Custom Dyed GEC’s by Nathan & Travis

Travman said:
One last picture of the red 91 stockman
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That looks fantastic!
For getting the oil out of the 91, how did you heat up the bone?
Did you use the same heating process for the case stockman?
 
Scubaroo said:
That looks fantastic!
For getting the oil out of the 91, how did you heat up the bone?
Did you use the same heating process for the case stockman?
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Yea, I too am quite interested in this whole process. Would love to learn more.

I've never dyed any knife before, but the bf stockman isn't a bad candidate for it. I also have a rough ryder blue bone stockman that I thought would be a darker blue. But when it arrived in the mail is was very baby blue. I could dye that one a darker blue first as a test project before trying to tackle the 91 stockman.

Would greatly appreciate any additional information we can get! But also understand that these are often times guarded secrets for good reason 😅
 
lithicus said:
Yea, I too am quite interested in this whole process. Would love to learn more.

I've never dyed any knife before, but the bf stockman isn't a bad candidate for it. I also have a rough ryder blue bone stockman that I thought would be a darker blue. But when it arrived in the mail is was very baby blue. I could dye that one a darker blue first as a test project before trying to tackle the 91 stockman.

Would greatly appreciate any additional information we can get! But also understand that these are often times guarded secrets for good reason 😅
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I soaked my case mini trapper in red dye this morning and it did absolutely NOTHING. 🤣
I came here and read about the heating process to remove some of the oils.
 
In this thread people mention using oven cleaner (which is just quite concentrated sodium hydroxide, I use it to strip cast iron as well, I don't think it'll hurt steel but I don't know about steel in contact with brass etc., haven't personally tried this) on the bone to remove any surface oils/coatings before applying dye:

J

Thread 'Dyeing Bone: A Tutorial'

I've come up with a method to dye bone scales.
I've had very good results with the following method, but please be aware if you decide to try this that there are many factors involved and something could go wrong and ruin your knife.
Please don't attempt this on a knife that has sentimental or financial value, and don't blame me if you damage your knife, I'm only relating my personal experience.

There are many reasons why you might want to dye bone scales:

You got bored with the color of a favorite knife.

You found a knife you really want, but it's not available in a color you like...
  • Like
 
Scubaroo said:
I soaked my case mini trapper in red dye this morning and it did absolutely NOTHING. 🤣
I came here and read about the heating process to remove some of the oils.
Click to expand...
Oh noooo 😝 I've never done any dye before, but some of these results are hard to not fawn over! They look so good!!

Carboniferous said:
In this thread people mention using oven cleaner (which is just quite concentrated sodium hydroxide, I use it to strip cast iron as well, I don't think it'll hurt steel but I don't know about steel in contact with brass etc., haven't personally tried this) on the bone to remove any surface oils/coatings before applying dye:

J

Thread 'Dyeing Bone: A Tutorial'

I've come up with a method to dye bone scales.
I've had very good results with the following method, but please be aware if you decide to try this that there are many factors involved and something could go wrong and ruin your knife.
Please don't attempt this on a knife that has sentimental or financial value, and don't blame me if you damage your knife, I'm only relating my personal experience.

There are many reasons why you might want to dye bone scales:

You got bored with the color of a favorite knife.

You found a knife you really want, but it's not available in a color you like...
  • Like
Click to expand...
Thank you for the link!!
 
Carboniferous said:
In this thread people mention using oven cleaner (which is just quite concentrated sodium hydroxide, I use it to strip cast iron as well, I don't think it'll hurt steel but I don't know about steel in contact with brass etc., haven't personally tried this) on the bone to remove any surface oils/coatings before applying dye:

J

Thread 'Dyeing Bone: A Tutorial'

I've come up with a method to dye bone scales.
I've had very good results with the following method, but please be aware if you decide to try this that there are many factors involved and something could go wrong and ruin your knife.
Please don't attempt this on a knife that has sentimental or financial value, and don't blame me if you damage your knife, I'm only relating my personal experience.

There are many reasons why you might want to dye bone scales:

You got bored with the color of a favorite knife.

You found a knife you really want, but it's not available in a color you like...
  • Like
Click to expand...
I would never use sodium hydroxide which is corrosive on any carbon steel knife. I’m not sure why someone would think this would be a good idea. I have also heard of people using hydrogen peroxide or bleach. I don’t understand what they are trying to do. My main concern when dyeing a knife is not introducing corrosion to the steel. I don’t want any pitting.
 
Travman said:
I would never use sodium hydroxide which is corrosive on any carbon steel knife. I’m not sure why someone would think this would be a good idea. I have also heard of people using hydrogen peroxide or bleach. I don’t understand what they are trying to do. My main concern when dyeing a knife is not introducing corrosion to the steel. I don’t want any pitting.
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Sodium hydroxide is not going to cause pittng with brief contact, in my experience. You can, in fact, soak bare cast iron in oven cleaner and let it sit for days on end and it does not rust (I have done this dozens of times). I have also done this with carbon steel pans. People also use vinegar to remove rust as you probably know, which is also corrosive with extended contact.

Safety data says the Easy-Off I use is 1-5% sodium hydroxide, so not super concentrated.

But I'm not warrantying anything so certainly proceed with caution.

Edit: I'll soak my Old Hickory 1095 boning knife for a couple of hours and report back edit edit: I only let it soak for half an hour since that already seemed excessive, no rust developed and the edge didn't noticeably lose sharpness (it's shaving sharp but not really popping hairs, I keep it a bit toothy and finish at around 1000 grit, might notice more on a more polished edge or a knife with no patina) Still not warrantying anything but I can't see any obvious differences after half an hour, some slight surface discoloration but not more than I'd expect from deboning a few chicken thighs.
 
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Travman said:
I would never use sodium hydroxide which is corrosive on any carbon steel knife. I’m not sure why someone would think this would be a good idea. I have also heard of people using hydrogen peroxide or bleach. I don’t understand what they are trying to do. My main concern when dyeing a knife is not introducing corrosion to the steel. I don’t want any pitting.
Click to expand...

NaOH is not generally very corrosive toward steel. Aluminum is an entirely different matter...ask me how I know.
 
GEC has had trouble getting their elderberry color right with many runs of elderberry come out looking pink. We have worked on the 2023 pink Elderberry 39’s before with good success. The goal for this one was a much darker and deeper version of what I thought elderberry should look like. We added purple and red. BTW, if you want to see elderberry done right from the factory, take a look at the 2022 #35 Cattle Knives.
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Here is another 91 BF Stockman we worked on and mailed out this morning
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After:
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I like to take outdoor pictures to really show off what the colors really look like. However, it has been dark and dreary in our area lately. So today we only have indoor pictures.
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A few people had some questions about why we would dye the 2024 39 Giraffe bone Rendezvous knife. They were concerned that it was too special of a knife to modify. I wanted to show a few pictures which show how ugly the bone was before we dyed it. The dark gray smudgy look was deep and not going away. Also, I really like the color purple.
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After:
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Send me a message if you have a knife that you are looking to have dyed. Maybe they sent you a knife that it’s a little too washed out looking. Maybe they sent you a knife that is pink when it should’ve been dark red. Maybe you just want to change the color to your favorite color. Let me know your ideas.
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