How to Color Camel Bone

L

Luís Simões

Joined
Jul 20, 2023
Messages
4
Good afternoon everyone.
My name is Luis Simões and I'm a cutler from Portugal and this is my first post I wanted to know if anyone knew how to color camel bone for pocket knives.
Thank you L.S
 
Olá Luis. Bem-vinito para Shop Talk.

First, degrease the bone by boiling in TSP or other cleaner.
Let dry completely.
Use alcohol base dyes. Long soak.
 
Trisodium phosphate, a very strong, alkaline chemical with multiple uses such as cleaning walls prior to painting. Wear gloves.
2nd mention: wear gloves and protect your face.
 
You don't need much TSP in the pot of water. 2oz per gallon is good.

Plain Dawn dish soap will work, too. Much friendlier.
 
I'm assuming he has raw camel bone since he asked about dying it. If it is clean, dry, and natural color he may be able to skip degreasing it and go straight to a dye bath.
 
My experience of Camelbone is simply from having it on the handles of pocket-knives. It certainly doesn't take dye as evenly as Bovine bone will but this is often very pleasant as it results in mottling, so don't be disappointed by early experiments. Unyded can look a very good Ivory colour too.

I wonder that if after cleaning the bone you then expose it to strong sunlight for a week or two to bleach the surface, this MIGHT improve colour uptake ? Just a thought.

Obrigado, Will.
 
It takes a long soak to get penetration. If you have a pressure pot, that may speed it up a little (don't know for sure, but it seems reasonable).
The alcohol based dyes penetrate a little faster in bone.
Many folks use alcohol base leather dyes like Feibing's.

The surface will look a lot darker than it will after sanding/grinding. Test it before dumping the jar of dye. It may need more time.
Pre-shaping the scales is wise to get maximum penetration. I would say that around 90% shaped would be good.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
It takes a long soak to get penetration. If you have a pressure pot, that may speed it up a little (don't know for sure, but it seems reasonable).
The alcohol based dyes penetrate a little faster in bone.
Many folks use alcohol base leather dyes like Feibing's.

The surface will look a lot darker than it will after sanding/grinding. Test it before dumping the jar of dye. It may need more time.
Pre-shaping the scales is wise to get maximum penetration. I would say that around 90% shaped would be good.
Click to expand...
When you say a long soak, do you mean hours, days, a night?
 
Not meaning to be cute, but the answer is, "As long as it takes."
I've had some things dye deep enough in a couple days, and others, like mammoth ivory, took weeks to months.
I would say days to a couple weeks is normal for cleaned and degreased bone.
 
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