Wood Dyes

[Sycamore67]

I am making some seasonal things out of 1/8" Baltic Birch and want to color them with a wood dye. I am looking for vibrant colors like green, red, blue, and yellow. I am not looking to use paints or pigments as I want the coloring to go in the wood.

 

What I have found is Transtint, Transfast and ColorFX. These will work but end up around $15-20 for a color.

 

Has anyone used these and what kind of experiences have you had?

[DWSUDEKUM]

Larry,

Staining is one of those things that there are a thousand different ways.  You need to ask some very basic questions such as

• Oil Based Stain or Water Based Stain or Alcohol Based Stain -  all have their plusses and minuses
• Do you want the grain to show clearly or just an indication.

Since you do not want to use paints you have eliminated some of the staining methods available.  The Color FX Wood Dye is probably your best of the three you listed as it is a concentrate and you can use either water or alcohol to make your dye base.

 

Water will raise the grain a bit and you will have to smooth it out after applying the dye a bit.  There are ways to minimize the grain lifting such as wet the wood you are going to stain first let the grain rise sand it smooth and then apply the stain.  While this will not totally eliminate the grain rising it will reduce it a lot.

 

Alcohol will NOT raise the grain of your project however it is an extremely fast drying stain base.  You would need to take in to account that it will be drying fast when you are applying it.

 

I have used both methods and both work ok.  I have made my own dyes with everything from clothing dye to food coloring.  My suggestion is to get one of the small bottles and try it on a piece and see how it works for you.  

 

 

DW

[Bpardue]

i haveused General Finish wood dyes already premixed and ready to go and like those and they are the same price

[ike]

Rit fabric dye will work.

[MrsN]

I have used food coloring in water. Not super bright and vibrant, but quick and easy and cheap. Sand the project, dunk for a bit, then hang to dry, finish with clear spray acrylic (doesn't yellow like some things) I have found that the raising of the grain is minimal but you might want to test it out.

 

I have also had really good luck with using permanent markers. I cut some small wordart that I made into pins and needed it to be bright red. It was too late to drive and get spray paint, and I did't want hand paint all of them. I tried a red sharpie, and the result was bright and awesome. 

[amazingkevin]

I am making some seasonal things out of 1/8" Baltic Birch and want to color them with a wood dye. I am looking for vibrant colors like green, red, blue, and yellow. I am not looking to use paints or pigments as I want the coloring to go in the wood.

 

What I have found is Transtint, Transfast and ColorFX. These will work but end up around $15-20 for a color.

 

Has anyone used these and what kind of experiences have you had?

 

I am making some seasonal things out of 1/8" Baltic Birch and want to color them with a wood dye. I am looking for vibrant colors like green, red, blue, and yellow. I am not looking to use paints or pigments as I want the coloring to go in the wood.

 

What I have found is Transtint, Transfast and ColorFX. These will work but end up around $15-20 for a color.

 

Has anyone used these and what kind of experiences have you had?

I'm so happy you posted on this subject,Thanks!

 

Larry,

Staining is one of those things that there are a thousand different ways.  You need to ask some very basic questions such as

• Oil Based Stain or Water Based Stain or Alcohol Based Stain -  all have their plusses and minuses
• Do you want the grain to show clearly or just an indication.

Since you do not want to use paints you have eliminated some of the staining methods available.  The Color FX Wood Dye is probably your best of the three you listed as it is a concentrate and you can use either water or alcohol to make your dye base.

 

Water will raise the grain a bit and you will have to smooth it out after applying the dye a bit.  There are ways to minimize the grain lifting such as wet the wood you are going to stain first let the grain rise sand it smooth and then apply the stain.  While this will not totally eliminate the grain rising it will reduce it a lot.

 

Alcohol will NOT raise the grain of your project however it is an extremely fast drying stain base.  You would need to take in to account that it will be drying fast when you are applying it.

 

I have used both methods and both work ok.  I have made my own dyes with everything from clothing dye to food coloring.  My suggestion is to get one of the small bottles and try it on a piece and see how it works for you.  

 

 

DW

Great ,alcohol sparks an interest my way

 

i haveused General Finish wood dyes already premixed and ready to go and like those and they are the same price

Price that's the stumbling block.

 

Rit fabric dye will work.

Thank you  so much IKE,I've been wondering about RIT dye. :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

 

I have used food coloring in water. Not super bright and vibrant, but quick and easy and cheap. Sand the project, dunk for a bit, then hang to dry, finish with clear spray acrylic (doesn't yellow like some things) I have found that the raising of the grain is minimal but you might want to test it out.

 

I have also had really good luck with using permanent markers. I cut some small wordart that I made into pins and needed it to be bright red. It was too late to drive and get spray paint, and I did't want hand paint all of them. I tried a red sharpie, and the result was bright and awesome. 

I was curious about food coloring if it's brite ,thanks!

Edited October 10, 2015 by amazingkevin

[Robert H. Bigart]

Try Easter egg colors.

[New Guy]

Have any of you tried water color paints?

[Sycamore67]

I ordered a trial set of dyes from Highland Woodworking. I am not interested in paints or stains as they typically have pigments and I want a dyes.

 

I also want to get bright colors. Based on my searching, some of the things like Rit dye is not very bright and tends to fade.

 

I will post again after I get my dyes. I probably will try water based first with doing a raising of the grain and sanding before the dye.

[SDB777]

In the pen turning world, we use vacuum to get total penetration...and it doesn't matter the tint, stain, or dye used.  I have a 5 gallon chamber and can draw almost 28inches of mercury(a lot of vacuum in my location).  I get my dyes from Blick

 

 

Scott (it's nice outside today) B 

[orangeman]

I use food colors exclusively on my colored puzzles. Then I coat with a Sherwin-Williams lacquer. I have attached a link for my clock puzzle as an example.

I was really amazed at the vibrant colors I was able to achieve. I use the whitest maple I can find for my colored puzzles.

http://www.pickenspuzzles.com/Clock-Puzzle-p/222.htm

[vykus]

I was experimenting with dyes this weekend and used a cake frosting dye and I think it worked out great. It comes in an 8 pack and you can get it at hobby lobby it comes in a gel and it is very strong. I used the gel straight on. as I recall it was not all that expensive either. my samples are on 1/4 baltic birch.  the colors are blue, green, pink, red, purple, yellow, orange and brown. The red and pink are pretty similar and the yellow is a little orangey for my taste. 

Edited October 12, 2015 by vykus