Here’s a new video about thinning or reducing different types of leather dyes, I see people ask about this quite a lot so I though it was worth putting some information together into a video 👍🏻

@Dremeli

4 жыл бұрын

Ian, have you tried Danish R.O.C Narvsvaerte-dye? It's a spirit dye, but waaay better than Fiebings spirit dye if you ask me. It does not leave excessive amounts of pigments like the Fiebings one does... of course it stiffens leather but it is much easier to work with than Fiebings spirit dye I think.

I'm a beginner and get really overwhelmed by all the things I need to learn for leather work. I'm very grateful this video was presented so thoroughly and clearly. Thank you so much 🥰

From one ian to another, first class mate. Spot on. No small talk, no bull S..t, full of bare info which is just what we want. Thank you.

You have just ended many frustrating dying projects. The rubbing alcohol worked great as a thinner. I use an alcohol based pro dye, a 50/50 mix allowed a smooth and even finish. Lightened up more than enough to show all stamping and burning. Thanx!

So glad to see a notification that you had a new video! You always make the very best informative and detailed videos. I’ve been following you for several years and even though I have been doing this for a few years you always seem to teach me something new. Thank you very much for doing these videos.

Like you have pointed out I have also gone the cutting route a truly frustrating experience . Gave up and tried the spraying route very happy with it I can to where I need to go as fare as color goes took a little playing around but now it is the only choice for me . But I will do as you suggested just to prove to my self I can be done . Thanks for all your help over the years it has really saved me time and money and at 76 those things become very dear to me . Stay safe in the shop we don"t want to loose another great leather worker as happen to Lee. Happy Trails from California .

Id just like to say thanks mate you've helped me out no end ,with knife sheath making ,in the space of a month I've gone from knowing nothing about leatherworking to having people telling me that my sheaths look very professional, and it's all down to your videos 👍

Perfect, just what I have been looking for. Very well thought out video on the subject. thank you!

Many thanks Ian. I was about to dye using Fiebings spirit Tan. Fortunately I did a test piece because it was the chocolate colour! Great informative video, now to hunt down some surgical spirit to try and reduce it.

great video, thank you for making it. I've found fiebings dye reducer quite hard to get hold of none of the leather merchants I know sell it so its great to know there are alternatives.

Yet another superbly informational video from your good self... I watch a couple of different Leather work videos, amongst them a Master Saddler based in the UK, and have learnt all I know about leather work from them... but in terms of how clearly you explain all different aspects of the craft I always turn to your videos each and every time you release a new one... Thank you Ian for your continued support in my learning of this rewarding and enjoyable hobby of mine... Just a Note, I did a quick Google-Fu whilst playing this, and have found that you can get Ethanol from various sources on both Amazon and Fleabay for 1 litre at less than £20... and Fiebings Dye reducer from Tandy is £5 per 4oz (= 100ml) so for the same amount you'd be paying the best part of £50!! I did notice that the available Ethanol is a very light Brown in colour, but on further search I found some Wheat based Ethanol that is clear, again for a similar price to the coloured stuff... though I'd check by using a Swatch to see if it's at all fit for purpose before launching into a Project with dye thinned out with it... ;o)

Great video, answered a few of my questions. I've been very hesitant to thin the Pro dyes because I wan't sure what to thin it with. Not worried about it now.

This video was really good very helpful and definitely not boring! You could be a teacher Ian, you made it really interesting. Thanks for the video. You have taught me the everything I know about leather work. Thank you.

you can definitely buy pure ethanol. And no you will not go blind from drinking it. Ethanol does not blind you. Methanol is what blinds people. You wouldn’t drink it though as it is not distilled from alcohol meant for consumption. It probably also has some carcinogenic compounds inside it even in 99% pure form. Also isopropanol is absolutely good for reducing dye. I use 99% pure isopropanol and it works well. The reason they use ethanol over isopropanol is because isopropanol evaporates faster than ethanol. That is in no way going to affect you when you reduce your due with isopropanol.

A very much needed chemistry lesson. Very helpful for someone getting into leather and dying.

I use xylene or a mix of xylene and isopropanol as a dye reducer. Both chemicals are found in the Fiebings pro dye, according to the product's safety data sheet. In Romania, I buy pure isopropanol from electronic components suppliers since it is widely used as a cleaner for electronic boards. Hope that helps. Keep up the good work you do!

Well we are metal machinists, we did come here to learn how to work with leather for attaching it to a finished product we want to make, so you are a good teacher and we enjoyed this lesson in the video about the thinner, we will watch many videos to learn how to do our task at hand, how neat to learn new things because in this case we need to. Thank you. Lance & Patrick.

Hi, my congratulations for your video. Can you tell me what type of glue do you use? Thanks, Adri

Thanks for that info very useful I have purchased isopropyl alcohol from eBay to use with my fiebings pro dye. Have you use dyes from Saphir? The range does include lightning bases.i have also used dye from Dylon. I have found since using the fiebings pro dyes they do dry extremely quickly in a matter of seconds

Been searching for this info for weeks. This was precisely what I needed.

For thinning Pro Dye, would you consider the ingredients from the Pro Dye safety sheets, so that it would be a clear version of the Pro dyes, thus diluting the color? Or is it necessary to dilute the other dye ingredients aside from color?

Ian, thank you very much for posting this video. I have just finished making a custom dye to match a friends pistol holster. Luckily, I have access to ethanol and isopropanol and it was quite the challenge, regardless. Thank you for clarifying the science behind the chemistry. Take Care.

Great video, just the information I had been searching the net for!

This was so helpful and presented in a very easy-to-understand way! Thank you so much :)

Brilliant mate! Really useful video!

Just to delve into the chemistry a bit more: alcohol is considered an excellent solvent because it will dissolve non-polar molecules, including light petroleum-based liquids (hydrocarbons), esters, sugars, and acids. It also has an extreme affinity with water, and pure ethanol will even pull water in from the air until it is at least a 2% to 3% water-in-alcohol solution. Water is called the universal solvent, because it can dissolve more things than any other liquid, but ethanol and some water together can dissolve even more. This explains why an alcohol-based thinner will work on both oil-based dye products and water-based dye products, and you don't need or want to use mineral spirits or other such petroleum-based products to thin oil-based dyes. Pure ethanol will evaporate quite quickly, so it will certainly not slow down your leather dyeing efforts... (Makers of cordials and other flavored alcoholic beverages depend on the alcohol in the mix to dissolve the flavor components of the herbs and other "botanicals" added into many formulations, such as Bombay gin. The same is true of outdated cough medicine recipes and other medicines...) (In the United States, at least back when I had chemistry, denatured alcohol has typically been (mostly) ethanol mixed with a bit of phenolphthalein, a chemical that is also used as an acid/base indicator, and which will cause "severe gastric disturbances", as they say, if consumed, but will not kill you, as you indicated. (In the chemistry lab, it won't work to simply distill the alcohol from the phenolphthalein, giving nice, drinkable alcohol, which is one reason that that chemical was chosen.) Note that ethanol is rather flammable, with a blue/invisible flame; and can be used in Bunsen burners, for example.

@jetblackstar

5 жыл бұрын

What an awesome in depth addition to an already in depth video. Cheers!

Well Done Video Covered it all Thanks Ian

I find the alcohol base dyes dry out the leather and smell terrible do you use chrome or veg tan leather? Also I have been using food dyes with great success on my veg tan products and especially as I have made some items for kids whom are known for chewing on stuff. coolaide works too even tea or beet juice

Many thanks for the help. Tip: If one is using denatured alcohol and isopropanol, buy the highest concentration alcohol available. In the States, rubbing alcohol can be as low as 70% alcohol, up to 95% alcohol, the denatured alcohol can range from 60% alcohol, up to 90% ethanol). We also have available, a product called Everclear which can come as high as 95% ethanol, it is non toxic but the alcohol tax makes it more expensive.

Does anyone know if I can use hand sanitizer? It’s mostly ethanol and aloe.

Thank you so much for this video and break down this helped me a lot !

Thanks Ian. Great info.

Very good video. That was exactly what I wanted to know, thank you.

Ethanol is not at available in my state. Is it ok for leather to use ONLY isopropyl alcohol as dye thinner 1:1?

Love the video! Perfect explanation.

Absolutely fantastic !! Thank you!!

Brilliant video. Totally explains it. Very useful.

Huh, sorry Ian I actually found that fascinating :) And I even knew half of it. Was really well put together and clear. I'd successfully thinned a pink Angelus dye to get a colour my GF wanted for a purse with Isopropyl. It did work but I always wondered how close to the official one it was. Point of interest AFIK UK Meths the bitterant and poison are actually in two parts. Methanol (Type of alcohol ) which is the one that literally makes you go blind. The the bitter taste is known by the brand name Bitrex. Further addendum the cure for the Methanol blindness in hospital is to put you on an ethanol drip, so the ethanol replaces the methanol attaching to your optic nerve (as I understand it). One of the few cases getting blind drunk stops you getting blind I guess. :D Awsome video. Edit: apparently Methanol additive was replaces in the UK in 2013 by isopropanol and MEK

Nicely Done Ian - thanks 👍🏻

This video is very helpful, thanks so much!

Please how can I put color most especially black colors

Thnx!! I never knew what ‘denatured alcohol’ was until you explained it.

@jetblackstar

5 жыл бұрын

Good explanation huh. Another reason they "denature" it beyond health hazard is Tax. Meths doesn't carry the alcohol tax booze does. cheeky :)

Thanks! Needed this

Have you had any luck mixing for an olive drab colour. I’m not having any luck

@Leodis.Leather

5 жыл бұрын

That’s not something I’ve ever tried, maybe a mix of green and yellow?

Just what I needed to know, thank you. Guess I'm becoming a mad chemist now...

Wonderful. Thank you

I use 91% isopropyl alcohol and it works well. But I find when I thin pro dye it becomes harder to apply evenly. I end up with streaks or dark spots.

@Leodis.Leather

5 жыл бұрын

That’s maybe the water content in the mix then doing that?

@apsilonblue

5 жыл бұрын

@@Leodis.Leather It'd be interesting trying say a 70% IPA vs 99%. I suspect the lower content may work better in this case as the water would slow down the drying time. The streaking may be the alcohol evaporating too quickly. The surface of these dyes does absorb and dry very quickly so increasing the percentage of alcohol may cause it to dry even quicker. That all seems to make sense in my head.

Very informative. Never knew meths and denatured alcohol were the same thing.

Very useful, thankm you.....!

Very interesting thanks 👍

Dilution is fairly simple, what complicates things for me is lack of a way to lighten the shades. It seems no dye product is made in white, only paints... I understand the airbrush advice, but it does not work when the base shade of the leather is darker than the desired outcome.

@Leodis.Leather

7 ай бұрын

There is no such thing as white leather dye no you would need to buy white leather in the first place pre-coloured

Thanks again Ian. Topic well covered.

Hardware shop methylated spirits (meths) in uk changed its contents by EU law in 2013 - used to be something like 90% ethanol, 10% methanol, purple dye and bitterant, now it's more like 94% ethanol, 3% isopropyl alcohol (IPA, isopropanol), 3%methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), bitterant, optional dye. (so the methanol was removed, I think this was the main change). It also smells different these days I noticed, though it is still purple in colour, compared to years gone by. No idea how it compares with old meths formula for thinning leather spirit based dyes though ....so test it first :o)

@jetsetuk

5 жыл бұрын

That's interesting, so the EU lead change has brought the formula closer to the product sold by Fiebings as their Dye Reducer... although with added MEK, bitterant and dye... MEK, afaik is used to make it smell nasty (based on 30 year old Organic Chemistry studies), and the bitterant to make it taste foul... so that would be about right... I would have thought looking at it that the same advice Ian gave would still apply, though you're right, swatch testing it before using it for a project would still be the way to go... :o)

@jetblackstar

5 жыл бұрын

Ahh thats what the change was. I remember the switch but never followed what happened. Always knew there was Methanol, which is the whole "makes you go blind" chemical. But no longer. Cool.

Just an update. The water based STAIN specifically says to NOT use in an airbrush.

👍🏻

When can I choose water or oil ....?

@leveljoe

5 жыл бұрын

Seeing that you are unable to form a complete question, don't use either option. No one can truly know what you want to do or what products you want to use, so don't expect an answer (at least on that will be of any help to you).

So vodka can't be a reducer?

@jimmygrey6848

5 жыл бұрын

Maybe, it's only about 35% ethanol though

@MomusFilms

4 жыл бұрын

In the US many liquor stores carry “EVERCLEAR” which is about 190 proof (95% Ethanol).

Greetings Ian from over in the United States. Having worked with leather dyes for some time now, you tackled a subject that could easily take 2 hours to cover instead of 20 minutes. A couple of my own insights I would like to share with you and your followers. 1.) I don't thin the professional dyes because you can thin out the additives that make it worthwhile to use them. 2.) I thin the standard Fiebing's leather dyes with either 91% Isopropyl alcohol (drug store) OR denatured alcohol (hardware store) as you can buy it here without the extra dye. 3.) The ratio of alcohol to dye depends on how many coats and how light the color I want it to be. I like to reduce Light Blue 6 to 1 with alcohol; Kelly Green 4 to 1 with alcohol; Yellow 3 to 1 with alcohol; Red 2 to 1 with alcohol; and Oxblood 1 to 1 with alcohol. Usually, the darker the color the less I thin them down but everyone has a preference on how intense they want their color to be. Good luck to you guys.

@Leodis.Leather

5 жыл бұрын

Number 1 was covered in the video, this is the main reason I don’t do this very often myself

👍😉

the additive to ethanol were put it (and thus regulated) by anti drinking proponents and lobbyists of the prohibition days (1920's in America)..for the purpose of stopping people from drinking alcoholic beverages..(such a sweet communistic, and ultimately deadly, notion).. simply put: ethanol is the only thinner you need for the professional oil dyes..aka: spirit dyes.

@jetblackstar

5 жыл бұрын

You can take the prohibition out of alcohol but you can't take the alcohol out of the isopropyl they added :( I think elsewhere in the world that didnt experience prohibition, isopropyl alcohol and methanol are added to denature it for tax reasons as well as health. I.e. yes you can clean your car engine cheap with it cos we poisoned it and you can't drink it for fun/death :D Nice of them huh :P Personally I think its more tax than health. The logic of "let stop them drinking the dangerous liquid by putting a much more dangerous poison in there too" never really added up as "safe".

In the US you can purchase "medical grade" ethanol, pay the tax (because you're not a registered research company) and save money.

Methanol (CH4O) is toxic, Ethanol (C2H6O) is not and Isopropanol (C3H8O) is also not toxic. The bitterant is also not toxic, its only a very nasty tasting part that you dont want to drink technic ethanol. Its only for technical purposes, the same ethanol for drinking purposes has to be taxed higher.

@Leodis.Leather

5 жыл бұрын

“Isopropyl alcohol and its metabolite, acetone, act as central nervous system (CNS) depressants.[31] Poisoning can occur from ingestion, inhalation, or skin absorption. Symptoms of isopropyl alcohol poisoning include flushing, headache, dizziness, CNS depression, nausea, vomiting, anesthesia, hypothermia, low blood pressure, shock, respiratory depression, and coma”

NOT AT ALL! Very interesting… but I've got to say… that was an interesting way to say that water is ok to use as a reducer! Ha-ha-ha-ha! It's more complicated than that… I know. If you stand back & look at it, though… it’s pretty reasonable to assume that water would be fine? "Some say that they use it"? "30% water combined with isopropyl alcohol"? Here's what I'll do. I'll put an oz. of water in a jar. Grab a Q-tip (cotton swab to you nice folks, perhaps?)… dip it in the dye. Then the water. Grab a discarded piece of leather…. Test. I did want to know about the chemicals & their reactions. You did a fantastic job at helping me to understand them. Now I know that Fiebing's Reducer is totally going to get me wasted when I can afford it, too! I'm kidding. Some say people from Texas don't know any better? I've seen it personally to be true! Not me. I'm Mexican. We know better! Thank you, for sharing!

Please, if you have children in the house, apply a readily identifiable poison sticker to all containers that hold anything but water. Never use old drink bottles or cans as containers to mix toxic chemicals. Thanks for giving us the lowdown on dye cutting Ian.

@Leodis.Leather

5 жыл бұрын

Nobody in my house but me but yes in general things should be sealed up and properly labelled with little one about for sure

meths smell amazing, never tasted it though.

I found out by accident that you can bleach out the purple in methylated spirit by leaving it in a sunny spot for a while. It's a long process tho so not ideal. NB there are Amazon sellers that now sell clear methylated spirit to UK customers