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- Jun 3, 2015
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Hi all,
I thought I'd share my results using RIT to dye a couple of bone handled GECs.
The first knife is a bone handled GEC #73, 2007, that I bought on these forums. The knife was advertised as a user, and the green tea jig bone was quite unappealing in colour, but is a nice Rodgers jig bone pattern. I thought it would be perfect for a dye job. The second is a GEC #48, again, a stainless knife. This one came in antique amber jig bone, which wasn't as unappealing as the Green Tea, but lacked a little visually.
I followed instructions on these forums and used RIT powder dye. The colours I bought were Wine, Cocoa Brown and Dark brown. I was aiming for a dark chestnut brown with traces of red. After buying these colours, I did some internet searching and came across some good sites where people have demontrated various RIT colours, including demonstrating their base, which was useful as the RIT colour charts don't reveal much. I ended up using a teaspoon each of wine and cocoa brown, and about 3-4 teaspoons of dark brown. This was because the first two colours lacked depth, and looked a bit washed out. The dark brown made up for it, and could easily have been used just by itself.
As both knives were stainless, I didn't mind boiling them in a pot of water on the stove. I dont know if I would be prepared to do that to a 1095 blade, I think you would see rust developing as you went. The #73, despite bring a lighter starting colour, was much more resistant to the dye and took about 30mins on a low simmer. The #48 was much quicker, taking only five minutes. The #48 also ended up darker.
I didn't attempt to clean either knife with any solvent beforehand, which may have contributed to this result.
The #73 was the first in, and almost immediately I noticed small black spots on the backsprings. I kept an eye on these, but they didn't get worse. I suspect they were caused by undissolved specks of dye powder, because they only appeared as the dye was first boiling. The knife now has some tiny pits on the backsprings. They do not concern me, in fact I like the character they give, but they make me concerned about whether this technique should be used on a more special knife.
The results, otherwise, are fantastic. I couldn't believe the difference it made to both knives. Dark brown/mahogany handles really complement steel very well, and the dye has lovely natural variation that looks as good, if not better, than any factory dyed knife in my collection. These knives have gone from also-rans to stars of the knife drawer!
I thought I'd share my results using RIT to dye a couple of bone handled GECs.
The first knife is a bone handled GEC #73, 2007, that I bought on these forums. The knife was advertised as a user, and the green tea jig bone was quite unappealing in colour, but is a nice Rodgers jig bone pattern. I thought it would be perfect for a dye job. The second is a GEC #48, again, a stainless knife. This one came in antique amber jig bone, which wasn't as unappealing as the Green Tea, but lacked a little visually.
I followed instructions on these forums and used RIT powder dye. The colours I bought were Wine, Cocoa Brown and Dark brown. I was aiming for a dark chestnut brown with traces of red. After buying these colours, I did some internet searching and came across some good sites where people have demontrated various RIT colours, including demonstrating their base, which was useful as the RIT colour charts don't reveal much. I ended up using a teaspoon each of wine and cocoa brown, and about 3-4 teaspoons of dark brown. This was because the first two colours lacked depth, and looked a bit washed out. The dark brown made up for it, and could easily have been used just by itself.
As both knives were stainless, I didn't mind boiling them in a pot of water on the stove. I dont know if I would be prepared to do that to a 1095 blade, I think you would see rust developing as you went. The #73, despite bring a lighter starting colour, was much more resistant to the dye and took about 30mins on a low simmer. The #48 was much quicker, taking only five minutes. The #48 also ended up darker.
I didn't attempt to clean either knife with any solvent beforehand, which may have contributed to this result.
The #73 was the first in, and almost immediately I noticed small black spots on the backsprings. I kept an eye on these, but they didn't get worse. I suspect they were caused by undissolved specks of dye powder, because they only appeared as the dye was first boiling. The knife now has some tiny pits on the backsprings. They do not concern me, in fact I like the character they give, but they make me concerned about whether this technique should be used on a more special knife.
The results, otherwise, are fantastic. I couldn't believe the difference it made to both knives. Dark brown/mahogany handles really complement steel very well, and the dye has lovely natural variation that looks as good, if not better, than any factory dyed knife in my collection. These knives have gone from also-rans to stars of the knife drawer!
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