Going from Black to Brown leather

[Magnus]

Not for a roman project. But I have a pair of black leather riding boots that I need brown. I spoke with the people where I buy my leather from, and they said I'll need to remove the glaze with a chemical, then the black dye with a chemical, then re-dye it with brown.

Would lightly sanding the leather, then many coats of mid-brown shoe polish cover the black? Or do I have to go with the afore mentioned chemical route?

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Your going to be lucky to removed the blck dye even the way they suggested. You might try sanding but most of the time dye penatrates do deep. There is a product you can buy at shoe stores thats a leather paint to paint shoes with. I used to use this to convert black jumpboots to the brown WW2 style.

[Magnus]

Oh? How well did that work Paul? Did it bond pretty well to the black leather? Then what did you do...just use shoe polish to maintain it? Do you think a place like Walmart would carry this, or do i need an actual shoe store?

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Matt,

It worked pretty well there were the occasional touch ups. I usually bought mine at a local shoe repair place. I think Kiwi makes it. I used shoes polish to keep it shined, the liquid kind did not work as well as the wax style.

[Magnus]

Many thanks Paul...most stores that sell shoe products carry Kiwi brand...i'll let you know how I make out.

[Caius Fabius]

when we got new parade boots in the army we stripped off all of the wax and dye and then redyed and rewaxed the boots. One of the main things we used was rubbing alcohol. This did not hurt the leather and after much loving care turned the boot into a light grey color, which we then treated with leather restorers and then redyed and re waxed....

[Magnus]

So you just used a wrag and some rubbing alcohol eh? I did a little test just to see how the brown shoe polish would react over a black backing, and it's not good. I also brought the boots into my local tack and harness store, and the guy said they were high quality boots with a really good finish and dye on them.

But between Paul's and your suggestion Caius, I should be able to accomplish something.

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

Rubbing alcohol in the army? hock: No alcohol was used for rubbing in the army I have been to... :wink:

[Caius Fabius]

Ukrainian army uses Grain Alcohol?

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

I just meant that back in my Soviet Army days, alcohol was generally preferred for internal use, regardless of its designated purpose. Nevermind...

[Magnus]

BAahahahahaha!

I get ya....lol.

[Virilis]

I just meant that back in my Soviet Army days, alcohol was generally preferred for internal use, regardless of its designated purpose. Nevermind...

You`re damn right, Alexander! We were used to it in the finnish army too :wink: ...

[Caius Fabius]

ya ponimayo :lol:

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

ya ponimayo

Ochen' horosho!

I do apologize for deviating from the thread into the particularities of the Russian/Ukrainian and - as we learned from Jyrki - Finnish mentality. Just was hard to resist!