Inlay Question

[UncleBillyKnives]

I have made a knife for my sister and I want to add a snapping turtle skin inlay in the sheath. The skin has been dried for a few years now. My question is, to show the contrast of the between the yellowish skin and the sheath, i want to dye the leather brown or black. I dip my sheaths for uniform dying. Should i dye the leather first, so i do not get it on the skin. i do not want to use a wool applicator. Maybe, dip the whole thing in neets foot oil to darken the leather? any tips? Thank you for your help.

 

[C Craft]

I am no expert here but if you dip then you will have to leave the insert area un-assembled and dip the sheath and then sew the turtle skin in the area and sew the leather the will trap it to the sheath afterwards. You may have to go back and touch up the dye at the stitch area for any oh oh's. At least that is how I would to it. If you use neatsfoot it will darken but be sure to use the Pure Neatsfoot oil. There are two kinds and the other one can actually hurt the leather!
There is an Inlay and Lacing tutorials in the sticky at the top of this forum. It may have better ideas!

 

[HELLGAP]

You need to have the skin tanned first. Then you can dye what ever color you want. With snake skin I dilute the dye alot and just add coats to make it darker. Its easier ive found rather than trying to remove the darkness. I have never used turtle but assume it would be like snake or sting ray or other inlay material that has been tanned. Kellyw