Is there any way to bleach a hide?

[davemcg]

I've got a couple of factory tanned Elk hides, sort of a gold color, does anyone know of a way to bleach the dye out of them? Or if I were to dye them a darker shade, what colors would you recommend for 1820-1840 Rocky Mtn. region. I'll probably use at least one of them to make a pair of broadfront trousers.
Thanks for your input

 

[Tkendrick]

I used to do a lot, and still do a little leather work. It's been awhile but IIRC :

Snip a small sample of the leather to test. Put it in a jar of 1:10 mix of clorox to water.

Let it set for 24(?, I can't remember that number for sure) hours. Rinse real good and check to see that it hasn't been weakened by the bleach.

I do remember that some leathers weren't adversely affected, and some of them litterally disappeared in the jar :shocked2: , and some came out like wet tissue paper. So test 'em.

If it tests out ok, talk to Momma, and throw it in the washing machine. You'll probably have to guesstimate the mix. Let it soak for the same amount of time.

Also, this is going remove a lot of the natural oils, so the leather may not come out as soft as it was when it went in.

I got to the point it was easier, (and cheaper in the long run) to either sell it or trade it, than it was to try and bleach it.

I don't know about a PC color, but use the same procedure for dying. Cut a small piece and test it. Some factory tanned leather won't take new dyes very well, and some will do just fine.

If you are interested in selling it, send a picture of the color, I might be interested.

 

[davemcg]

Yeah it seems sort of "iffy" at best, I'd thought about clorox, but even if it did work, would it be consistent or maybe I'd end up with a lovely tiger stripe pattern :shocked2: Not sure what to do more than likely I'll just hang on to it for awhile I think it's about 35-40 years old my great aunt shot the Elk several years ago, I've had it at least 25 years...who knows once I unfold it this may be a moot point anyway.
Thanks for the advice though

 

[Tkendrick]

Had the same situation several years back with a deer hide that some one in my family had taken. He had a professional tanning job done on it, rolled it up and stored it in his closet for fifteen or twenty years.

Moths got to it, it looked like swiss cheese, and it had dried up to the point it cracked when we tried to unroll it.

Good luck.

 

[Black Hand]

Yeah it seems sort of "iffy" at best, I'd thought about clorox, but even if it did work, would it be consistent or maybe I'd end up with a lovely tiger stripe pattern

I used bleach/water to take that nasty orange color out of some commercial-tanned elk I used for winter Moccasins. I added enough bleach that the water felt "greasy", added the wetted leather and let it sit overnight with occassional stirring. Took quite a bit of color out, but I wanted it lighter so I repeated the process with fresh bleach/water. I rinsed the hide with water until I couldn't smell bleach and let it dry. The leather was a very pleasant "light smoke" color and had suffered NO ill effects. After all they use a much more concentrated base solution to remove the hair during processing, so a little bleach is not going to hurt the leather. And you do not get a "tiger-stripe" pattern if you stir it up. As to durability, I have been wearing these winter moccasins for 4-5 years now, and other than scuffs, the leather is holding up just fine. Figure I'll get at least another 5 years out of these moccasins.....

 

Better and safer than chlorine bleach is:

1) Rit Dye Remover - follow the directions..

2) Oxalic Acid aka Wood Bleach aka Leather Bleach - can be found as wood bleach at any paint/hardware store...

To re-dye I prefer using natural dyes such as walnut hulls (Muzzleloader Mag lists several vendors who can supply them) or logwood dye available from Blue Heron Mercantile - the color with either can be from a light greyish brown to near black. Other options are the Rit liquid cold water dyes or those available from Dharma Trading......

Hope this helps..

 

[Tkendrick]

Looking at my first post, I guess I might have over-stated the problems. For the most part, I never any problems with the clorox method. It worked well enough that I never had look for a substitute. (I didn't even remember about the Rit Dye remover til Gray Wolf mentioned it.)

Of course, I only buy the highest quality leathers at yard sales and estate auctions and abandoned freight yards, etc. that I haunt :wink: .

Some of what I have picked up over the years, I have serious doubts about whether it was really leather at all.

By the way, what country is the Nauga from, and what load would you recommend?

 

[paulvallandigham]

This is a huge secret, but since we are little more than 5 or 6 weeks away from St. Patrick's Day, I can share it with you.

Did you ever wonder what Leprechauns, do to make a living? They raise Naugas! Yep.

Every spring they appear behind the warehouses of furniture makers everywhere, and for a small donation provide them with Naugahydes, in any color they fancy. No matter how long or short the sofa or chair, or ottoman is, the hyde is always enough to completely cover the furniture. If the wrong shade of blue is delivered, all the worker has to do is think of the color or tone he really wanted, and the hydes immediately turn into the desired shade or tone.

If a plant is running low, the Leprechauns know, and appear instantly with their herd of naugas, and deliver more naugahydes. The animals don't mind giving up their hydes, because they instantly grow new ones.

The animal is said to be a cousin of the Mule, a large animal, but elusive, because it has the ability to change its hoof size, and gait to immitate other hooved animals in the farms and forests. It is only seen at night, when there is NO moon out, and its as dark as the bottom of a well. And then, only if you wear an infra-red light on your hat and look quickly. The Leprechauns always say it helps if you provide them with some good Irish Whiskey, and have a snort yourself to settle your nerves, you see, but if you are right quick about it, and your light is shining in the right direction you can see those Naugas wandering with their Leprechauns across the fields and through the forests. :wink: :grin: :hatsoff:

 

[davemcg]

Wolf,
All 3 of you have been most helpful and I really do appriciate all your input, you know how it is, you get an idea about doing something that "might work" then you find out someone else has already done it that way several times and it DOES work!
So that's always good to know.
I did check it last night and it is in real good shape just one bullet hole near the front shoulder and a skinning slice near the rump but other than that it doesn't appear dry or brittle, and the color really isn't all that bad, it's not that really gross yellow gold you get sometimes, it's a softer / lighter shade. As I said previously I intend to make a pair of trousers out of it so it may look ok as is. When I make things I always put the flesh side out to at least try to make it look brain tanned.
Thanks again for your help and input.

 

[Tkendrick]

Paul

I always wondered where those empty bottles of Bushmills I keep finding come from.

And these leprakin....leprocho....leeper...

These little herdsmen you're talking about, they aren't kinda bluish-green by any chance, are they?
Do they by chance hit folks on the head with clubs, seems like every time I find one a them bottles, I seen them little fellers the night before, and usually have a really bad hang...uh, headache that day. And by any chance do a freshly skinned Nauga look like a kinda pinkish elephant?:grin:

That would explain a lot. Don't suppose you could splain that to Momma do ya?

 

[paulvallandigham]

Sorry: I have only been " clubbed " a couple of times, and Momma didn't believe me, then, either! :rotf: :surrender:

At night with those infra-red lights, everything looks red, so I can't help you with those colors, either. All I know is that Naugahyde seems to come in every possible color I would never be caught dead having in my home on furniture! That includes " pink ". Sometimes waking up in the morning to discover what you dragged home during the night is a terrible thing to do to mortal man! You learn to keep another bottle of Irish Whiskey near your bed, just for those occasions, my boy!

As for those bottles, if they hit the ground, leave them! They are way too dangerous, as you have already discovered, to try to pick up. Leave them for the Leprechauns, and they will leave the clubbing for someone else not so wise! The Wee ones have to be respected, don't ya know, now! :wink: :hatsoff:

 

[Charles D. Prokopp]

Paul, you've been in Champaign too long.

 

[paulvallandigham]

YOu are right. Blame Mr. Kendrick for stealing this thread and sending it off into the blarney! There he sits in Arizona, feeling sorry for those of who try to stay warm when its -4 degrees outside this night. He is probably getting ready to attend the NMLRA Winter Nationals in February, and is hoping the rainy season holds for a couple of days. I wish I had his prlbems.

But there he goes, asking where you find Nauga to make those hydes. YOu would think a man living in such comfort would have better things to do than to be asking such a question at this time of year. The wee people are all busy in their caves, staying warm, and making tools for the Spring planting season and tending to the barrels of fine whiskey in their distilleries, so they can raise more Naugas. They have no time to be answering this silly man from the deserts about where something comes from, when everyone should already know where they come from.

I thank you for the scolding, or be it a compliment, I thank you twice more and wish you an Irish prayer.

May the road through life always rise softly to your feet, may the sun always shine warmly on your shoulders, may the wind be always at your back, and may you be dead and singing with the angels for a day and a night before the devil even knows you're gone.

 

[Tkendrick]

I was truly hurt by your last comments, Paul.

I would have responded earlier, but I was busy looking for my Parka and Mukluks.

After all, the temps got all the way down to BELOW 40 last night!

Yep, had to put a robe out by the hot tub, and to top it all off, I ran out of Bushmills, so I had to crack open a bottle of Jameson's.

I know you jest, but life's rough out here, and to make matters worse, it actually rained yesterday!

So go ahead, blame it all on me, kick me when I'm down.

I'll try to not be bitter. :rotf:

 

[paulvallandigham]

We only got down to 05 degrees last night, before the temperature rose. They were predicting possibly -9 degrees, which was our record low temp for that date, but we didn' get near it.

If you guys in Arizona every actually had some SOIL instead of rocks and clay, and sand, you might be able to hang on to some of that water you get the two days a year it rains. :rotf: :hatsoff:

 

[davemcg]

I thought I'd give you all an update, I finally got those hides bleached, (the Elk hide is fine, the color isn't as obnoxious as I'd first thought) I'm thinking the Elk will make a right fine "hunting coat" but I did bleach two dark brown deer hides. I just used Clorox since I was more familier with it than wood bleach or Dye remover, just shy of a gallon to 10 gal. of water, I let them soak in a 30 gal. trashcan for only about 4 hours, stirring periodically, and they seem to have come out just fine, better than I'd hoped for actually sort of a lightly smoked buckskin color. But boy do they still smell like bleach, :hmm: I've rinsed them at least 1/2 a dozen times in clear tap water and with mild soap, I even tried a weak vinegar solution, I think my next step is to actually smoke them per Matt Richards Deerskins to Buckskins book, then I'm going to follow his recipe for using Neatsfoot oil and soapy water to replenish the oils 2oz oil: 1Gal water. (I may reverse this process, no sense washing out the smoke)If I'd known the smell was going to linger so badly I would have used Lemon or "fresh linen" scented bleach instead of plain old :rotf: :rotf:

Can you wash buckskins in the washing machine with laundry detergent? How much abuse can they survive?

 

[paulvallandigham]

I wash my elkskin pants in the bathtub using woolite, rinse and hang them to dry. They are only a little bit stiff, and easily soften up when I put them on again. I have not washed them often, but after several years of doing demonstrations and rendezvous, my wife insisted that they either be washed, or no longer hung in the closet! :yakyak: Women! Just no sense about what is right! :grin: Anyway, my efforts in the bath tub assured domestic tranquility on that issue, so it was worth doing. :surrender: :hatsoff: