To dye or not to dye

Shoukd i dye my stag?

  • No, leave it natural.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes but only half

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Do it all, thats what most collectors want

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
A C Richards

A C Richards

Joined
Apr 14, 2006
Messages
3,816
I am thinking about dying my stag amber. I have 24 pieces of pretty nice material and will be sending it off to Culpepper.
 
I would only do my very best stag, and do the rest in a potassium permanganate soak over night for the nice surface treatment it gives the stag.
 
Well it looks like it's natural or half. I think Brett is on the right track... I will cherry pick and send it off.
 
I haven't seen enough of each so I spent some time looking at knives with stag by Russ Andrews, Dave Lisch, Bruce Bump, and several others today. I have to say I like the dyed look best. Most of it on the knives I saw was dyed. But I have no idea if it sells best?
If you dye it all and it doesn't make you happy I'd be happy to help you out by taking away some....
 
I have seen a lot of both. I have been leaning toward the dyed material. I hated it when I first saw it but it is just like Damascus, it grew on me. (I had no intention of every forging or making damascus when I started making knives).:eek:
 
Why not dye the worst pieces, and use the best as they are?
 
Now Chuck, I KNOW that you have some Fiebings lying around somewhere.;)
 
Chuck, I love the look of the Amber dyed stag. It would be nice to have some natural around if you want some though.....
 
Not buying stag tapers and scales was my one regret after OKCA was over. It seems to be one material that if you haven't handled a lot is the hardest to order online.
 
I really like the look and quality that Culpeppers can offer. I only dye the good stuff due to the cost of about $25 per pound plus shipping both directions. here is a couple slippies Ive done.

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CharliesHarnessJackKnife006.jpg
 
I do have it Fiebings and have tried it. Did not like the inconsistency. It was kind of blotchy. I have even tried torching it. That is the way the original stag was colored. Actually it was pulled out of the cooking fire and used as is.

Bruce, yea that's what I'm talking about. Most of the material I get is the premium stuff. I have a few pieces of more plain stag but if I am doing a bunch it does not cost that much more to have it all done.
 
I picked up a couple pieces at the show also. I was gonna leave it natural, but that amber looks superb! Is it cost effective to get dyed, even if you only do a few pieces?
 
I think its worth the expense especially if you can sell the finished knife for a more premium price. It really all depends on what the customer wants though. Some of the traditionalist wont go for dyed anything except maybe bone.
BenR.T. said:
I picked up a couple pieces at the show also. I was gonna leave it natural, but that amber looks superb! Is it cost effective to get dyed, even if you only do a few pieces?
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No, Bruce, YOU can sell if for a premium price. Most of the rest of us can't. Hence the Fiebings method.:D But seriously, my limited experience with professionally dyed stag has been similar to the stuff that I do myself. Sometimes, it is colored very deep and other times, the stag is too dense in places and you still get lighter spots where the dye did not penetrate as thoroughly. You can even see lighter spots in the pictures of your slip joint which has VERY thin scales, whereas I have seen at least one less dense stag roll where even the pith was orange.. One of the best dye jobs that I have done is the random damascus cowboy bowie on the gallery page of my website and in that case, I think it was more of an issue that all of the stars and planets were aligned that day than any great skill on my part.;)
Bruce Bump said:
I think its worth the expense especially if you can sell the finished knife for a more premium price. It really all depends on what the customer wants though. Some of the traditionalist wont go for dyed anything except maybe bone.
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What color dye do you use on the your stag Joe?
 
BenR.T. said:
What color dye do you use on the your stag Joe?
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, Ben, I am currently using either medium or light brown. I can't remember which one. I will try to remember to check tomorrow. I have gone too dark in the past with dark or chocolate brown. All of the browns and even the yellow will get darker the more you apply them and eventually go brown. The variable is how porous your piece of stag is and how much you rub off of it before it dries. The funny thing about Fiebings is that some of the solids lie on the surface of the stag and almost act as a very fine polishing abrasive when you shine it up with a rag or soft, dry buffing wheel at low speed. Just make sure you let it dry fully and then buff it again. Bill Moran was the first guy that I heard say to use Fiebings on maple and then later, someone else told me that they also used it on stag.
 
Might have to give the fiebings a try again. I will just do more coats and see what I come up with. I believe it is a spirit dye. Smells like it anyway. I will still send some of my stag off though. Got some incredible popcorn at the show I was amazed someone else had not snatched it up. I did not find the guy till late in the second day.
 
Spirit dye for both stag and maple. The oil dye would make an awful mess, especially on stag!!! :eek: The good thing about spirit dye on maple is that the color is pretty thing, so you can lighten it up with some 400 grit paper if it gets too dark. The color doesn't really get locked in until you put the finish on the wood.
Horsewright said:
Joe you talking about their spirit dye or oil dye?
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A C Richards said:
Might have to give the fiebings a try again. I will just do more coats and see what I come up with. I believe it is a spirit dye. Smells like it anyway. I will still send some of my stag off though. Got some incredible popcorn at the show I was amazed someone else had not snatched it up. I did not find the guy till late in the second day.
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I know what you mean, Chuck. in both 2008 and 2009, I walked away with 20-25 pieces of nice undyed stag that i got from that nice Indian couple who set up in the back of the ABS section. I paid between $25 and $35 per piece, including $35 for one HUGE piece that was big enough to use on a 13 inch Musso style bowie and one big piece suitable for a hefty integral that looks like Orville Redenbacher had grown it. :D In 2009, what little I found was closer to $50. In 2010, I found 2 permanganate treated pieces with one of the knife supply places. They were both VERY nice, but I paid $75 and $90 for them. Thats almost as much as I paid for some walrus ivory a few years back. The $90 piece went on that damascus cowboy bowie and the $75 piece is going on a W2 bowie-fighter for a customer in the UK. I used one of my last really nice pieces from the old batch on a mosaic fighter. After that, i am down to 1 or 2 pieces suitable for bigger knives and maybe 4 hunter sized pieces. I am going to have to save them for damascus knives unless someone has a nice batch at Blade.
 
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