Bleaching colour from Leather? Black to Brown? -- myArmoury.com

Tony Peterson

Hey guys,

I was wondering, is there any way to bleach the colour from leather? My problem is that I have a rather nice Scabbard but its made out of black leather. What im looking to do it remove the colour and dye it dark brown to match the rest of my harness. Is this possible?

Many thanks

Al Muckart · Posted: Wed 17 Jun, 2009 11:47 pm Post subject:

You're probably out of luck. It's possible, but if it's been dyed with modern dyes you'll need some pretty nasty stuff to get them out and ending up with an even finish is likely to be tricky.

I seem to recall someone doing it to the hilt of an MRL piece on here, but I can't find the thread.

You may find it easier to just strip the leather off and replace it with some brown.

Peter Remling · Posted: Thu 18 Jun, 2009 3:04 am Post subject:

Al's right, but you might be able to paint the leather or apply a brown cloth covering over the current leather.

Antonio Lamadrid · Posted: Thu 18 Jun, 2009 4:12 am Post subject:

If vegetable-tanned, or with low-quality chemicals, there are products (in Spanish decapantes, I do not know the word in English, sorry) that make a good job, but as Al Muckart said, if good, modern chemicals are applied, then it is going to be very tricky.

This thread could help:

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...historical

David Lewis Smith · Posted: Thu 18 Jun, 2009 4:18 am Post subject:

I used nail polish remover to get the die out of an MRL sword hilt and scabbard.

Richard Eskite

I took a maroon scotchbrite flap wheel and put it into a drill motor. I went over the scabbard of my Cold Steel basket hilted broadsword, just till the top layer, which is where most of the black coating was, was sanded off, revealing a whitish leather beneath. Since what I was looking for was a patina effect, I allowed some of the black to remain. Then, I went over the scabbard with British Tan dye from Tandy Leather and then gave it a treatment with heated beeswax and neetsfoot oil. It's now an irregular brown black and looks lots better.

If your leather is vat dyed, then it may not work as well, since the dye is all through the leather. You can test your scabbard by scraping it in an inconspicuous spot to see it it's light colored beneath the surface coating.