Vinegaroon is an old timey dye that is easily made at home. Just add some iron filings or steel wool to vinegar and let it sit until the acid in the venegar dissolves it won't take any more. About a week or two works fine. Be sure to get all the oil off the filings or steel wool otherwise you will get a bit of undesireable goomba in your mix. Also, be certain that none of the iron is above the surface of the vinegar during the process otherwise it will react with the air around it and add a rusty goomba to your mix. A good free source of steel filings is any parts store or garage that turns drums and rotors. They are happy to let you scoop some out of the bin.
The color comes from a reaction of the iron in the vinegar with the tannin in the leather. The leather needs to be vegetable dyed which is typically done with bark. Particularly oak bark. You will also hear the term "bark tanned".
The color will vary with the amount of tannin in the leather (this can also be done with wood). You can see a blue tinge in this project. It's not quite as blue as the pictures show but it is blue tinged. Using the same batch of vinegaroon on different leather sources will give varying colors. Sometimes deep black and sometimes a much lighter blueish color which over time becomes more gray. It all darkens with time.
Another good black dye is ferric nitrate crystals dissolved in water. This is the same stuff as the aqua fortis used on maple gunstocks but it is not as acidic since the acidity has already been reacted out of the acid before it is crystalized. You can order the ferric nitrate crystals from The Science Company
https://www.sciencecompany.com/ The ferric nitrate solution is more consistently black although you will sometimes get a silvery dark gray from it.
This bag will turn a darker blacker color when it's oiled after completion.
And, the pockets are stitched into the inside of the bag back.
Topic: Working on a shooting bag. (Read 1449 times)