How do I lighten the color of dark brown leather?
- Thread starter TomVDJ
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Riceball
Master Member
Posting in this thread here would be more helpful so that everybody reading the thread can see it.
Rub with acetone, BUT it will dull the surface so you need to shine it up again afterward. Also, it's hard to do it perfectly even. (I think Isopropyl alcohol works too, but I can't remember if I've tried it.)
How nice of you to presume the context of my private message...perhaps it had nothing, some or everything to do with the topic at hand.
Thanks for looking out just the same.
-Rylo
Thanks for looking out just the same.
-Rylo
I'm not going to use agressive products like acetone. Don't want to mess up. In the meanwhile I've been dry sanding it. It becomes lighter then, with grey-ish spots. When I apply a cognac-coulored shoe-polish, the grey-ish spots become more reddish / cognac colored.
It really starts looking like I want it to look, but it still needs a lot more aging. I totally forgot to take pictures of the original state, but I'll try to post some pictures of how it looks now, this weekend.
The look I'm going for is a "milder" version of this:
I do appreciate all the input, guys! Maybe I should just rename this thread in: "My attempt to age a great Grail Diary with only some sanding paper and shoe polish" ;-).
It really starts looking like I want it to look, but it still needs a lot more aging. I totally forgot to take pictures of the original state, but I'll try to post some pictures of how it looks now, this weekend.
The look I'm going for is a "milder" version of this:
I do appreciate all the input, guys! Maybe I should just rename this thread in: "My attempt to age a great Grail Diary with only some sanding paper and shoe polish" ;-).
Sanding.... ANY sanding... is waaaaaaaay more aggressive than acetone. Sanding tears open the surface of the actual hide, whereas acetone primarily attacks the dye, which one contained solvents that might’ve stronger than acetone.
If you DRENCH leather in acetone, you will dry it out and take out all the natural oils, but rubbing on the surface will not harm it.
The procedure is:
acetone rub
re-dye where preferred for darker weathering
scuff corners for light scratching (here you use sandpaper or a steel brush sparingly)
add leather polish to bring back some shine.
If you DRENCH leather in acetone, you will dry it out and take out all the natural oils, but rubbing on the surface will not harm it.
The procedure is:
acetone rub
re-dye where preferred for darker weathering
scuff corners for light scratching (here you use sandpaper or a steel brush sparingly)
add leather polish to bring back some shine.
Problem withe acetone is that you either apply or not apply it. There is no in between. If it turns out that the leater and coloring compound on the leather reacts badly on the acetone, you are screwed. The part where you test it out will be ruined... Also, I don't want the darker color to be removed completely. Turns out that it looks quite nice if it stays on certain places, and the lighter places are re-dyed with some lighter shoe-polish.
With sanding paper you can try it out. If you rub it over the leather without any pressure, nothing will happen. With just a little pressure, probably not a lot will happen either. So playing around with it can give very nice results. Leather is very forgiving as what "mechanical" treatment is concerend (I would not scrub it with a steel brush, though), but I think "chemical" treatment is more tricky.
Anyway, I agree with your method, with the exception of the acetone and steel brush. So what I'm doing now is:
With sanding paper you can try it out. If you rub it over the leather without any pressure, nothing will happen. With just a little pressure, probably not a lot will happen either. So playing around with it can give very nice results. Leather is very forgiving as what "mechanical" treatment is concerend (I would not scrub it with a steel brush, though), but I think "chemical" treatment is more tricky.
Anyway, I agree with your method, with the exception of the acetone and steel brush. So what I'm doing now is:
- fine sandpaper treatment
- re-dye where cognac coloring compound
- scuff corners for light scratching (here you use sandpaper)
- add leather polish to bring back some shine (don't know yet if I'll do that)
To each his own, I'm just stating physical facts about what the different methods will do. Sanding tears up the surface, acetone does not. If you mess up with acetone, you do have a fair chance to re-dye and fix the mistake- something you can't do when you've actually destroyed the pores of the leather beyond a certain point. (And you can apply a little bit of acetone to a cotton swab to try. The acetone will do exactly what you are describing, without damaging the surface irreparably.
I've done a fair bit of experimenting with this, even taking apart a long leather coat once, taking out essentially all the dye from it. I also have a pair of dress shoes that I wear with suits- originally the toe was in a metallic color I didn't like, so I took it off with acetone, then applied black dye and polish.
Also note I didn't suggest scrubbing with a steel brush, just scuffing... and then sparingly. Huge difference.
The main thing that's hard to do once you've used acetone is to get back a high gloss... i.e. something close to patent leather. (It's probably possible with enough buffing, I just haven't done it.)
If the sanding method works for you, then great... go to town!
I've done a fair bit of experimenting with this, even taking apart a long leather coat once, taking out essentially all the dye from it. I also have a pair of dress shoes that I wear with suits- originally the toe was in a metallic color I didn't like, so I took it off with acetone, then applied black dye and polish.
Also note I didn't suggest scrubbing with a steel brush, just scuffing... and then sparingly. Huge difference.
The main thing that's hard to do once you've used acetone is to get back a high gloss... i.e. something close to patent leather. (It's probably possible with enough buffing, I just haven't done it.)
If the sanding method works for you, then great... go to town!
