldn't put linseed oil on it.

cheers

Steve

 

[roger-uk]

I would leave it as it is.

Some polish but thats all its unique its yours and the story is there to tell if anyone asks or as an ice breaker.

 

[grey-array]

Indeed its nice to have something to remember your first tries, I built a guitar 3 years ago ( which was my first one) and made some mistakes there, I could fix them, but I didn't ,just so later on I will be able to tell the story but also, can see how far you have come, from your first steps into the unknown ^^

 

[WULF]

As echoed,always nice to look back on progress skills.My first ever sheath was crap but nice to look back and see how ive progress.
If you cant live with it then damp the leather and apply a leather dye.i find damp leather gives a better eveness of colour.or give it a coat of oil,i use neatsfoot.
Nice sheath btw.

 

[mountainm]

I like it, looks intentional.

 

[Suffolksteve]

Cheers guys, I have some brown polish so I will do that.

As I want it stiffer I am going to have a go at waxing. When it's done I will post up a full set of pics.

 

[grey-array]

Looking forward to seeing what comes out after waxing Steve,thanks for keeping us updated ^^

 

[Suffolksteve]

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88302&p=1065369#post1065369

Finished and new thread created.