Adding color to epoxy

[golfer1]

I getting ready to epoxy some walnut grips to some blades and want to add some color to the epoxy. Any suggestions what would be good to use?
Thanks for looking.

 

[Geoff Flato]

They sell purpose made epoxy pigment, fibreglass dye works well too.

 

[Horsewright]

Heck plain ink works too:


Broken mammoth tooth handle.

Crushed up mammoth tooth scrap mixed with epoxy and a few drops of black ink:

Built a dam of painters tape:

Finished er up:

Worked for this repair.

 

[MBB]

Lamp Black also works well.

 

[PoorUserName]

I had a hole in my notebook lid, I only had white 2 part epoxy, I mixed in a tiny bit of ballpoint pen ink, I removed the nib and blew it out the tube, It set rock hard and looked great.

But i recommend doing a test first.

 

[A.McPherson]

Regular old fabric dye works too. Not sure if it changes the strength of the epoxy or not, but it does turn your epoxy colors!
And you can get it at your local craft store!!

 

[argel55]

K & G sells many different colors for epoxy. I have black,red,blue,yellow,orange, and white.

 

[Neko2]

I hear great things about Alumilite dye.

 

[Tehemton]

I'm curious if activated charcoal would work to dye it black?

 

[scott.livesey]

i use oil based pigment you can buy at big box store or art supply store

 

[Willie71]

I use sifted ash to get a charcoal look. It’s great for gluing up black g-10 liners, bolsters, and guards. I’ve read that food colour works well, but haven’t used it myself.

 

[Hengelo_77]

I use powder pigment sold in small bottles. You only need a little bit

 

[daizee]

Gonna try this with some lapis powder shortly, to fill a void. Did this with orange G10 powder and it wasn't quite as obnoxious as desired, but matched the ironwood void color scheme better than expected. Ink/dye would probably be much better for color. (and then I ruined the scales on the drill press anyway. )

 

[AF]

Just don't use much of whatever you use or the epoxy may not achieve full hardness.

 

[PoorUserName]

I have found just standard epoxy can be brittle so i would keep it thick and round off the edges.

I am not an epoxy expert so different brands may vary.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

I crush charcoal in a mortar and pestle to dye epoxy. Ground instant coffee makes a nice brown, too.
Both of these must be ground to an extremely fine powder before mixing.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

In use the K&G epoxy dyes. They are formulated to mix with epoxy. A tiny amount will dye a batch of epoxy. It will not affect the hardening time or hardness.

I advise against adding powdered things that are non-soluable in epoxy. They will color the epoxy by being suspended in it, but won't actually dye the epoxy. As a filler for voids, that is fine, but for bonding two things, it may make a weaker and thicker joint. They also affect the strength and hardness of the resin. Oil base dyes may affect the degree of cure and cure time.

 

[SVTFreak]

I drew on my cloth with a sharpie (red) the other day. The resin (I’m using vinyl Esther with MEK hardener) dissolved the color out of the glass. It wasn’t much but it sure dyed my glass red. See photo below. Left side is that one. Right is without the sharpie lines. About 1/8” like around the edge of 3 layers is what you see. Not much went a long way. It didn’t not affect the hardness.

 

[Darrin Sanders]

Another reason I like Acraglass. They make dyes specifically for their epoxy. Its cheap and goes a LONG way. Just one drop will dye enough epoxy for a knife. I bought the little jars of dye about 6 years ago and have used just about half of each color.

 

[golfer1]

Great information guys that has been most helpful. My main concern was using something that might reduce the strength of the epoxy. I'm using G-flex and like the idea of the colored dyes. Thanks again for your help and best wishes.