Stabilizing and Dyeing Results

I'm sure enjoying the information in this thread. For sure I know I will try the wood hardener acetone dye thing . You can dye bone by boling in the same Rit dye slowly for an hour or so, or lay the pieces in leather dye for six or seven hours after sizing the bone down SOME and boiling in T.S.P. to get rid of the grease. This is not necessary if you buy the dog bones.
 
I do large batches (my chamber is 10" dia. well casing, 18" tall) and pull serious vacuum (commercial 6 CFM, deep cycle 2 stage vac. pump!) and pressurize to waaaaay too much :p . But I overkill everything!
Fiebeng's Leather dye works great as well...... & for bone & horn, potassium permangenate powder (found in the water softener section of Sears), diluted in a little water does a beaut of a job on horn and bone...goes on purple, turns brown.

This works especially well on birdseye maple, then use a heat gun lightly over the wood. That's what they used to do on the curly and birdseye gunstocks of the high-end muzzle loaders....& they are a sight to behold!

The wood hardener is ok, but there's a couple heat activated polymers (Opticon is one, the other's made by LocTite) that do an outstanding job on makin' rotten wood HARD! More expensive tho...
Harry
PS Anybody tell me how to post pics on here, and I'll show you some of the stuff I've stabilized!
 
Harry

I have a bunch of birdseye maple, Will the potassium permangenate powder from sears stabilize the wood or is that basicly just for dying.

Thanks
Bill
 
Sylvester,

What do you do then? Get you material to finished size, shape and sanding, then dye with the potassium, let dry, and then stabilize? :confused:


Thanks
Bill
 
Buxton

When I was useing potassium I was not
stabilizing yet I was just useing a oil finish.
But I don`t see why you could not go
ahead & stabilize with what ever you are using.
 
Originally posted by B . Buxton
Sylvester,

What do you do then? Get you material to finished size, shape and sanding, then dye with the potassium, let dry, and then stabilize? :confused:


Thanks
Bill
Click to expand...

You can mix a tiny bit of the powder in with the stabilizing fluid...do this on a small amount to make sure it will dissolve, or paint the water/potasium mix on the bone/horn and pull a vac on it...then stabilize it separate.
As for dog bones, the best ones are at PetSmart or other big pet stores...they are already boiled, bleached, cleaned and ready to go....if you go the "home=made" route via the butcher, you have to boil in a sal solution akin to lye, split or drill to remove the marrow, dry 'em, etc......makes a big mess in the kitchen and the wife units get mad!!!!!!!
Harry
 
Guys, I pulled my birdseye maple out of the jar after a week, and the scarlet color doesn't seem to be as strong as I would have liked it. :( Anyway to get the color to soak in darker and richer?
 
Originally posted by Chang
Guys, I pulled my birdseye maple out of the jar after a week, and the scarlet color doesn't seem to be as strong as I would have liked it. :( Anyway to get the color to soak in darker and richer?
Click to expand...

MORE DYE!!!!!!:D
 
Jensen-- thats what I would do but what do I know.:confused:


Hey Buxton-- How did the mixing the potassiun with
your stabilizing solution go?
 
Sylvester,

Haven't tried yet, maybe later this week. Been toooo busy.:eek:

I'll let you know, though.

Bill
 
Harry, I had the whole packet of dye in the small amount of acetone/hardener mix. The dye powder started sinking to the bottom because the solution was so saturated with the dye. I threw the wood back into the jar and I'm going to let it sit in there for a few more days. Maybe that'll solve the problem.

It's starting to get cold in Illinois, so maybe I'll warm up the solution with a hair dryer, and then seal it shut, and the cold weather will cause a vacuum.

Chang
 
I use a Weck canning jar (1 1/2L Tulip Jar available from www.thekeepingroom.com). They have reusable lids and the rubber sealing rings are very inexpensive. You could clip the lids down with the stainless clips and it would work with the heat method. You have to order them in batches of four or six, but that allows you to keep several different soulutions on hand at a time. Just drill a hole in one of the glass lids, and JBWeld a vacuum nipple into it. An old York (EarlierFord Style)AC compressor belted to a washing machine motor will give you about 24"-28"hg vacuum. Thats pretty good for a free pump. Ive had pretty good results with atmospheric pressure but I built a pressure chamber out of a piece of 8" pipe. Just remove the vacuum lid, and place the whole bottle inside and bolt the top on. Speeds things along alot. Haven't tried any Minwax yet. I tried some chemicaly activated porosity sealant from Loc Tite (Resinol RTC). Dont waste your time or money with it. I turned my whole vacuum bottle into a solid mass of plastic, antler and wood.:mad: I'm trying to save up enough spare change to buy the heat activated type (Resinol 90C). It should work best for what I want. Harry, if you have any information on commercial sealants and where to get them. I'd be very interested to hear it.
 
Originally posted by sattley
Harry, if you have any information on commercial sealants and where to get them. I'd be very interested to hear it.
Click to expand...

I LOVE RTC-90!!!!!
I don't want to take up too much bandwidth, so
Hit me off-list for more info!
Harry
 
HEY AL LANIGAN YOUR MAIL BOUNCED WHEN I TRIED TO E-MAIL YOU BACK....HIT ME AGAIN!!!

Sorry for the hollering here on the forum, but this fellow wanted info on stabilizing & I mailed it, but it came back.
Harry
 
It sounds like you guys are having fun with this, and that's cool...but my 2 bits says send your stuff to Mike at W.S.S.I.!!! :)

Especially if you're talking about ivory. That's not something to experiment with (IMHO).

The cost you guys are talking about are a drop in the bucket compared to what Mike has to pay just to use the chemicals that he uses. And unless you're buying 55 gallon drums of chemicals, you can't get anywhere close to the same element content as what Mike uses.

Not trying to sound condescending at all, it's just that in my eyes you just can't go wrong for the time/money/and lack of head-aches by sending your stuff to Mike. :) Just another perspective :D

Good luck,
Nick
 
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