Boxelder tinting question

I use and recommend TransTints.....

JamieDonaldson

...and I dilute with regular rubbing alcohol so that it doesn't raise the grain like water would do.

Re: I use and recommend TransTints.....

john lucas

I use opaque airbrush paint and mix the color to match the existing red. The simply spray over it.

Re: I use Luthier Mercantile Exchange... *LINK*

George Balock

I use the Luthiers Mercantile Exchange dye concentrates. The ones I currently have are the MEK solvent. I use 7 drops of red to 2 drops of yellow. It gives a real good color match.


http://www.lmii.com/products/finishing/dyes/dye-concentrates

Re: I use Luthier Mercantile Exchange...

Bill Blasic

I too use Trans Tint but my carrier is Acetone and painted on with a small artist brush.

Re: Boxelder tinting question

Bill Howatt

Never done it myself but I've heard some turners say they use marking pens like Prismacolor.

Bill

Re: Boxelder tinting question

Peter Hyde

Tried it and didn't like the end result. Natural looks far better. Red will last as long as it's not exposed to strong UV light. So why not just use a finish with a UV blocker in it?

There are many finishes  that claim.....

JamieDonaldson

...to be UV blocking, but there is little empirical evidence to back up these claims. Better to be proactive by using light fast dyes and not rely on unproven claims made by finishing manufacturers.

Re: There are many finishes  that claim.....

john lucas

Ditto what Jamie said. I tried about a dozen UV finishes including some spray on finishes designed for out door photographs. None of them worked when the wood was put in direct sunlight. I'm talking just 24 hours and woods like Osage Orange, Box Elder and Cherry and Paduak faded immediately.

Indoors under indirect light it takes quite a while for the Box Elder red to fade to brown but it's looses it's brightness fairly quickly. I have a box that has been in a show case type cabinet for about 10 years now and it still has fairly nice colors. I don't have any way to know how much brighter or more red it was back then.

I don't turn much box elder just for that reason but on the few pieces I have turned that were up for sale I used either opaque paints to paint the red or used dyes. Sometimes both because it's easier to get the dyes to sort of fade or blend on the edges of the red so it looks more real. The people I sold them to thought it was the natural color and I had some unpainted pieces right beside those.

Wish I had photos to show you but that was back in the film days and I've lost a lot of those images

Re: Boxelder tinting question

Chuck Engstrom

Thanks very much to all of you for these helpful suggestions! -- Chuck

Re: Boxelder tinting question

john lucas

One suggestion. If you look at the red very closely it is rarely a clean line so what ever method you use needs to produce sort of what I call a fuzzy border or faded border in order to look real. When I did mine I spend a lot of time just spraying a waste piece of box elder. I would spray about 1/4" away from the existing red line and try to duplicate the clean and faded areas. When you finally get around to actually doing the real piece it's easier because you are painting red on red and minor mistakes don't show up as bad.

Hi Chuck

GaryG in MD

I haven't taken time to read all the other answers, so I hope this isn't a repeat. If it is, consider it another vote.

I used oil pastels very successfully -- a kind of burgundy one and a yellow ocher one, blended as needed. You can get hundreds of colors to suit your needs.

I just did this on a single pen, but it was very successful, and I feel it would be a good solution for a larger piece. It's easy to "draw" the exact shapes to match what is already there.

I'll bring it to the Picnic if I come. Will you be there?

...GG

Retraction:  Re: Hi Chuck

GaryG in MD

Oops.

I am shocked and dismayed.

I just took a look at the pen in question (image attached from when I did it) and find that it has largely lost it's red color and turned quite brownish. Either the pastel has faded or I didn't have as much pastel on it as I thought. I can't imagine oil pastels fading -- everybody's pastel paintings would fade to mush -- so I'm not sure what to think now. Perhaps somebody has some ideas here.

The bottom line is that my method has not stood the test of time. ...GG

Re: Retraction:  Re: Hi Chuck

john lucas

well I'm not up on Pastels but I would guess they possibly have versions that are more light fast and don't fade as bad. It's really surprising how much most colors, especially red, fade when subjected to UV light.

John,

GaryG in MD

Yeah, for sure.

I know a pastel artist -- I'll have to ask her about this.

I "ASSumed" they were light fast, because artists can't afford to have their works turn to visual mush, but, as with everything else, perhaps some brands are better than others.

The pen in question has never been in direct sun but sits near a north-facing window that has "skylight" every day for three years.

...GG

Re: There are many finishes  that claim.....

don stephan

I was told a few years ago that the UV inhibitor in finishes works by absorbing the UV light that would degrade the finish, color of the wood, et cetera, but that in absorbing the UV light the inhibitor is consumed, so the UV protection only lasts for a while.

Re: There are many finishes  that claim.....

john lucas

I don't know how UV inhibitors work. I assumed it was something like the various skin protecting lotions. They somehow reduce the amount of UV but some still gets through. Even if you use SPF 50 if you stay in the sun for 5 or 6 hours you will still get burned. I don't know if it gets used up or if it's more like a screen or filter where some still gets through just not as much as if you didn't have any protection.