Has anyone dyed wood for handles slabs?

K

Knife Fumbler

Joined
Nov 25, 2000
Messages
183
Hi guys,
I came accross enough hard maple burl-ish looking stuff (the grain pattern looks like flames), just enough to make handles scales for a knife.
I wanted to know if anyone has dyed wood to give it color.
I think this wood might look good if it was dyed a dark grey.
Can anyone give me hints on dying wood or have any pics of wood that's been dyed?
I'm going to dye a scrap piece and see how it comes out.
 
I dye my woods all the time. I use an Analine powdered dye desolved in an alcohol base. I seal the wood and dye in a tuperware type container for at least one week. Then let it dry back out for about a month then send it off to K+G for stabilizing.
 
most of the wood dyeing processes that I am framiliar with are surface treatments,

Mr Clarks method can be speeded up putting the wood/dye in a vaccume chamber. if you mix the dye in epoxy as I recomended in my thread to Peter Nap, you don't need to stabilize it

If you don't have a vaccume system, try Mr Clarks method on a scrap piece. then chop it in half to check for color penitration.(you don't even need to let it dry all the way) then rough size your scales so that the finish dimention will stay within the colored area.

It should work:) EE
 
Thanks for the info.
Say though that I already have my scales rough cut (within 1/16th of final shape).
How would I dye that and do I have to worry about warpage from the wood gettign wet then drying?
Perhaps I can do the dye/epoxy thing on it.
 
within 1/16 should still give you plenty of room to take out any warpage that might happen.

if you use the alcohol dye bath make sure you use solvent al. not rubbing al. and don't borrow your wife's good plastic ware.:mad: :eek:

I don't think there will be a problem with either method
 
A neat sideline to R.W.'s analine dye is that it can be used on porus metals like cast aluminum also. Soak them for a while and when you get the color, dunk it in a pot of boiling water to seal it in.
 
Did not know that analine dye can be used on metal. Makes sense.

On the stuff stabilized by K+G, I don't use any sealer. I treat it just like Micarta or G10. Not sure what the chemical is that they use for stabilizing. I have heard the name, and its just to long for me to recall.

On non-stabilized woods, I sand to 320-600 (depends on the wood) then coat them really well with a product called Deft. I let the Deft dry and then polish it off with a non-coloring white rouge.

There are most likely better or easier ways to do it. But thats all I know at this time.
 
Yep R.W., I used to build a lot of AR15's on 80% finished cast aluminum lowers. One of the others came up with a home grown method to stain and seal the things using the analine dye. I tried it and it worked well.
 
I was looking for instructions on how to anodize Al and Ti.
One thing I came accross has analine dye as the color agent.
They dye it then seal it in hot water and market it as an anodized product.
It was a paintball site.
I don't know if you could actually call dying the metal anodizing.
Anyone care to comment?
I believe they dyed it after exposing it to a chemical solution and electricity.
 
I will have to try that one.

For anodizing alum. It is exposed to a chemical bath under current. This leaves a non-conductive coating of an liposomal oxide (tiny bubbles). The liposomes are porous at this stage. It is then dyed to the desired color. The tiny bubbles absorb the dye and hold it in. I have heard of using analine dye, Rit fabric dye and a few others. I stick with metal dye designed for anodizing (but hey it could just be repackaged analine for all I know;)). once the color you want is reached it is sealed in a water bath or with a special dip designed for that use. The liposomes are sealed and no more color may be added, and the color should not fade but can scratch.
 
Originally posted by R.W.Clark
I will have to try that one.

For anodizing alum. It is exposed to a chemical bath under current. This leaves a non-conductive coating of an liposomal oxide (tiny bubbles). The liposomes are porous at this stage. It is then dyed to the desired color. The tiny bubbles absorb the dye and hold it in. I have heard of using analine dye, Rit fabric dye and a few others. I stick with metal dye designed for anodizing (but hey it could just be repackaged analine for all I know;)). once the color you want is reached it is sealed in a water bath or with a special dip designed for that use. The liposomes are sealed and no more color may be added, and the color should not fade but can scratch.
Click to expand...

Ohh...wow...
lol...I'm amazed at the amount of knowledge you can find around here.
I always thought anodization was sort of like a form of plating.
:)
Do you anodize Ti the same way you do Al?
 
Ti is done totally differant. But very much the same. :D

Anodizing Ti does include a chemical bath and a power supply, but thats all they have in common. With Alum. you physically add color to the oxide layer. In Ti, no color is really added. What you are adding is call titainium oxide and is clear. But what you can not see is that this clear layer contians what is called interuping colors. The color is changed by how thick the layer of oxide is. Think of it as water with a mirror at the bottom. The deeper you go into water the fewer the bands of color. So full spectrum enters, passes through the oxide and bounces off the Ti and back out to your eyes. Well, upon exiting many of the bands are filtered. That is why we see certain colors, even though there is really no color there.

For Ti you use a chemical called TriSodiumPhosphate or TSP for short. For alum you use low voltage and high current (a simple battery charger works great), for Ti you use high voltage and low current. These power supplies can be built for around $100 or you can buy them for $400-$2500. Or like me you can buy a used unit on Ebay for $25-$50. My unit has a voltage out put of 0-500VDC and not even a single amp of current. Color is controlled by the amount of voltage you put through to bath.

Drop me a e-mail if you want and I will e-mail you a very detailed and long paper on the subject. It also includes the plans on building your own variable power supply.
 
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