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- Sep 4, 2010
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So maybe I could have titled this “the wrong way to rit dye your Battle Grade knives,” but I’m happy with how they turned out. “Wrong” because I decided to dye these after they were stripped, instead of before, but rust spots/staining turned out to be minimal and easy to remove. A couple of minutes with fine steel wool was enough to clean up the blades for pics.
Method was just under a quart of water with a little dish soap heated to ~160f. This was poured into a large Ball jar with ~2oz of liquid Cherry Red Rit Dye and a few drops of Black dye. Stirred up the mixture and put the blades in handle down until the scales were both completely submerged and let soak for 40-45 minutes. *Note I did skip the recommended salt addition due to concerns around corrosion.
After pulling, I patted dry with paper towels, then did a cold rinse and pat dry again, and then a wash with hot water and dish soap as per the Rit instructions (also wore rubber gloves and old clothes). Finally, I let them dry completely in the sun outside. Once satisfied that the scales were dry and they weren’t going to transfer dye onto my hands, I rubbed them down with some mineral oil on a piece of microfiber cloth and called it done.
Both knives had tan canvas handles to start. I liked them stock, but had been curious about dye for a while and decided to go for a diy maroon. Cherry Red wasn’t my first choice, but it was the only red they at at Walmart and I can be pretty lazy lol.
Results:
Time will tell how they hold up. I didn’t use any dye fixative, but did throw a lid on my jar of dye in case I want to go for round 2 with this color. Someday I might also try going to black.
Method was just under a quart of water with a little dish soap heated to ~160f. This was poured into a large Ball jar with ~2oz of liquid Cherry Red Rit Dye and a few drops of Black dye. Stirred up the mixture and put the blades in handle down until the scales were both completely submerged and let soak for 40-45 minutes. *Note I did skip the recommended salt addition due to concerns around corrosion.
After pulling, I patted dry with paper towels, then did a cold rinse and pat dry again, and then a wash with hot water and dish soap as per the Rit instructions (also wore rubber gloves and old clothes). Finally, I let them dry completely in the sun outside. Once satisfied that the scales were dry and they weren’t going to transfer dye onto my hands, I rubbed them down with some mineral oil on a piece of microfiber cloth and called it done.
Both knives had tan canvas handles to start. I liked them stock, but had been curious about dye for a while and decided to go for a diy maroon. Cherry Red wasn’t my first choice, but it was the only red they at at Walmart and I can be pretty lazy lol.
Results:
Time will tell how they hold up. I didn’t use any dye fixative, but did throw a lid on my jar of dye in case I want to go for round 2 with this color. Someday I might also try going to black.
