Dying Curly maple wood

Feibings is good. I literally use all kinds of dyes depending on the wood, figure, and desired effect. For dark figure like we're talking about, I almost always use leather dyes. I also use fretboard dyes, which I believe are the same stuff, just priced higher for luthiers. Use some scrap and make sure it's the same material, or as close as possible so you know the outcome before you use it on something you don't want to mess up.
 
I had a bunch of different shades, but what i was told after I bought them is that if you keep applying almost any of them, even yellow, the wood will continue to darken,soI settled on light brown. Find the one that has the mix of red, yellow, etc that you like and go to town. A bit of warning. They handle will not really pop until you put a finish on it. BLO works, but I use a purpose made old school gunstock finish system and it adds a little bit of color. .
As for steel wool, pretty much everyone uses OOOO.
AmericanSoldier1989 said:
I really like the dark tone of you "W2 blade, 416ss fittings, curly maple handle" that's in your gallery of your site. What dye/color of Fiebings and steel wool did you use? If you don't mind me asking..

Not sure if it's the lighting , but, It looks similar to what I'm trying to achieve.
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Awesome, thanks a ton guys. You really helped sort out the almost overwhelming info. Now that I figured out what dye I wanted to use, I was researching what finish. After watching videos and reading threads, seems like BLO is what I'm after, like you stated JDM.
 
If you are willing to put in a little elbow grease, you might want to looking into Tru Oil (?)
AmericanSoldier1989 said:
Awesome, thanks a ton guys. You really helped sort out the almost overwhelming info. Now that I figured out what dye I wanted to use, I was researching what finish. After watching videos and reading threads, seems like BLO is what I'm after, like you stated JDM.
Click to expand...
 
Tru oil tends to be glossy. If going for flat, blo is probably the best, and tung oil tends to be flat/satin. Danish oil is a bit glossier, and tru oil is the glossiest.
 
I like watco brand danish oil the best. Maybe because that is what I have used most over the years and am familiar with.
If things end up too glossy you can dull it down with xfine steel wool.
Recently I started using a brown color abrasive pad I found at the hardware store. I think it was a 3M product.
There were different ones and I picked what looked to be the finest. Worked like steelwool without the residue.
 
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