The Real Truth About Dyes

[John Coloccia]

Experiment a lot and take notes....and pictures if you can. That's the only way I know to do it. Dyes are great, but it's like cooking. You start with a basic recipe, and then modify it for the particular ingredients you happen to have. That said, I work mostly with dyes and you start getting good at it after a while. Here's a guitar neck I did a refret on and had to subsequently match the existing finish:

http://www.jcolocciaguitars.com/JCol...Re-Radius.html

So I've gotten pretty good at matching "amber" on maple. That doesn't help me at all matching red on mahogany, for example. It's tricky. For amber on maple, now I have a basic recipe and I know I can add a touch of yellow, blue or brown to get it right where I want it. So basically what you're doing is the way to do it. Experiment, but definitely take good notes and good pictures.

I do have a great book here on guitar finishing. It has color charts of various dye strengths and combinations. It's really helpful to get in the ballpark.

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Finishi.../dp/0977651908

It's really an excellent book for duplicating some classic recipes, but the color charts in it for Transtint dyes (well, StewMac's dyes, but they're Transtint) was worth the price by itself. Everything in there in applicable to any project, actually, though it's mostly geared towards the ridiculous, mile deep, high gloss finishes that some jerk 100 years ago decided guitars need to have. LOL.

[Julie Moriarty]

Thanks John. Lots of good information there! I've always had a great respect for people who finish musical instruments. There's no short cuts and the consumer expects perfection.

In a lot of ways, dye mixing is taking me back to grade school where you learn the primary colors and then learn how to make other colors from that. About a month ago I was in kindergarten. Now I feel like I'm getting ready to graduate grade school. I'm finding it best to forget everything you knew about staining and just approach dyes as if you've never toned wood before. But now your color choices are endless. It also helps to approach WB finishes as if you were a newbie. And I'm starting to like what I see in that arena too.

Today I'll be testing a few other recipes. While I love the colors I came up with last night, they are still a bit too dark. I'm already thinking I'm going to need other colors. Now it's back to the lab...

[John TenEyck]

Welcome to the endless world of dyes, Julie. While reading and research provide a basic guideline of how to go about it, you really have to get out in the shop and make samples to understand the process and how to adjust color, depth, sheen, etc., all the things that separate a poor finish from one that sings. Like a lot of woodworkers, I once hated finishing; now it's one of the most enjoyable aspects for me even though I still have much to learn. And FWIW, EuduroVar, while advertised as having the look of a solvent based varnish, doesn't look much different to me than most other WB clearcoats. But you can add dye directly to it to get that look. Another weapon in the finishing arsenal.

John

[Mel Fulks]

Julie, I have a friend who worked out a way to mix that I hadn't heard before . Buys the powdered water soluble ,accumulating different colors ,he mixes very small amounts of WEIGHED powders with measured volume of water ,tests color on a small square of white maple and the wood used in the project .He saves the samples with the recipe written on the back . If he does not get desired color he learns from sample and mixes another SMALL sample. Not having to remember everything ,you pick up a skill faster. I can see that you have bought a good number of bottles of stains......so you can mix anything! If you don't want to buy a druggists scale ,just borrow from someone in your neighborhood who sell stuff in small quantities.