Dyed Wood - What do you like/hate ?

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For the longest time I hated the idea of dying wood.
But......I have been experimenting a bit lately with dying different wood.

My question to you guys.

What color do you like best?
What color do you hate most?

So far the colors I have done are;
Black - popular
Blue - popular
Brown - medium response
Purple - not popular
Orange - popular

I think black has been #1 so far.
Not sure if the responses have been due to what I made available or????
The last show someone had mentioned brighter colors like red, yellow, turquoise.
My response was I don't dye wood in girlie colors. I thought the guy's wife was going to hit me.
 
Mark, could you show some examples of the above listed colors/woods? I could be a potential new customer. So far have not really liked any died woods I have seen offered by other suppliers.....too much of a nutaral wood guy I guess.
Thanks!
Jim
 
I recently sent some wood off to get the double dye treatment of Yellow & Black. I haven't seen the results yet, but if they are half as striking as the examples on the web site it should result in some bold pieces.
 
I have only used one piece in black and one in red, the blue can sometimes work for me, but not the turquois. I don't really see me using purple or orange, but I have used woods with those naturally colored. I kinda felt the same as you starting out, but I do think that some woods could use a bit for contrast. The one thing that dismays me is that box elder is a common wood for dying, when it has such beautiful bold color on its own. I love natural box elder, so if you get your hands on some let me know before you dye it.
Thanks,
Del
 
I kinda like purple, depending on the depth.. eggplant purple with mustard yellow for instance go very well.. but these are scales intended for knives and such, so maybe purple isn't that popular but if done right .... HMM.. maybe I'm more in touch with my feminine side?? :) I really doubt it, although I like color..

Mark some of your blue dyes have been out of sight!!! I like a really deep rich tone, not sure how well wood takes the purple/yellow/red etc, but I could see it being marketed, I mean there are pink/purple and every color in between being accessorized with guns !! :)
 
I know my daughter would love Purple, but she is 7 years old. I have a piece of purple heart set aside for a knife for her. I have not had to much experience with dyed wood. I kind of like the natural beauty of the wood be the thing that draws me to a block or a set of scales.
 
I love colors and think they have a place in the knife making world without looking like cheap flea market stuff (as some of the dymondwood can do).

This for instance:
mb_background2.jpg


I absolutely LOVE the color combination.

I have no problems with purple, pink, turquoise or any other colors IF done tastefully. The comment above about different colors with guns is very true, and I can't see that knives should be any different.
 
Carl_First_Timer said:
What you got against red dye?

*See above*
Click to expand...

My only problem with red is most I have seen ended up looking pink.
I can't hardly give away pink wood. (example red gum eucalyptus)
I should probably try a batch of red with instructions to leave it in the tank until good and dark.
 
I have three words for you... Paul Reed Smith. Three more, Gibson Custom Shop... three more, Fender Custom Shop... you get the idea.

It IS possible to get good, deep, "glowing" colors in natural and/or stabilized woods. ( red, purple, blue, etc.) Why custom guitar manu's have figured this out and knife folks haven't, is beyond me.
 
GrizzlyBear said:
I love colors and think they have a place in the knife making world without looking like cheap flea market stuff (as some of the dymondwood can do).

This for instance:
mb_background2.jpg


I absolutely LOVE the color combination.

I have no problems with purple, pink, turquoise or any other colors IF done tastefully. The comment above about different colors with guns is very true, and I can't see that knives should be any different.
Click to expand...
grizzlybear, that double dyed box elder sure looked familiar, so I looked through my photos and found this
blackred.jpg


the block on the left. I liked it so much that I bought it.
103_1692.jpg


as per the topic.
I love dyed wood as long as the colors are vibrant and do not diminish the wood's figure
 
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james terrio said:
I have three words for you... Paul Reed Smith. Three more, Gibson Custom Shop... three more, Fender Custom Shop... you get the idea.

It IS possible to get good, deep, "glowing" colors in natural and/or stabilized woods. ( red, purple, blue, etc.) Why custom guitar manu's have figured this out and knife folks haven't, is beyond me.
Click to expand...


I just had a look

If you look in the f hole cutout, the colour is only surface, not on the edge.

It looks like a finishing treatment, not a penetrating dye.

That probably makes a big difference.

1625a.jpg
 
Personaly I don't like dyed wood at all.
To me it looks very unnatural. The natural wood colours can be so beautifull. I find it very distracting if new and unnatural colour is introduced. There's no need for it, there are so many beautifull natural colours in wood.
To me it takes away the beauty of the knive.
Like a good wine wich is to sweet. You can regonise the quality of the wine, but you can't enjoy it because the sweetness is in the way.
But this is just my oppinion :)
 
The_cutting_edge said:
grizzlybear, that double dyed box elder sure looked familiar, so I looked through my photos and found this
blackred.jpg

the block on the right. I liked it so much that I bought it.
103_1692.jpg


as per the topic.
I love dyed wood as long as the colors are vibrant and do not diminish the wood's figure
Click to expand...

Yeah those look a little familiar to me as well. Think that is the brick on the front of my house. L
 
12345678910 said:
I just had a look

If you look in the f hole cutout, the colour is only surface, not on the edge.

It looks like a finishing treatment, not a penetrating dye.

That probably makes a big difference.

1625a.jpg
Click to expand...

It looks to me like the top is a stained quilted maple piece laminated to the rest of the guitar and then finished. It is stained that dark color, then sanded to raise the light highlights and finished from there. I did a lot of research when working with a curly maple handle back in the spring on the best way to finish it and I came across a full walk through on a guitar site that showed how they do the quilted maple tops to those guitars.
 
I really like the black dyed woods, blue is OK, but can be a little over powering. I think that if you could get red to work and not be pink it would be nice too
 
james terrio said:
I have three words for you... Paul Reed Smith. Three more, Gibson Custom Shop... three more, Fender Custom Shop... you get the idea.

It IS possible to get good, deep, "glowing" colors in natural and/or stabilized woods. ( red, purple, blue, etc.) Why custom guitar manu's have figured this out and knife folks haven't, is beyond me.
Click to expand...

The guys who said that it is a surface dye are correct.
My cousin is the head guy for Yamaha's custom shop.
1st of all for quilted maple they want the pure white pieces.
They apply an aniline dye to the surface of the top plate. Repeating coats until they get the look they want.

The same thing could be done on a knife using non stabilized wood.
 
I really like some of the dyed woods. I like the Black ,Turquoise, Blue, Orange and browns. Have yet to see any green and the pieces above are the only red i have seen that i like. I would really like to see some quilted in red and black like on the PRS. Now that my show expenditure is past, i will be bugging you again Mark....
 
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