Its all about dye, “Wood Whisperer Style”. My goal with this video is to grossly simplify the confusing world of dyes, while also giving you the knowledge you need to determine the working characteristics of any dye just by looking at the ingredients list or MSDS. We’ll discuss the different types of dyes, how to apply them, and we’ll even get into the chemistry behind water-based finishes and a key family of solvents known as glycol ethers. Knowledge is power!
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Products Used
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General Finishes Water Based Stain, Reducer Add some life to your next project with these unique, water based, ultra penetrating stains. Designed to work like solvent-based stains, they feature deep rich tones that enhance the wood grain |
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TransTint(R) Dyes Concentrated dye solution makes it easy to apply beautiful color to your projects. Dissolves in water, alcohol and oil! |
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Homestead Powdered Dyes Soluble in water. 1 oz. Because these dyes contain no fillers or extenders, a one ounce packet of dye makes two quarts of stain. Can be applied with brush, cloth or spraying. Color steadfast. |
Hi Marc, thanks for the info. I’m tring to dye my brier pipe and finish it. Can you help me with any recommendations.
Thanks Ralph
Well that’s not something I have ever done before, but wood is wood. What do you need to know exactly?
Hey Marc,
I was curious about dying something that would fully permeate a board–so that, in theory, if you were to mill the wood after dying it, it would still remain the color you had dyed it with. I imagine this would require leaving it submerged for quite a while, letting the board dry and reacclimate.
I got the idea from dying white flowers with food coloring and thought (if possible) it’d be cool to apply to wood. Is this too much of a pipe dream? Just curious. I’ve been doing some trials with small scraps and food coloring, but thought I’d ask for your two cents.
Hi mark thank you for the video , it was really instructive.
I have a question:
I wanted to stain my walnut/wengè bass guitar body ( the goal i would achieve is a warwick bass style nirvana black natural oil finish) and I would know which kind of dye works best with a beeswax finish or if it is even unrequired using an oil based stain.
thanks again.
-Ermes
Well any dye is going to be happiest with some sort of film finish on it, especially something like a guitar that will constantly rub against clothes and hands. So a good quality black dye followed by some coats of a satin lacquer would produce a fairly nice looking finish. You can use a natural oil, but I suspect you’ll be wearing through the dye in no time.
Hi Marc,
I’m building a walnut trestle table for my parents. I had planned on using Arm-R-Seal for the top and just BLO on the base. But the base has several parts that don’t quite match in color with the rest and also a little bit of sapwood. I now plan to use a dye to color match the entire base.
My question is, how does my former BLO plan fit in with this? Can I coat BLO over a water based dye like trans tint? Should I just give up on BLO and use Arm-R-Seal on the base after sealing the dye with shellac? I had wanted to use BLO because I like the way it looks on walnut and the base doesn’t need a film protection like the top…and I also don’t feel like filling the pores on the entire base for a film finish.
Any advice you have would be appreciated.
Thanks!
What are the names of brand of dyes concentrates the veneer I sandedd applied a mohawk cherry stain but it comes up real light so I assume the stain needs to be a deeper cherry
I just did my pine stair treads with General’s water based dye, and with just the first coat they looked beautiful. I used a cloth to apply. I also applied two coats of McNeil’s product to avoid blotchiness, and it worked fantastically. My question is, what top coat should I use now to seal the stairs without affecting the stain. And by the way, I could not have done this job without the help of your awesome videos. So informative, just what I was looking for. Someone to explain the steps and procedures clearly.
You can use any topcoat you want. Depends on what you’re comfortable applying and what looks best on the stairs. Testing on scrap or in inconspicuous areas is always advised. Definitely don’t hit the visible stuff if you aren’t absolutely sure about what you want to do. But you should be able to use oil-based or water-based finishes equally well on that surface.
Great information on the dyes Marc. I am learning quite a bit from your informative and helpful videos. I will be applying a finish to birch. I have removed the shellac off with a stripper and some acetone to clean up any stubborn spots. My thought is to apply a dye product, most likely NGR alcohol soluble product to first darken the grain and accent the splotches. I do want to keep them in. Next, I will be using a mixture of pine tar, BLO and beeswax.
I have a few questions on dye and staining maple. I have built a table from maple flooring and my wife wants to go dark on the color, so after looking around it looked like dye may be a good option. I didn’t want to cover up all of the grain in the wood so I didn’t anything that would hide that so I bought some dark walnut transtint and made a sample board out of the spare flooring and did a couple different steps to see what would work best.
First i used some SealCoat at full strength, then with it cut by half, then one square with nothing. I was really surprised how much the SealCoat prevented the dye from adding color. Now the square without shellac was a good color but it got really blotchy, and that is where I need a little guidance. What can I do to get that dark color, but prevent more of the blotching?
Hey Chris. I recommend using Charles Neils blotch control. This article will explain why: http://www.thewoodwhisperer.co.....-them-all/
Thanks for your help and I just stumbled across that post after I asked the question. Thanks again for all of your tips and tricks from this site and being the one to test many of the issues that many of the not so experienced woodworkers run into.
I have two wood projects that I’m about to undertake and am completely unsure how to proceed. I have an old dresser with burl front drawers and two burl cube tables that I want to make darker – should I use stain or dye? Hope you can help! Thanks
Well stain is more or less a generic term for a coloring agent that may contain pigments, dyes, or a mixture of both. In your case, just about anything will work. But you need to be careful with burl because it tends to get REALLY dark when stained. Might take a bit of experimentation to find the right color that doesn’t darken it too much. But an off the shelf stain should work and dyes will work too. Just depends on what you have access to and what you’re comfortable applying.