Tint problem

[John Torchick]

May or may not be a problem. I'm turning a piece of pecan for a pen. I mixed up a batch of Trans Tint blue a while back, according to directions. I soaked a piece in the jar and it came out OK. The piece on the lathe has the TT brushed on. But the tint won't color the little pockets in the grain. Not used to the tints so any advice is appreciated.

 

[john lucas]

To fill in grain pockets you have to really soak it. Just wiping on it simply flows over them. You have to sort of Dab with a soaking wet cloth.

 

[Richard Coers]

I've always assumed this was a result of surface tension of the water in the dye mix. I've never tried it, but suspect a drop of dishwashing liquid, or alcohol in the mix would reduce the surface tension. Just thinking out loud.

 

[John Torchick]

Alcohol? How about Scotch? j/k The piece soaked in the TT looks good. Will soak the piece that is on the lathe and hope it doesn't do anything to the tube inside. Thanks.

 

[john lucas]

I thought about surface tension also but most of the time when I have trouble with dye or even finish getting into pores or bug holes I do what I mentioned above and it solves the problem. Personally I would drink the scotch and then not need to worry about filling the pores. If you do, you need more scotch.

 

[John Torchick]

Drink enough scotch and you won't care about the color. Or anything else for that matter.

 

[Bill Boehme]

When I use TransTint dye I prefer to use DNA rather water. When I use TransFast powdered dye I also use DNA even though the instructions say to use hot water.

 

[John Torchick]

Thanks, Bill. I soaked the pecan blank and let it dry overnight. Still have a few pockets that did not take the tint. Will try DNA- I buy it by the gallon so an experiment isn't out of the picture.

 

[John Torchick]

Mixed 50/50 tint mixture (water and tint) and DNA. Still have the pockets that didn't take the tint. I'm thinking it must be the wood itself, for some reason. Might just go ahead finish the blank and assemble the pen.

 

[Bill Boehme]

If you are wanting a uniform color on figured wood I don't think that using dye is the best solution. I normally use dye to accentuate the variation in grain ... in other words, I don't want uniform coloring ... what I want is the dye to help highlight the variation in the grain. I'm not sure what would work best for what you want. Pigment stain perhaps, but pigments might hide the grain depending on what species you are working with. I would mention paint, but I suspect that wouldn't fit in your plan either.

 

[John Torchick]

Rustoleum to the rescue!

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Dye is a hard mix for pecan. Because (in my opinion) of the various colors in the wood itself. But then as Bill said water base just does not give a good coverage. By the way I learned recently that all wood have their own color which will be additive to dyes and therefore change the color when applied. For this reason if color is important(a specific color) then the wood must be bleached.