Applying Feiblings Leather Dye to a delrin scale

G

GusSharp68

Hoist With His Own Petard
Platinum Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2021
Messages
1,564
Asking for advice on the procedure to touch up an existing Schrade pocket knife with jigged derlin covers that are black and brown. I’ve read here that delrin does take to dye very easily and I think I’ve got the jist of it, but my question is do I need to heat up the knife covers a little or do I heat the dye. Being careful not to heat above 180 degrees I think so as not to melt the covers. I have a heat gun but that seems like it could easily overheat so I’m not considering it.

I’ve seen a post here where someone boiled the knife in water for 10 minutes before putting the dye on. Or do you boil the dye itself? Or is there a better method.

My plan is to clean off the glossy acrylic sealer I applied earlier to restore the shine on the UV exposed faded mark side of the knife (pile side looks brand new). Then apply black dye to the jigged portion. Once that is done, then go back and apply dark brown or medium brown to the whole cover especially the edges which have faded a lot from the original. Then, if needed I can buff to a shine or go back to this super hi-shine acrylic sealer with a very light dusting over.
 
Last edited:
Bill DeShivs said:
It's Delrin.
You boil the knife in the dye.
Click to expand...
Sorry, yes, Delrin.

Will the other side that isn’t faded even out as the faded side takes to the dye or will the disparity that started between the two prior to being dyed simply remain? How would you get the dual color of a bit more black on the jigged portion and brown on the edges?
 
Last edited:
You said leather dye. I'm sorry-I was talking about Rit dye.
Rit dye often successfully dyes some plastics. Leather dye will probably just stain it.
 
Fiebings will dye ANYTHING. Especially anything that Rit will dye. It’s alcohol based and soaks deep into everything. Including your fingers and anything else that touches it.

OP - dude, it’s a delrin scaled Schrade. No need to heat anything. Maybe remove the acrylic sealer. Just paint it on, see what it does, then sand or mess with it til you like it.
 
AntDog said:
Fiebings will dye ANYTHING. Especially anything that Rit will dye. It’s alcohol based and soaks deep into everything. Including your fingers and anything else that touches it.

OP - dude, it’s a delrin scaled Schrade. No need to heat anything. Maybe remove the acrylic sealer. Just paint it on, see what it does, then sand or mess with it til you like it.
Click to expand...
Got it. Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this
 
Last edited:
Just giving an update, the leather dye worked wonders, and after a little bit of polishing looks as good as new I think…

Before…

View attachment 2522415View attachment 2522416

After using Dark Brown on entirety and then going back and adding black to some of the jigged portion. Then lightly (and I mean lightly so I didn’t melt the Delrin) with a dremel and some polish paste. Probably would have been better to do by hand as I almost melted a little bit at the very bottom end. Regardless, I think it looks almost as good as the unfaded original pile side now…

View attachment 2522417View attachment 2522418
 
Last edited:
That turned out fantastic! Well done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top