Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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I a recent thread I was asked to show some photos of black dyed stabilized maple. I am putting it here so as not to mess up the other thread.
I cut up a lot of maple. Much is high grade curly and quilted. I toss the lower grade blocks into the firewood box. When selecting the blocks with good pattern for stabilization, I pick the primo AAA pieces. I dye some of this brown, red, and green. It can be stunning and a show winner.
This leaves a lot of OK looking to so-so looking blocks. If I stabilized these I would never use them or sell them, as the better wood is far nicer. So, I dye these blocks. I dye red, blue, green, brown, and black. The brighter colors make great kitchen knife sets. The brown dyed accentuates teh curl a lot. Black dyed can be very interesting. It creates a two-color black/silvery effect like double-dyed box elder burl. Quilted maple that would barely show a pattern in plain color can become very nice. The blocks with wide or minimal curl get a neat striped look.
I just got around to sanding down a box of this second-grade wood I got back during the summer. In the photos I added a piece of the good brown dyed stuff. I have a box of really good black dyed but couldn't put my hands on it. The curly brown block I took a photo of is indicative of how it looks. The blocks are all maple except one piece of spalted persimmon I had in the box.
Two blocks had a little birsdeye, but not enough to use them as a plain wood. The difference after dying is a lot.
These are just a fast 120 grit sanding and a few seconds on the buffer. It looks many times better when shaped and sanded to 400+ grit then buffed well.
The last shot is a piece of unduyed stabilized curly maple.
I cut up a lot of maple. Much is high grade curly and quilted. I toss the lower grade blocks into the firewood box. When selecting the blocks with good pattern for stabilization, I pick the primo AAA pieces. I dye some of this brown, red, and green. It can be stunning and a show winner.
This leaves a lot of OK looking to so-so looking blocks. If I stabilized these I would never use them or sell them, as the better wood is far nicer. So, I dye these blocks. I dye red, blue, green, brown, and black. The brighter colors make great kitchen knife sets. The brown dyed accentuates teh curl a lot. Black dyed can be very interesting. It creates a two-color black/silvery effect like double-dyed box elder burl. Quilted maple that would barely show a pattern in plain color can become very nice. The blocks with wide or minimal curl get a neat striped look.
I just got around to sanding down a box of this second-grade wood I got back during the summer. In the photos I added a piece of the good brown dyed stuff. I have a box of really good black dyed but couldn't put my hands on it. The curly brown block I took a photo of is indicative of how it looks. The blocks are all maple except one piece of spalted persimmon I had in the box.
Two blocks had a little birsdeye, but not enough to use them as a plain wood. The difference after dying is a lot.
These are just a fast 120 grit sanding and a few seconds on the buffer. It looks many times better when shaped and sanded to 400+ grit then buffed well.
The last shot is a piece of unduyed stabilized curly maple.
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