Trying to dye some pen blanks

[Peter Mcc]

I have been trying to dye some blanks, tried using food dye but not getting the density nor the penetration we would like.

Going to get out the vacuum seal a meal and put the blanks and my dye solution (dylon powder dye and methyl hydrate) seal up the bag and let it sit for a few hours.

Anybody have any thoughts on this method, pro or con?


Cheers

Peter

 

[wolftat]

The easiest way to dye a blank is to turn it to the size you want and then rub the dye on it before you apply a finish.

 

[TerryDowning]

Turn wood blanks close to final size without the tubes glued in before dyeing.

dyeing with vacuum before gluing n tubes will help penetration.

Penetration also depends a lot on the wood you are using as well. Tight closed grain will not take dye as well as wide, open grains.

If you have the containers for the seal a meal apply all the vacuum you can (bubbles start coming out of object being dyed) and let sit until the blank sinks to the bottom of the container. That way you know it is saturated.

you may get better results mixing Rit Dye with alcohol rather than food coloring. Alcohol will penetrate better than water and will mix with moisture in in the wood.

If using food coloring add vinegar to the mix and double the amount of dye recommended in the instructions.

Just my .02

wolftat has a good approach as well.