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Dyeing Wood & veneers

D

Dr_dewey

Joined
Apr 24, 2004
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Location
Toronto, Ontario Canada
Website
www.phoenixwood.ca
Use a lot of veneers in my segmented bowls and need Ebony. Around here Macassar Ebony veneer is $11 a sq ft and its not an even colour. Thought i would try to dye some walnut veneer to get a very black veneer. Minwax ebony stain made it darkisk but not black and the edge grain does not get black enough. India Ink is over $4 an ounce and will not got very far and don't know if it will bleed with PVA glue. So far had some success with Analine NGR dye, available for about $17 a litre. The dried veneer looks dark enough for ebony and on a small corner PVA glue did not smudge the dye so it looks promisong for use in bowls.

Some use RIT dye on bigger pieces, but wetting veneer and then drying it seems a lot work.

Any other ways of dyeing wood??
 
Get a jar and place some steel wool in side. Cover the steel wool with vinegar. Let the solution sit for a few days then apply to the wood.
 
Ditto what Ron Sardo said. It's a chemical stain -- it reacts with the tannins in the wood and turns the wood black. It's permanent and it doesn't bleed.
It also works very well on oak.
 
I've used India Ink (it must be cheaper here about $3 for 2 oz) I like Analine dye because I can bias the black, make it blue black or red black or what ever I want. I've tried the Steel wool and vinegar but it's not always controlable. I guess the tanin in the wood varies. However all of these are surface treatments and don't penetrate the wood very far unless it's really thin veneer. You can soak it for a day or so and it will penetrate thin veneer but I needed about an 1/8".
I buy solid colored black veneer from a company and I'm having a senior moment and can't remember who I get it from. It will come to me later and I'll get back to you. To get thicker stock I glue 2 or more layers together. This has worked great for me.
 
black dyed veneer

can get swiss dyed pear from a local veneer source @ $6.15 a sq ft - it is not black though, or Century Veneers has black dyed castello for $2.5 US a sq ft and their pics show a real ebony look. its only 20 minutes SE of Buffalo which is close to us and may be worthy of a little day trip.

the penetration is an issue as i sliced some of my dyed stuff and could see colour variations. Others have said to soak it for a day or so to get the depth.

Iron acetate has been mentioned in other forums to ebonzie walnut and agree that uniformity could be an issue, and then what kind of vinegar works best, white, apple, malt, baslmic??
 
Dyed veneer sources

Both Woodcraft and Craft Supplies carry dyed veneer packs ($5-$6 per sq.ft). I've looked at them in the local Woodcraft store and they looked good, but I haven't had a need for it yet so I can't give a hands-on evaluation.
 
Dr_dewey said:
SNIP
and then what kind of vinegar works best, white, apple, malt, baslmic??
Click to expand...

Personally, I prefer baslmic vinegar flavored with garlic with just a hint of tarragon. 😀
 
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