coloring wood

[mgsteve]

I have some rather bland spalted maple that I would like to dye/color. What would you suggest and where do I purchase the material?
thanks

 

[john lucas]

Steve I love Analine dye for coloring wood. Assuming that you want transparent colors that will show the grain of course. I bough Red, Yellow, Blue , Green and black. With these colors you can make any color you want.
If your talking about opaque colors then anything goes, just run a test on some scrap to see if they are compatible with whatever finish you use. Some paints will also need a sealer on the wood first.
If you just want black, I'm real partial to Fiebings shoe dye. It makes things really black.

 

[Bob Hadley]

Both Rockler and Woodcraft sell Wood Burst brand color dyes (available in individual bottles and sets). I just tried the red on a spalted birch box and it came out just as I wanted: good even color with enough transparency to see the grain and contrasting streaks of the spalting.