Coffee as a wood dye?

[Craig Hemsath]

At an antique/flea/junk/consignment sale today. Saw a piece of furniture a guy made and he had dyed it using coffee, then topped with a varnish (poly looked like). It looked great! Had this very nice and pleasing brown color.

I'm now intrigued with it. The thought of a very safe/non-toxic colorant is very attractive to me (I'm kind of a eco-nut like that) . Does anyone have any experience with this? After doing a little internet research, I've read a number of positives about it. I'm tempted to play around with this for my crib that I've been building (it's maple but the better half would prefer it to have a light brown color), but would hate for it to turn into a nasty color some time down the road. Any thoughts by the board experts?

[Jamie Buxton]

You might check out "walnut crystals". It is a wood dye made from walnut husks. One example is http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/i...OD&ProdID=5904

[Mike Null]

I've heard of using tea but coffee's a new one on me.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
Coffee + Q-tip = a good remedy for those annoying light spots shelf pin holes often leave.

Old time painters used coffee to touch up dings in woodwork.

[Sal Giambruno]

Now there's a line of furniture you can market to Starbucks . . .

[Scott Holmes]

Regadless of the stain or dye that you use... Maple does not stai or dye well it is a very hard dense wood that is subject to blotching when you add stain or dye to it.

If "she wants light you might try a shellac as the first finish coat... it seals better than most finishes it is color fast and it dyes in a matter of minutes not hours.

Personally, I like garnet shellac on maple. Gives it a nice toasted color.

[Jim Becker]

Well, using natural materials and plant matter for dyes and stains is kinda how it all got started...

[Steve Schoene]

While these stains from household items are interesting, on the serious side it is quite likely that they quite a bit less lightfast than modern aniline dyes such as TransFast. The commercial dyes can obtain any color possible from coffee, and repeatably too.

[Sal Giambruno]

While these stains from household items are interesting, on the serious side it is quite likely that they quite a bit less lightfast than modern aniline dyes such as TransFast. The commercial dyes can obtain any color possible from coffee, and repeatably too.

Yeah, sure . . . but can they be marketed as 100% organic?