Curly Maple Dye?

R

RI_Shooter

Joined
Apr 6, 2003
Messages
95
What kind of brown dye do you guys use to stain curly maple? I don't
have any experience with this wood, but I have a customer who wants it.
I have the Birchwood Casey Walnut and Colonial Brown water based dyes.
Will this work? Also, when do you apply the dye? Do you normally completely
finish the handle, then apply the dye and and oiul finish?
 
Fiebings spirit based leather dye. Dark brown and light brown are the most common ones used. You totally finish sand the handle and then apply the dye. The spirit based dye does not raise the grain back up like water based stain. Let it dry and rub it up with a rag. Then apply your finish as usual. if the color comes out too dark, you can lighten it up a bit by rubbing it down with 0000 steel wool.
 
I use a mixture of steel wool and vinegar. Soak a bat of 0000 steelwool in a pint of vinegar for a few days. Wipe this mixture on the wood and as it drys there will be a reaction with the wood that turns it a slate coloured grey. I do this 4 or 5 times and after it drys the final coat I gently steel wol the surface and remove the raised grain of the wood. Now its time for the linseed oil finish. I use a 50:50 blend of double boiled linseed oil and turpentine. You will be surprised by the colour transformation as you continue to introduce oil to the wood. Hope this helps . Paul
 
When you ebonize using the iron-based stain, results vary with wood type. A wood with a high tannin content (walnut, mahogany), the wood will turn black immediately. Maple has a low tannin content so the results will be less extreme. You can always fortify the wood you're working with, with tanninc acid powder or tannin-rich black tea.
 
Great, thank you. I think that I will try the leather dye first, because I'm looking for that deep mid-brown colour that
you see on many of the smith's knives.
 
I like leather dye, but I have also had good luck with a stain I got from Rade Hawkins. I think its called Majestic Maple or something like that.
 
Ever used the leather dye on stabilized wood? I tried a small scrap piece I had and it seemed to soak in a little.
 
Stabilized wood seems to be all over the map as far as actual saturation of the wood fibers goes. Sometimes (most) dye works well on stabilized wood, other times its like trying to dye plastic. I've found wood can be very stable and not really saturated.
A good test is after hand sanding to about 320 grit wet it, if it turns darker it will probably accept dye
 
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