Dye question

Re: Dye question

Thomas Skaggs, Foothills of Mount Level

I use alcohol. Water raises the grain much more than alcohol. T.

Two factors determine color

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

The color of a dye is determined both by its chemical structure and what it is dissolved in. Once applied to wood, the dye is dissolved in the wood. It matters not what it once was dissolved in that has evaporated.

The effect of solvent on color can result in surprises when dye is applied to wood. For this reason, once again, test all finishing chemicals before doing chemistry experiments on the finished project.

Transtint Dye

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

It is my understanding that these dyes are a class of dyes called "premetallized". This class of dye is typically the most lightfast, significantly more so than the so called "aniline dyes". The MSDS for these dyes does not reveal their chemical structure but some hints tend to confirm that they are premetallized (the blue contains cobalt for example). It would be a trivial matter for a motivated competitor to determine the structure, so I don't know why they keep it a secret on the MSDS sheet.

Re: It worked for me.

Stephen Roth

I had the same question. For years I used 100% water. Then Jeff Jewitt's site said to mix 50/50 with water and denatured alcohol. He said (and I confirmed this to be true) that the 50/50 mix allows the dye to still stay sufficiently wet to spread it out evenly on large surfaces, but reduced the surface tension of the dye to allow it to absorb better. The beading of a water based dye happens most frequently for me on maple.

It seemed to work well for me and is a cheap solution.

Another thought

Clint Searl

To change the hue and finish in one shot with a water white lacquer/poly, why not just first tint it with a solvent compatible dye stain in the desired tone?

Re: It worked for me.

Tom Norton

Stephen thanks for your reply. Did you use distilled watet or tap?

Re: Dye question

JL

I've used both water and isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol (95%). I tried ethyl alcohol with uneven results as the ethyl alcohol evaporated a bit too fast.

Water raised the grain a bit much - but if I raised the grain a couple of times before hand it worked. Isopropyl alcohol worked fine - and as I had a 5 gallon jug of it from work - I used that.

Re: I used distilled water.

Stephen Roth

I used distilled water, but only because I was shopping that day and a gallon was 99 cents. It is was more, I would have used tap.

Re: Another thought

John in NM

It might affect the cure of the finish. I've not tried what you suggest, since I am not fond of water based polys, but I have dyed both oil and epoxy with transtint + a little acetone. The cure time decreased (probably the dye) and the final hardness decreased - I'm guessing that was the acetone. Stopped bothering with the one step process after a couple tries, just wasn't worth it.

Re: Another thought

Bill Blasic

I use Acetone with my metal acid dyes and have never had a problem with any of my pieces.

Not surprising...

John in NM

Lots of variables, how much acetone, how much dye, type of finish, patience...

Glad to hear it works for some though, its a handy bit of knowledge to have since there aren't a lot of transparent dyes available that go directly into oils.