Newbie building a shooting bag

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Chris C

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Ive been searching without much luck.
And I tried the frequently asked questions here.

I have some vegetable tan sides to build a shooting bag. How do I get that nice oiled look?
 
Welcome to the forum and to the Craftsman Section.

Plain Veg tanned leather is not a "dyed and oil finished" type of leather. So that means you have to dye it as you like and apply the finish and/or oil, yourself.

To dye the smooth side, I strongly prefer the standard Fiebing's dyes in the color of your preference: https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/fiebing-s-leather-dye

Over the dye on the smooth side, I recommend this:
Fiebing's Leather Balm w/Atom Wax https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/fiebing-s-leather-balm-w-atom-wax


As to the Oil that goes on the Rough side of the leather, I prefer Lexol Leather Conditioner and Preservative in the Brown bottle, though others like different oils.

Gus
 
Last edited by a moderator:
BTW, a good tip is to MOISTEN the smooth side of the leather before applying the dye, so it does not soak up too much dye in any one spot.

Do the same thing on the rough side of the leather before applying the Lexol or Oil.

Do not moisten the leather when you apply the Atom Balm over the dyed smooth side of the leather. The leather should be fairly dry when applying that product.

Gus
 
A year later I'm encouraged, but the jury is still out for longer term wear:

After dying some veg tanned (Fiebings), I simply rubbed a goodly amount of Track of the Wolf's Mink Tallow patch lube into the leather. The results looked very good at the time, and with "refreshers" of the tallow now and then, it continues to provide great service. The leather has almost a "buttery smooth" texture to it, more pleasing to the touch than commercial oil-tanned leather I've tried from a couple of sources.
 
At first I just kept rubbing in as much as it would take, then letting it sit overnight. Took one heavy treatment, one medium treatment and one light treatment (3 overnights) until it just wouldn't take any more. I rubbed off the excess and put it to work.

I redope it seriously after each good wetting (and drying) in rain storms. But mostly I just use the bag to "clean" excess lube off my hands while shooting. Nothing scientific about it, but I don't find I need to add a bunch very often- certainly less often than I grease my boots.

Like I said, it's the first year of an experiment, but I'm encouraged so far to keep at it.
 
Thank you Brown Bear,

I find it very interesting what you need to do because you have a lot more rainfall to deal with than many of us. Still, it is good info to read about what you find out!

Gus
 
I don't. And I'm on the road far far from home, so it will be over a month before I can do anything about it. Looks good, but that's my taste talking. You might just take a scrap of leather, dye it the way you want, and rub some of the mink tallow into it to see if our tastes line up.
 
Tall Hat: what are you trying to obtain? One trouble with dye is it might leach out on to your clothes if the bag gets wet. If all you want is sort of a russet color you might be better just using a 50/50 Neatsfoot oil/wax (Birchwood Casey gun wax) mixture and putting the leather in the sun, it will darken somewhat.
If you want a very dark to black then a reagent like vigarron might be better than a dye.
The other trouble with dye is a smooth even coat. I cut down the dye and put it in a pizza pan and then add the entire section of leather- an even result.
 
BTW-

Using grease on dyed but unfinished leather is going to darken it quite a bit. You might just try it on plain leather first. My Fiebings "Medium Brown" turned so dark it's almost black when greased.
 
crockett said:
Tall Hat: what are you trying to obtain? One trouble with dye is it might leach out on to your clothes if the bag gets wet.

That is an excellent question and a good tip on dyed leather leaching out when wet, if one does not use a proper finish coat over the dye. That's why I earlier mentioned using the Atom Wax finish over the dyed leather to keep from it leaching into your clothing.

When I made the black leather accoutrements for my AWI impression as a soldier in the Black Watch, I used modern Fiebing's black dye, but made sure I used the Atom Wax over it to keep that from happening. We wore white/off white shirts and waist coats and sure didn't need the dye leaching out on them.

However, had I known more at the time and used Vinegaroon to dye my leather black as Crockett mentioned, most everyone who uses it says it does not come off on your clothing and especially not when a finish coat is put on over it.

Personally when I'm not making black color Military Period leather items, I prefer a sort of warm brown color with a hint of red in it and that cannot be done with Vinegaroon, as far as I know.

An extremely popular, though the most expensive leather available in the 17th/18th centuries was "Russia Leather" and it was most frequently dyed red. Of course the average person could not afford this leather, but due to its popularity, many attempts were made to duplicate it and/or at least come up with a reddish color leather that would be a less expensive alternative.

Logwood was used here in the Colonies and in England as the red coloring agent for the dye and it came from South America. Though technically belonging to Spain, from the early mid 17th century British logwood cutters kept going back to Belize whenever the Spanish drove them out, because the logwood dye trade was so profitable for coloring wool and other things.

Sorry to go way off, but just wanted to let you and others know that a reddish color was/is quite correct for the entire period of the forum. I have actually seen three different Civil War Period Russia Leather sets of Belt, shoulder strap, hanging straps and sword scabbard for CS Infantry Officers. Two were in museums and one of them is at Gettysburg, though the third was in a private collection I was honored to view and handle.

Gus
 
BrownBear said:
BTW-

Using grease on dyed but unfinished leather is going to darken it quite a bit. You might just try it on plain leather first. My Fiebings "Medium Brown" turned so dark it's almost black when greased.

Oh my, VERY GLAD you mentioned that!

Sounds like if one wants to keep a light to medium brown color with a hint of red, then perhaps use a Fiebing's Light Brown Dye with a hint of Fiebing's Ox Blood or even Cordovan in the dye mix? Maybe even Fiebings British Tan as that already has a hint of red in it?

In any case I'm very glad for the information and do appreciate it. Sounds like a fair amount of testing with scrap leather and dye mixes would be in order to keep a lighter color in the leather?

Gus
 
My next will be plain leather. I'm betting it comes out something about like Fiebing's British Tan, a dye I use on a lot of other projects.
 
https://goo.gl/images/Cb9WNC

I like this color and leather look or even lighter.
I have a shooting bag now an old Vouz friend made for me years ago from a commercial dyed leather and it does the job but I really want something more fit to me.
 
Can you show a picture of what you see as an oiled look? Bark/veg tanned leather really should be burnished prior to oiling and that may be what you are seeing. Moisten, let come back to original color and burnish, let completely dry then oil. Don't over oil.
 
I just looked at the link in your last post and those are made of chromium tanned leather it looks to me.
 
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