Removing Black Dye from Webbing

[peregrinvs]

A little restoration tip that might be of use. 

 

At the War & Peace Show this week I bought a cheap P08 haversack. It was cheap as the rear fittings have been removed and it had been dyed black. (I believe this indicates Irish use) As an experiment, I gave it a circa 10-15 minute soak in Rit Color Remover and here's the result - the black dye has gone and the khaki dye underneath seems to be largely unaffected.

 

The only minor disappointment is that no markings were revealed and I can't see any sign it ever had any. Does anyone have any thoughts why? 

 

https://www.ritdye.com/products/color-remover/

 

[Dave66]

31 minutes ago, peregrinvs said:

A little restoration tip that might be of use. 

 

At the War & Peace Show this week I bought a cheap P08 haversack. It was cheap as the rear fittings have been removed and it had been dyed black. (I believe this indicates Irish use) As an experiment, I gave it a circa 10-15 minute soak in Rit Color Remover and here's the result - the black dye has gone and the khaki dye underneath seems to be largely unaffected.

 

The only minor disappointment is that no markings were revealed and I can't see any sign it ever had any. Does anyone have any thoughts why? 

 

https://www.ritdye.com/products/color-remover/

 

Excellent results and many thanks for sharing, may well come in handy for the future.

 

Dave

[JMB1943]

Dr. Watson assures me that if Rit dye remover does an excellent job on a uniform, overall black dye, the odds are VERY high that it will do a similar job on a black dye that was applied as a Broad Arrow inkstamp.

An alternative explanation would be that the haversack never was stamped.

Interesting that the khaki has not, apparently, also been decolorized.

 

Regards,

JMB