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Silver Mounted Scabbard

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LRB

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Have not been very active in shop work for awhile, but made a scabbard for a 8 3/4" blade, silver mounted Kyle Willyard knife. Love his work. Hope the scabbard does it justice. All hand made sterling silver mounts, vinegaroon blackened leather, sewn with linen thread center seam , leather medium hardened. Still have to make a belt loop frog for it. Hope you enjoy a look.





 
I am a fan of Kyle Willyard's work also.
bag knife.jpg
 
Have not been very active in shop work for awhile, but made a scabbard for a 8 3/4" blade, silver mounted Kyle Willyard knife. Love his work. Hope the scabbard does it justice. All hand made sterling silver mounts, vinegaroon blackened leather, sewn with linen thread center seam , leather medium hardened. Still have to make a belt loop frog for it. Hope you enjoy a look.





 
Dissolve steel in vinegar. Old nails, wire, ect. Apple cider vinegar has the most acid, but white does fine also. Have to let it work for a few weeks or more before using. It only works on vege tanned leather, like most carving leather. It will not work on chrome tanned. The batch I use is 4 years old. Turns the leather black in under 20 minutes. Artificer can give you the history of it's use and probably more tips to make it.
 
Nice! BTW, what is the Vinegaroon blackening method? I've never heard of it. Thanks.

Art, I've read or heard that Vinegaroon was used in Ancient Rome, but it definitely was used to blacken leather in the 18th and 19th centuries and right up to the present. When leather military items were stained black during the period, they almost always used Vinegaroon.

They used pieces of Iron in the mix or original Iron nails, both of which can be used, but OOOO Steel Wool is by far the easiest for us to use and it gives the greatest amount of surface area on which the Vinegar to react. Better still if you "wash" the Steel Wool in Acetone to get rid of the oil on the surface to keep it from rusting in the bag.

The great thing about this stuff is unlike common leather dyes, Vinegaroon won't stain your hands when using it.

It's a good idea to pre-clean leather surfaces with alcohol or Acetone that you want to use this dye on.

However, you ABSOLUTELY must use a baking soda solution to neutralize it, after you coat leather with it. Also, you MUST punch a small hole in the top of the lid or just not close the top off completely in the few days to a week it takes for the solution to set up. Do this in a GLASS JAR, as well.

In the period, they usually only put the Vinegaroon on the smooth outside surfaces of the leather and on the sides of the leather. They did not put it on the inner flesh side of the leather.

Here is a written tutorial:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Vinegaroon-Black-Leather-Dye/

Here is a pretty good You Tube Video:


Gus
 
Art, I've read or heard that Vinegaroon was used in Ancient Rome, but it definitely was used to blacken leather in the 18th and 19th centuries and right up to the present. When leather military items were stained black during the period, they almost always used Vinegaroon.

They used pieces of Iron in the mix or original Iron nails, both of which can be used, but OOOO Steel Wool is by far the easiest for us to use and it gives the greatest amount of surface area on which the Vinegar to react. Better still if you "wash" the Steel Wool in Acetone to get rid of the oil on the surface to keep it from rusting in the bag.

The great thing about this stuff is unlike common leather dyes, Vinegaroon won't stain your hands when using it.

It's a good idea to pre-clean leather surfaces with alcohol or Acetone that you want to use this dye on.

However, you ABSOLUTELY must use a baking soda solution to neutralize it, after you coat leather with it. Also, you MUST punch a small hole in the top of the lid or just not close the top off completely in the few days to a week it takes for the solution to set up. Do this in a GLASS JAR, as well.

In the period, they usually only put the Vinegaroon on the smooth outside surfaces of the leather and on the sides of the leather. They did not put it on the inner flesh side of the leather.

Here is a written tutorial:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Vinegaroon-Black-Leather-Dye/

Here is a pretty good You Tube Video:


Gus

Wow! Thanks for the feedback! I will try at some point; the steel-wool thingy convinced me; using the nails, etc., was a negatory!
 
I never bother to neutralize with baking soda. I started that way , but Chuck Burrows told me it was a waste of time, so I quit. I just let the dyed item sit for a few days until the vinegar smell leaves, then oil it and forget it. I have never seen a problem from this. I have a few sheaths that were done several years ago. They are no different in any way as from the time they were oiled and put to use. Chuck Burrows did, or had done some PH testing which showed the chemicals in the leather had a very close PH level to the vinegaroon dyed leather. Anytime he gave instructions to beginners, he would recommend neutralizing, but I'm not very sure if he did so himself. Also, I never had good luck using steel wool, even if I washed it. Small pieces of steel scrap and old nails, rusted barbed wire, and stuff like that did better for me. But, whatever works for you. Apple cider vinegar has stronger acid than white. I use either, but let it work for a few weeks, and often longer. Chuck Burrows recommended a good wet down with a strong tea solution before using the vinegaroon, but I found little if any advantage in that.
 
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A most usfull lesson I never knew of vinigaroon , Ive used Pheibings Marine black if mostly to darken their British Tan for stocks .You do very nice work . Regards Rudyard
 
ONE more tip in the use of vinegaroon. Sometimes you will have an area, usually small, that just will not take it in. If an alcohol or acetone wipe does not help, try rubbing with 0000 steel wool. Have not had that fail so far, and though it dulls the sheen, you just dampen and rub the area vigorously with a piece of denim, and it will bring the sheen back.
 
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