I've been working on some curly maple for the past few weeks and experimenting with different dye techniques to try and get something warm and a bit glowing.
After some different trials and errors, I settled on a simple process of sanding to 220, raising the grain, sanding again at 220, applying a 4x diluted coat of transfast dye, sanding back at 220, and then applying full strength.
This has thus far given me predictable consistent results. However, as i was playing around on small samples, I used shop towels to apply the stain.
I read a jeff jewitt article where he recommended using a scotch brite pad to help avoid any nibs from grain raising during the process. Sounds great. I didn't have any maroon, but I did have some white.
I cut a piece of the white pad off and poured out a little full strength dye. Began applying and I noticed immediately the color was significantly darker than anything I had seen during my samples. Finished one piece and then switched to the shop towel - the color was back to 'normal', a kind of brown/orange/gold depending on where you are in the wood. So now I have two pairs of parts, one part of which has a much darker color than the rest.
So, I think there are two possibilities:
1. Some kind of chemical reaction to the scotchbrite pad causing darker coloring. This seems unlikely.
2. The shop towel perhaps might be 'absorbing' some darker pigments and causing the color shift. Perhaps the scotchbrite pad was showing a more 'true' pigment. I question this, because I use scraps of ash veneer to stir the dye and it never got quite that dark.
I rubbed the darker one vigorously with wet towels to try to lighten it, but it only moved it a little bit in terms of shade.
I think I have some more sanding in my near future (these are smallish parts, so it's all hand sanding :'( ).
After some different trials and errors, I settled on a simple process of sanding to 220, raising the grain, sanding again at 220, applying a 4x diluted coat of transfast dye, sanding back at 220, and then applying full strength.
This has thus far given me predictable consistent results. However, as i was playing around on small samples, I used shop towels to apply the stain.
I read a jeff jewitt article where he recommended using a scotch brite pad to help avoid any nibs from grain raising during the process. Sounds great. I didn't have any maroon, but I did have some white.
I cut a piece of the white pad off and poured out a little full strength dye. Began applying and I noticed immediately the color was significantly darker than anything I had seen during my samples. Finished one piece and then switched to the shop towel - the color was back to 'normal', a kind of brown/orange/gold depending on where you are in the wood. So now I have two pairs of parts, one part of which has a much darker color than the rest.
So, I think there are two possibilities:
1. Some kind of chemical reaction to the scotchbrite pad causing darker coloring. This seems unlikely.
2. The shop towel perhaps might be 'absorbing' some darker pigments and causing the color shift. Perhaps the scotchbrite pad was showing a more 'true' pigment. I question this, because I use scraps of ash veneer to stir the dye and it never got quite that dark.
I rubbed the darker one vigorously with wet towels to try to lighten it, but it only moved it a little bit in terms of shade.
I think I have some more sanding in my near future (these are smallish parts, so it's all hand sanding :'( ).
