Is there any coating applied at Case like wax or shellac that might impede dying ?

Wowbagger

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Is there a Case forum here and I missed seeing it ?

As far as dying I have a plain, natural color, smooth bone Teardrop ( 123ABC 22434 ) on order. I plan to dye it dark, deep, dark, did I mention deep/dark, red.

I want it to have some depth, if you have ever seen the photo shopped factory photo of the Boker smooth red bone stockman that is what I am going for.

One thing I need to know is there any coating applied at Case that I need to try and dissolve; like wax or shellac that might impede the dying process ?
Thanks for any info

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Definitely wipe it down with some rubbing alcohol to remove any oils on the bone. There's nothing that will impede the dying process. I dyed a (very light) Amber jigged bone to a deep red, and the only prep I did was an alcohol run down. Took almost an hour in a simmer of RIT brown and red dyes.

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Also, if it's CV steel, watch for the corrosion and pitting. The dying process can have some adverse effects on carbon steel.
 
Thanks for all the answers / info !
As far as alcohol; lately I have been using the grocery store variety "rubbing alc" 99.9 %. There is no problem using that right ?

CV corroding while dying
for once I am glad I have the SS (I tend to enjoy CV).
 
SS and the insides still get black...and that's from just using tea-dye:D Cleans up OK though.
 
Well, tea-dye works particularly well on Stag but you need some nerve to do it...the stag bloats up a bit at first and you may fear it's a wreck...but patience proves otherwise. Plenty of tea and coffee to go round;)
 
Rubbing alcohol works ok, but if you have some denatured ethanol I have found that seems to work a little better. Make sure you share the results with us!
 
SS and the insides still get black...and that's from just using tea-dye:D Cleans up OK though.
It’s the brass that turns black from tarnishing not the SS.

I never carried this case much. I don’t care for SS and the white bone is just too plain. I did a 24hr tea bath on it yesterday. At the 12hr mark I dumped the tea back in a pot and heated it back to a boil. The process works best on jigged bone. The tea particles settle in the grain of the bone. So on smooth bone knives the ends and edges collect more coloring.

Before the tea bath.
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And after
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I like the way the tea brought out the grain in the bone.

I would suggest finding a way to suspend the knife in the tea. If the knife rests on the springs the tarnish from the brass can settle in the bone and cause it to blacken in the spot it rests on.
 
Nice work Mitt.

Yes it is mainly the brass that causes the blackening but I've had quite persistent staining on the stainless too.

Not sure I'd risk bringing it to the boil for a while though. My method: obtain strongest tea-bags you can find, the British & Irish enjoy strong black tea so try to get tea-bags from there. Use a small saucepan, pour boiling water onto 3 or 4 tea-bags with only a small amount of water in the pan-enough to cover the knife with say 1cm half inch over the knife once it's in there. Add a pinch of salt, let the tea mixture brew for 3 minutes then place the knife on one tea-bag and cover it quilt style with another tea-bag. Leave for some hours and turn over. Found it to work quite OK.

Here's a Stag knife I dyed with tea. Originally it was white in places...not bad I think.

Idjygez.jpg
 
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