Staining an Opinel--to a dark tone

[Pipeman]

Dark brown leather die. Brush on and wipe off, repeat, then wipe with a light colored cloth until all of the excess is off. Then I hand rub boiled linseed oil and let it sit inside for a day or so. I usually repeat this step as well. Good luck.

YUP, Fiebings oil or spirit dye works on EVERYTHING.

Regards

Robin

 

[Pipeman]

I have been using Fiebings for over 40 years on everything from wood to bone to antler and more. I have seen great results with RIT dye but I'm really not a fan of soaking wood or bone in hot water. Fiebings is eiether oil or spirit based, I use both but I think the spirit based dye sinks in a lot deeper into hardwood than the oil. Not sure the dark brown comes in spirit dye. The medium brown is a red brown, the dark brown is a chololate brown. Tandy carries Fiebings. Just added a pic of an opie handle dyed with Fiebings spirit dye, 1 coat per colour, the brown is the medium brown. Hope it helps.

Best regards

Robin

 

[mykel m]

YUP, Fiebings oil or spirit dye works on EVERYTHING.

Regards

Robin

Yes sir, Fiebing's for bone, leather & stubborn wood.
Med. Brown & BLO.(w/black sharpie in the groves)

The same Med. Brown applied very sparingly.

 

[Spameater12003]

Sorry took so long to get back to this thread with promised pics. Imgur decided to go nuts on my and had to delete account. Photobucket now. Anywho above are the pics. Again sanded, sanded more, wet with sponge to raise the grain --all with 80 grit. 2 stainings with Minwax Ebony stain marker with 1 hour in between then 24 hour dry time. Then at least 10 light coats of boiled linseed oil (let sit 10-30 mins wipe with old tee shirt) with 12 hour dry times minimum. Started sanding at 180 grit, then 320, then 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and finally 2000.

Blued the blade with G96 Gun Blue paste. Sanded light patina off with 320 grit paper then 600 grit. Put in toaster oven after degreasing with 91% IPA and warmed up (not hot just warm) and handled with Nitrile Gloves to avoid getting finger grease on blade. Took tee shirt scrap, loaded with green polishing compound and rubbed with medium force to bring out the shine. Repeated.

This was my second Opinel staining project with beach wood handles. This one was much more successful. Beach wood does not absorb stain well so I was much more careful and used less pressure with the sanding between coats of boiled linseed oil, especially with lower grit paper.

I like it. Very happy with the bluing. Gonna strip my BK 9 and blue that next.