Touching up a vintage leather jacket with dye?

[Folgoretro]

Hello guys, I've been around these parts before, but had some trouble with my old profile, hence this is my 'first' post, but suffice to say I greatly admire how knowledgeable, active and friendly this forum is.

To the point at hand, I was just examining some threads about dyeing jackets with interest and would like to experiment with a cheap vintage jacket. I was wondering, if I wanted to just retouch a vintage leather jacket, not entirely change it's colour, would stripping the finish still be necessary?

To illustrate the issue: There are stains and what appear to be bug splatters.

My thinking was that a coat of dye would reduce the contrast of the wear and make it a tad more presentable. What are your thoughts?

 

[Folgoretro]

Bump. What do you guys think the best way to reduce the visual impact of water stains and bug splatters would be?

 

[jchance]

Bump. What do you guys think the best way to reduce the visual impact of water stains and bug splatters would be?

I would soak the entire jacket wet. It would stain the entire jacket in the same color. You can clean the bug splatters (with soap if necessary) while you’re at it.

 

[Folgoretro]

Good idea. Does a leather jacket need to dry flat?

I will condition with vaseline afterwards

 

[Carlos840]

I just use a microfiber that i wet with warm water to remove water stains and bug guts on my motorcycle jackets.
Sometimes i will add a tiny bit of Lexoll leather cleaner, but it is usually not necessary.

Beware of dyes, i have had one experience where the dye i was applying to the leather to try and hide a small spot actually melted all the finish it touched and made the spot much much larger.
In the end all i achieved was turning a 3mm diameter spot into a 10mm diameter much more visible spot...

The old "try it first in an invisible spot" is not always necessary, but i have regreted not doing it that particular time.
Since then i tend to leave these things alone...

 

[jchance]

Good idea. Does a leather jacket need to dry flat?

I will condition with vaseline afterwards

You need air circulation for the jacket to dry. But it should stay away from a heat source or the sun. It takes about 3-5 days to dry a wet leather jacket.

 

[apabarn]

I’d second being very cautious with dye if the goal is just evening things out rather than changing color. On older jackets especially, uneven absorption can make small marks a lot more noticeable.

Gentle cleaning first, then letting the jacket dry naturally with good airflow, usually gets you further than expected. Often once it’s evenly damped and dried, the contrast softens on its own. You can always reassess after that before doing anything irreversible.

 

[Folgoretro]

I will give the above a try. I will wipe the entire jacket with a wet cloth to hopefully even out the water damage. I will follow up with leather cleaner if the contrast of the spots is still high.

 

[AeroFan_07]

I would take time to find a nice little round horsehair brush like this (generally used for shoe cleaning)
https://meltonian.com/products/meltonian-cream-dauber-brush?

(Photo from same site)

I like to use something like "liquid glycerin saddle soap" by Fiebing's especially for bugs and dirt smudges:
https://www.theisens.com/products/fiebings-liquid-glyceine-saddle-soap-for-horse?

Go carefully and light with the saddle soap - then condition it lightly afterwards.

 

[apabarn]

I will give the above a try. I will wipe the entire jacket with a wet cloth to hopefully even out the water damage. I will follow up with leather cleaner if the contrast of the spots is still high.

That sounds like a sensible approach. Doing it evenly over the whole jacket first usually tells you a lot about how much improvement you can expect. Easy to go further later if needed, much harder to undo anything.