Transtint drying time

[John Kain]

Question: How long for Transtint to dry before coating with shellac? I did a sample piece and only waited an hour; it looks good. What is the recommended drying time............? I couldn't find it at Homestead's webpage.

[Jim Becker]

Water or alcohol dissolved? Regardless...it's a matter of when the agent you dissolved the dye in has fully evaporated and the piece is "dry". If you are coating with shellac, I highly recommend you dissolve in warm distilled water
...and it's easier to work with since the water doesn't flash off as quickly as alcohol.

[John Kain]

It ended up taking about 4 hours to really become good and dry (water dissolved). My garage was 63 degrees with moderate humidity. I can't even imagine brushing it mixed with alcohol. I thought applying it with water was hard enough in order to keep moving at a brisk pace.

It really is imperative to wait until thoroughly dry before coating with shellac. Also, if you accidently drip some shellac in one spot.....and don't notice you dripped...........you'll have a nice "spot" in the finish. Kinda tempermental, but overall I was really impressed. I did this project out of white pine (i.e. cheap) and no blotching. In retrospect, I should have coated the wood with 1/2# cut of clear shellac before the transtint just to get a little better evening of the dye in the end product. Still, it looks good enough. I'll be assembling and spraying USL tomorrow. It'll be my first project with the HVLP and USL. Wish me luck.

[nic obie]

John,

Why not tint the 1/2# cut of shellac with transtint and save a step? I do this all the time and it works well for me. Try mixing it weak and creep up on the color you want. I spray but wiping might work ok.

Remember to ALWAYS test first.

[John Timberlake]

I just colored some birch to look like cherry using Transtint dissolved in water. Put red mahogany on the birch plywood, waited four hours, and then put on 2# cut of garnet shellac. Looks very much like unfinished cherry and no problems with the shellac looking hazy.