Fiebings question

[CUTS LIKE A KRIS]

I am playing around with Fiebings dye (light brown and red) on some curly maple, lacewood and walnut and was wondering, of the two, is Renaissance Wax or Tung oil better for the finish coat on these woods. I read a few threads from the search and they either say finish with wax (I assume carnuba or something else I don't have) or Teak oil, and was wondering if what I have would suffice without spending money I don't have right now on something I won't use much of.

I also noticed that the light brown leaves the wood looking green on the more "shiny parts" of the grain (both maple and walnut), while the red leaves it a vibrant red- is the green normal with most of their browns? The brown did very well on the antler I tried it on, and the red was left pink! I can only guess that it was a result of the different properties of the material- but the green still puzzles me.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Johnny Warner]

I noticed when I have tried force drying (heat gun or hair dryer) antler and used brown tones then I would see a green tint if viewing from an angle. The darker the brown used would produce a greener tint. When I allowed the antler to dry naturally, the green tints were eliminated. This has been my experience.

 

[delbert ealy]

Kris,
I too have noticed many of the browns have a major green component. You might want to try cordovan, it has a major red component instead of the green.

BTW Sian contacted me about a pair of rings, thanks for showing yours off.
Thanks,
Del

 

[birdog4]

I don't fool with coloring lacewood or walnut. Now maple is another story.
Try putting a coat of red down, let it dry a bit ,sand the highlights, then a coat of brown.. When dry , sand a little and see what ya have.
As far as the oil, do a stockmakers finish. After you've got yer color, start swabbing it down with the tung oil. When it soaks in, give it another coat. Do this til it won't take any more oil. May take several days. When you reach the point where it stays wet, use 0000 steelwool and start rubbing it down. Sometimes I use 600 grit paper too. A wet dark sludge will form . Thats Ok You want that. It will fill the pores. After sanding the complete handle, let it set a few hours or overnight. Repeat every couple hours untill you don't see any more pores in the wood. Then wipe it down and let dry for a few days.
When it's dry, polish on a dry buff or shoeshine it . If it's not smooth enuff, go back to the oil and steelwool. After it's dry and buffed, then use the Renwax.
This will give a finish reminiscent of the old time gun finishes and has the gloss of polyurethane.

 

[CUTS LIKE A KRIS]

Thanks all for the help so far.
Del- no problem man- I had a great interaction with you and give out your name to anybody who wants something different. Juli loves her rings still (and I guess me too as she hasn't run off yet!), and so do I so it's hard to not show them off- my ring has red in it, how can I not love it (OK I am crazy for red things- like my tux). I'm sure she will like whatever you come up with- she is a really cool chick (ask her about her pinky toe).

Birdog- Thanks. Being able to use what I have at hand is really helpful and the finish looks amazing. I just tried the walnut (and will still probably give the lacewood a try to see if it can get red- I'm crazy) because I have some scrap and wanted to see if it turned green too. I never would have thought to give a light base coat of red either- that is what makes this place special.


Any more hints out there?