Want to start trying to dye blanks

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Justturnin

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Not sure this is the right spot for this thread but could not figure out where to put it.

I was wanting to try to start dying some blanks. I am thinking about starting w/ some pen blanks and moving up from there. Any tips on this would be appreciated. I am wanting to dye prior to turning so I am trying to think of way for maximum penetration. At this time after watching some vids on stabilizing I am thinking that same method could be applied to dying to draw the dye in using a vacuum. Also, what dye? WC has Mixtol (liquid) for 5.50 in a wide range of colors. Does anyone have experience using that? They sell it as being able to add it to any finish so I figure I could use some DNA and vacuum it in and see how it goes. Or, they have transtint or transfast powder. Would one of those be better to use in the same scanario?

Thanks in advance.
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I also want to add that I will be stabilizing these blanks for the most part when needed but need to be able to develope a process that does not involve using resin as the 'carrier' for the dye becasue not all will be stabilized and I want to try 2 & 3 colors on one blank. Will stabilizing mess w/ the dye after the fact?
 
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Monty,

Has Curtis been answering emails? Knowing that he's had a recent loss I'm not sure how active he's been. I know having recently moved back to the states I was looking to buy one of the larger Cactus Juice systems myself, but I haven't heard back from him and his site has been rather empty for some time now. Just hope all is well...
 
Dyeing with DNA and Mixol

I have just started to dye some blanks. I found that DNA and Mixol don't like each other. The Mixol would not mix well at all. The stuff just kind of laid there in the bottom of the jar.

I have good results with the Transfast dyes, it will penetrate best in Box Elder and softer woods. I vacuum the wood in the dye first for about an hour then pressurize my paint pot to 40 PSI for 12 hours.

I have had poor results with maple and holly. Penetration is very poor no matter how long I vacuum and then pressurize.
My .02$
 
great info thanks. I am leaning more towards the transfast.

wood614 said:
I have just started to dye some blanks. I found that DNA and Mixol don't like each other. The Mixol would not mix well at all. The stuff just kind of laid there in the bottom of the jar.

I have good results with the Transfast dyes, it will penetrate best in Box Elder and softer woods. I vacuum the wood in the dye first for about an hour then pressurize my paint pot to 40 PSI for 12 hours.

I have had poor results with maple and holly. Penetration is very poor no matter how long I vacuum and then pressurize.
My .02$
Click to expand...
 
I dye wood, but don't do it until after it is turned. Nothing seems to penetrate deep enough so that there is uniform color at the depth of the turning. Let us know if your idea works.
 
A couple years ago I did some experiments on dye penetration, based on other info from here and elsewhere on the web. The writeup is here

Short version: vacuum and patience. Remember, after you force that dye into a 2" block of wood it's going to take a long time to dry.

If anyone extends on these experiments and sends me the results I'd add them to the page.
 
You can add dye to a heat cured stabilizing resin and get complete penetration in large pieces. I have done a 7 1/4" square x 3 1/2" thick bowl blank of spalted hackberry that was not punky at all and got uniform color throughout when I turned the bowl. With a heat cured resin, you do not need to wait for the carrier to flash off.

BTW, Tim, I have been at my first show since Thursday and most of last week I was busting my butt to get inventory ready.
 
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I can vouch for that bowl that curtis speaks about! It was stabilized so well that it looked fake! very well done Curtis and thanks for sharing

Sent from my Epic using Forum Runner
 
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And again thanks

Curtis,
To bo honest I dont have the funds to use resin on every dye job. I do have a good bit of Spalted maple I will be putting in resin when all is said and done but I also have some solid Oak Burl I want to dye and dont want to use resin if it is not necessary.

MesquiteMan said:
You can add dye to a heat cured stabilizing resin and get complete penetration in large pieces. I have done a 7 1/4" square x 3 1/2" thick bowl blank of spalted hackberry that was not punky at all and got uniform color throughout when I turned the bowl. With a heat cured resin, you do not need to wait for the carrier to flash off.

BTW, Tim, I have been at my first show since Thursday and most of last week I was busting my butt to get inventory ready.
Click to expand...
 
MesquiteMan said:
You can add dye to a heat cured stabilizing resin and get complete penetration in large pieces. I have done a 7 1/4" square x 3 1/2" thick bowl blank of spalted hackberry that was not punky at all and got uniform color throughout when I turned the bowl. With a heat cured resin, you do not need to wait for the carrier to flash off.
Click to expand...

Curtis-

I'm curious why you didn't rough turn the bowl and then stabilize. Knowing you, I'm sure there was a reason - were you selling the blank?

Also, about how long did it take to get the resin to penetrate a block of this size?
 
1st test. Piece of 7/8sq Pecan Red Food Coloring under vacuum for 1.5 hours until the bubbles stopped. This is very promising. I did not have a lot for color in there so I got pink. May run to WC and see about picking up some Mixtol. I also have some Mica powders coming w/ a resin order. Will that disolve in DNA or MS?
 

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Chris Burgess said:
May run to WC and see about picking up some Mixtol. I also have some Mica powders coming w/ a resin order. Will that disolve in DNA or MS?
Click to expand...

I'd think no on the mic powders. The reason is that they're pigments, not dyes and hence much larger particles that I wouldn't expect to penetrate.

OTOH- try it and let us know if it works.
 
I've dyed a few and my best results were turning and sanding to finished size and then adding the dye.

For dying before turning I got my best results using an alcohol based dye, alcohol being thinner than water it seems to penetrate better. I drill the hole for the tube then drop in the dye. Pull a vacuum and leave for a couple days. Results will vary depending on the wood. Maple doesn't do well this way but does great if surface dyed just before adding CA finish.
 
jason_r said:
Curtis-

I'm curious why you didn't rough turn the bowl and then stabilize. Knowing you, I'm sure there was a reason - were you selling the blank?

Also, about how long did it take to get the resin to penetrate a block of this size?
Click to expand...

It was done to see if I could get the resin to penetrate a piece that big! I really did not think it would but low an behold, when I turned the bowl, it was even colored all the way through the wood. I was surprised. It took about 2 hours under vacuum for the bubbles to stop and I left it in the oven overnight just to make sure I reached the polymerization temp in the center of the blank.

If I was going to be doing it for the purpose of stabilizing a bowl, I CERTAINLY would rough turn first so as to not waste so much resin.
 
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