09-03-2013, 01:54 PM
Quote:You can replicate the results by using iron and vinegar to create a 'safe' vitriol (safer than mucking about with sulphuric acid anyway) which, when used on an oak tanned leather (which is dark brown, rather than the majority of very pale modern veg-tanned leathers, which, having been bleached, are probably a poor starting point for any attempt) gives a dark grey which, when oiled with neetsfoot oil, gives a nice black finish.I read once, and my experiments seem to confirm this, that the iron vinegar works on paler vegetable tans as far as blackening them goes: It dries them out and stiffens them too much, but oiling afterward will counteract that.
Dan D'Silva
Far beyond the rising sun
I ride the winds of fate
Prepared to go where my heart belongs,
Back to the past again.
-- Gamma Ray
Well, I'm tough, rough, ready and I'm able
To pick myself up from under this table...
-- Thin Lizzy
Join the Horde! - http://xerxesmillion.blogspot.com/
Far beyond the rising sun
I ride the winds of fate
Prepared to go where my heart belongs,
Back to the past again.
-- Gamma Ray
Well, I'm tough, rough, ready and I'm able
To pick myself up from under this table...
-- Thin Lizzy
Join the Horde! - http://xerxesmillion.blogspot.com/