Fresh from the dye pot!

markksr said:
Thanks again to all for the compliments!

RIT Dye is a clothing dye more than a leather dye. Very old and common stuff here in the US. I grabbed mine at the local Walmart in the laundry detergent section. (Also grabbed a bottle of brown to dye a vest of which I didn't like the camo pattern.)

I used just enough water to cover the knife in the bottom of a saucepan and maybe an ounce or two of dye mixed in with a dash of salt.
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So the dye comes in a bottle or packets? Only and oz. or two eh?
 
http://www.ritdye.com/

They will sell it directly if you can't find it locally. I bought mine at a local pharmacy, which had a rather limited selection of colors. Unless you have a lot of knives to dye, the bottles of dye should last a long time.

I used a couple of capfuls of the dye in a small saucepan mixed with just enough water to cover the knife. Read up on it over in that thread Mark linked.
 
csisland said:
So the dye comes in a bottle or packets? Only and oz. or two eh?
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Both actually, I used the liquid but it also comes as a powder in a packet. And I possibly could have used even less dye (as John did above this post), but I don't follow instructions very well... LOL... :o:p:D:thumbup:
 
markksr said:
Both actually, I used the liquid but it also comes as a powder in a packet. And I possibly could have used even less dye (as John did above this post), but I don't follow instructions very well... LOL... :o:p:D:thumbup:
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Looks like I'll be stopping at Walmart tomorrow for the dye. Also, when I leave the lot, there's a hotdog truck off to the right that makes great egg creams. :D
 
csisland said:
Looks like I'll be stopping at Walmart tomorrow for the dye. Also, when I leave the lot, there's a hotdog truck off to the right that makes great egg creams. :D
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Now I want a darn egg cream...

(At midnight in Florida.)

:D
 
That just looks so right!

Very nicely done, and for all the world it looks like it came that way from the 50's!

Thanks for the pictures and yet another great idea.

best

mqqn
 
I am doing this for sure! I got t a Case Peanut in the mail yesterday that has their "dark red bone" & I hate it! I could live with the shield side but the pile side looks like light red that fades into pink & white. I would like to keep the scales red just a dark red like they are supposed to be. I would like them to turn out looking like GEC's Blood Red Bone but we will see what happens. I will take before & after pictures for sure.
 
If you're looking to just darken Case's anemic red, I've had good luck using a couple tea bags and some coffee grounds as my coloring agent. It tends to darken the red to something more like what's on a GEC 15 and make the whitish streaks noticeably darker and warmer. Totally got rid of the pinkish hue.
 
From personal experience, just a warning if you plan to use the RIT dye stovetop method. I have found that it will cause pitting of CV steel blades. Small pits, and not all over, just a few specks here and there. Almost as though there are small impurities or inconsistencies in the steel that get dissolved out.

I have had no issues with dying the Case SS knives, however. I was able to take a so-so looking Case "Pocket Worn Old Red" trapper and get that old school red look to it.
 
bwperdue said:
If you're looking to just darken Case's anemic red, I've had good luck using a couple tea bags and some coffee grounds as my coloring agent. It tends to darken the red to something more like what's on a GEC 15 and make the whitish streaks noticeably darker and warmer. Totally got rid of the pinkish hue.
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Can you provide some additional info on how to do this? Pics?
 
bwperdue said:
If you're looking to just darken Case's anemic red, I've had good luck using a couple tea bags and some coffee grounds as my coloring agent. It tends to darken the red to something more like what's on a GEC 15 and make the whitish streaks noticeably darker and warmer. Totally got rid of the pinkish hue.
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I second Woodrow's request! :) Do you do the same process as that rit dye write up but with tea & coffee in place of the rit dye? Also is there one tea that works better than the next & any before & after pics?
 
I just use a small pot and put a couple inches of water in it. I usually drop 2 PG Tips bags into it, but any other dark tea would work. As for coffee grounds, I put a couple spoonfuls in. I wash the knife thoroughly and put it in when I start to boil the water so it comes up to temperature slowly (I don't know if it helps to prevent any bone cracking issues or not, but I feel better doing it this way.) I just let the knives sit for 1/2 hour or so at a slow boil, then take them out and let them cool back to room temperature before rinsing them off and oiling them.

I just sold off several Cases in both dark red and amber bone that I had done this to. Let me contact the buyer and see if he can at least take some after pics. It really takes the pink edge off the red bone. It gets rid of that ugly orange in the amber bone and darkens in considerably. This will turn carbon blades very dark, by the way.
 
Blaine, I've had success with your tea dye method on some rather so-so stag, came out well. I added some salt as a fixer, it really turns carbon blades & backsprings black, no pitting though.

Regards, Will
 
bwperdue said:
I just use a small pot and put a couple inches of water in it. I usually drop 2 PG Tips bags into it, but any other dark tea would work. As for coffee grounds, I put a couple spoonfuls in. I wash the knife thoroughly and put it in when I start to boil the water so it comes up to temperature slowly (I don't know if it helps to prevent any bone cracking issues or not, but I feel better doing it this way.) I just let the knives sit for 1/2 hour or so at a slow boil, then take them out and let them cool back to room temperature before rinsing them off and oiling them.

I just sold off several Cases in both dark red and amber bone that I had done this to. Let me contact the buyer and see if he can at least take some after pics. It really takes the pink edge off the red bone. It gets rid of that ugly orange in the amber bone and darkens in considerably. This will turn carbon blades very dark, by the way.
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OK I'm headed to the store now to pick up the things I need but one question. What is PG Tips? Probably a dumb question but I hate tea & never buy it so I'm not sure if that is a brand abbreviation or what lol. :)

The peanut I will be doing this to does have CV steel blades but if I wanted to remove the patina so I could do my own natural patina flitz would take care of that right?
 
PG Tips is just the brand of tea that my wife happened to have in the pantry. Any kind of dark tea should be fine.

And yeah, you can just polish the patina back off again. Or even just hit it with a little steel wool to lighten it.
 
willgoy said:
Blaine, I've had success with your tea dye method on some rather so-so stag, came out well. I added some salt as a fixer, it really turns carbon blades & backsprings black, no pitting though.

Regards, Will
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When you say you added some salt are you talking just a pinch or like a tablespoon or what?
 
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