Dying Wood

[Pete Simmons]

When using water based dyes on wood does the color soak in deep enough to still show after sanding.


I would like to dye some 3/32 maple blue then inlay it into a piece of maple then sand the inlay flush. Will the dye still show?

[Bob Johnson2]

On the last project I used a dark dye on it would NOT withstand much sanding. Try it on a scrap and sand it, see what you think.

[Howard Acheson]

I wouldn't do that. At the very least, the colored wood dust is very likely to stain the inlay. Much better is to use a cabinet scraper to level an inlay.

In general, you want to avoid sanding a dyed surface. It will tend to change the color intensity in an uneven way. Pre-raise the grain, let it fully dry and lightly sand off the fuzz. They apply your dye, glue in the inlay, scrape it flat being careful of the dyed wood, apply the first coat of your clear finish, let it fully dry and then sand. That way you are sanding and smoothing the finish, not the dyed wood.

[Pete Simmons]

Those both sound like good advice but I use a laser to cut the inlay then glue it in with a lot of material left to grind off.

Any one know a source of blue dyed wood about 3/32 thick that is blue all the way through?

[Howard Acheson]

>> I use a laser to cut the inlay then glue it in with a lot of material left to grind off.


A hand card scraper would level it in a few minutes of careful work. Have you ever used a card scraper?

[Steve Schoene]

I may be missing something. I thought your problem was not how to level the surfaces but how to level without going through the color. Seems to me you need a way to either make inlet deeper, or the inlay thinner so you hit the level almost exactly so that leveling requires only such a small amount of material that it cuts through the dye. Why does the inlay have to be 3/32 thick, why not 1/32nd or less like commercial veneer? There are commercial veneers that are dyed through and through, though not 3/32nd thick. Try

www.constantines.com

[Howard Acheson]

Yeah Steve, looks like this thread is turning down a different road.

[Mike Glaze]

When using water based dyes on wood does the color soak in deep enough to still show after sanding.


I would like to dye some 3/32 maple blue then inlay it into a piece of maple then sand the inlay flush. Will the dye still show?

Pete

Aniline wood stains only penetrate the wood a little bit. I will give you a good example:

On a highly flamed/fiddleback piece of maple that I put aniline stain on, let dry and then sanding it takes off most of the color immediately. However some parts of the flamed grain do soak up more of the stain and would take more sanding to remove. Some guitar manufacturers do this on higly figured maple tops. They stain this highly figured wood, then sand it lightly and re-stain again with a different color. The effect looks stunning once you nail down the technique. In non figured woods the stain would all be removed at about the same rate evenly across the wood(except for the endgrain of course).

For what you are doing I do not think it is going to work by putting stain on an inlay and then sand it flush because it will remove most of the stain. I would inlay the wood and then stain it after you have sanded it flush. Oh yes I know that is alot of work because you do not want to stain the surrounding wood. I would tape around the inlay once you have it sanded flush and then stain it. I understand if the inlays are extremely complex this really is not an option either. Maybe apply the stain with very small paint brushes? It will require some technique to make this work perfectly, but it can be done.

I will say trying to stain the inlay with a very dark stain, then inlaying it and sanding it flush might have some degree of success, but it probably will not give you the results you are after.

I hope I've given you some good ideas.

Mike

[Mike Glaze]

Those both sound like good advice but I use a laser to cut the inlay then glue it in with a lot of material left to grind off.

Any one know a source of blue dyed wood about 3/32 thick that is blue all the way through?

Pete

I have never seen blue dyed wood that retains the color all the way through the wood. The only other thing I could think of with coloring your inlays was to temporarily glue the inlay in, sand it down, take it out and then stain it.

I understand if the inlays are very small and detailed this would be very difficult to do.

Mike

[Pete Simmons]

I laser cut a 3/32 inlay glue it in and sand it down. Quick and easy.

I was looking to do blue and went off in many directions.

Inlace does not work with laser raster cuts.

For this application blue stablised BEB does not give the right look, but I am sure it would work.

The Elmers wood filler with some color in it shrinks some but would be good for some applications.

Looks like I will be going with CA and powered tourquise for a light blue and CA with powdered Auzurite (dark blue) for a brighter blue.

Thanks for all the help. If I get a good one maybe I will post a picture.