Getting dye off blade

C

Cubane

Well-Known Member
Hi there sheath makers,

I got a sheath made for a knife I just finished. The guy that I got to make it for me obviously hasn't protected the blade in any way while he was doing the sheath and it now has splatters of dye on the blade. The handle was quite dark so if any got on that it wouldn't show up either.

Will acetone get this off? I am not sure what to try, I haven't made a sheath before since I have been making folders but after this I don't think I will be going back to him for sheaths. I might have to bite the bullet and start making them myself.

Alistair
 
Alistair,

I would try rubbing alcohol or maybe fingernail polish remover on a soft cloth. A car wax might work too since it has a little solvent in it and the polish will protect the blade from fingerprints too.

Carey
 
Allistair. Acetone will probably do the job. I know for sure it will remove dye from my hands! If the knife has a hand sanded finish then surely the dye made its way into the micro scratches of the finish so a little "soaking" might have to take place. Good luck!.

Paul
 
Yeah, I'd follow Carey's advice. Rubbing alcohol will usually take it off of hard surfaces.

As to the handle, that depends what kind of finish is on it. If it's not sealed good with a poly or something, the alcohol or maybe even water may dilute it so it will soak into the handle material. So watch that.
 
Paul Long said:
Allistair. Acetone will probably do the job. I know for sure it will remove dye from my hands! If the knife has a hand sanded finish then surely the dye made its way into the micro scratches of the finish so a little "soaking" might have to take place. Good luck!.

Paul
Click to expand...

Cheers, I'll give it go. It does have a hand rubbed finish on it. The more I look at the sheath the more disappointed I am. This guy has been doing leather craft for 15 years yet the stitching on the back isn't grooved in or anywhere near a straight line. The sheath itself isn't what I asked for so I get the idea he is only "able" to do one type of sheath. I am pretty certain that the blade will fall out of the sheath so I don't think I am going to be able to use it. There is a $65 lesson learned.

I probably should talk to the guy before I bad mouth him too much.

Alistair
 
Phoned him up to complain. Turns out he uses pre-dyed leather. Guess it must be rust from some water that got on there when he was shaping the sheath. So it is going to be back to the 1000 grit and see if I can get off.
 
Forgot about that. It is recoverable at least. If I made fixed blades regularly then I would have all the bits and pieces for making sheaths without a doubt. This was the first fixed blade I have made in 2 years. Just don't have the space to keep the leather around. I am still surprised it rusted as well, it had a coating of renaissance wax on it.

Alistair
 
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Cliff Fendley said:
Do you know what kind of leather it is? Did he use veg tanned leather?
Click to expand...

No I have no idea. After I talked to him he said it was pre-dyed Italian leather. I made a lot of assumptions while I was talking to him. So it just goes to show you should ask a lot of questions when dealing with someone new.

I had some reservations dealing with him and I should of backed out of it. When I took the knife there I has it covered in a bubble wrap bag and a cloth inside that to protect from scratches. When I was leaving he just took the knife and put it on his "todo" shelf and put the protective stuff on a different shelf. I am seriously surprised the knife isn't scratched as well as having rust spots on it.

Alistair
 
I don't want to badmouth a sheathmaker, especially one that I don't know, but that is not the way to handle a knife you've been given to make a sheath for. I hope that the dye/rust spots come out okay, and hopefully you don't have any more problems with it

~Noah
 
I am just taking a shot in the dark here but I am guessing that your problem is not dye. I fear the sheath was made with chrome tanned leather. If it was it will never be any good and will continue to rust your blade.
That's why good makers use only pure vegtable tanned leather for sheaths!

Read these:

http://mlknives.com/blog/?p=80

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leather (scew down to bottom of page to the explanations of different tanning methods)

This info below was copied from this site:
http://www.ldsleather.com/leather_tutorial.html

All leathers, except rawhide, go through a tanning process. The main tanning processes available are chrome tanned, vegetable tanned and alum tanned. Chrome tanned leather is tanned using soluble chromium salts, primarily chromium sulfate. Vegetable tanned leather is tanned using vegetable materials derived from tree bark and various other plants. Alum tanned leather is tanned with a colorless aluminum salt and is primarily used as lace leather. There are also slight variations of the main tannages described above like chrome oil tanned, veg chrome retanned and chrome veg retanned. Chrome oil tanned leather is simply chrome tanned (as described above) but is also treated with an oil that helps preserve the leather. Veg chrome retanned leather is vegetable tanned (as described above) and retanned in chromium salts. Chrome veg retanned leather is chrome tanned (as described above) and then vegetable tanned.
Chrome tanned and alum tanned leathers are generally dyed during the tanning process and are available in a huge variety of colors. Vegetable tanned leather is usually left the natural flesh color to be stained or dyed after carving, tooling, stamping or embossing is complete.

There is a lot of info here to digest but, you see if it is chrome tanned what the problem is. It is the salts used in the process of chrome tanning are the big problem in reaction to metal! :unsure:
 
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I just made a sheath for another maker and I took so much care. I even thought I was over doing it.

Knife is always protected and locked up when I am not using it.
I wrapped the whole knife in saran wrap while wet forming.

I must say that when I make a sheath. the customer will get the knife back in the same condition that it came to me in.

I am surprised anyone would use anything other than veg- tanned leather.
 
Acetone will clean it no problem s. Ernie well I use a few other things to help make a sheath look cool . I had bought some snake skin for inlays and bought some stingray . They both seriously make a sheath look 5 times better when done right. I even made the complete outerlayer snake anf they look wild. The actual function of snake is not very durable and dont recomend it for hard use knife sheaths. The stingray is tough as nails when not tanned but when tanned is really nice and soft kinda like pigs skin. They also have a boney plate on the back and that would help on wear and tear. kellyw
 
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