New to Alcohol Ink & Dyes

[Randy Anderson]

I have a very big ash tree in my yard that has died that I need to take down soon. I've turned ash before and it's not very exciting so thinking, since I'll have a lot of it to learn on, that I might try some dye or alcohol ink coloring. I see a lot of really nice pieces in the gallery here done this way and from a few videos I've watched it seems ash is a good wood to work with for coloring. I know nothing about coloring wood. It doesn't really fit the look I'm after but, maybe time to try something new.

Would appreciate some basic pointers to get started - what to buy, things to avoid, wood prep, process, etc. Would like to start simple and learn. I'll keep reading through the posts I can find here to pick up what I can.

 

[hockenbery]

I haven’t worked much with ash. I like the chestnut spirit stains on maple sanded to 400.
Alchohol based different colors blend when they meet. spritzing with alcohol gets the stain moving more or moving after it dries
Wiping with a cloth wet with Alchohol removes pigment if you over stain a spot.

I’ll toss out a couple other options
Ash gets a nice raised grain patter from sandblasting.
Bleach adds a nice effect to the sand blasted surface.

It also takes liming wax well to accentuate the grain lines.

Milk paint will work well if you apply it over texture, beads, coves sand blasting. Then cut it back with sanding.
One coat of milk paint you get wood showing through two colors of milk paint you get the wood bordered by th base color showing through.

 

[Bill Blasic]

I suggest that you use Metal Acid Dyes, they are very light fast. I always bleach my hollow forms before dyeing. I also mix my dyes with acetone which dries very fast so I know that when I can't smell it the dye is set. I have included an article I wrote for More Woodturning Magazine which can give you some insight to dyes and their light fastness. If you want an even coating of color use an airbrush. For a different look use an eye dropper and let the dye run. With Ash you can color the wood and then use a contrasting color wax which will highlight the grain, from a demo by Betty Scarpino. Lastly my go to dyes are Transtint Dyes.

 

[Brian Horais]

Ash really does have some nice grain patterns. I've used a technique that combines a dark stain (usually India Ink) with Lime Wax. The lime wax settles down into the grain patterns and really highlights the beauty of the grain when used with a dark stain background. You have to add the lime wax sparingly and rub it into the grain. I give it a few minutes to dry and then use orange oil to remove it from the no-grain surfaces. Another technique is alcohol-based stain. My only caution is to not apply the stain too heavily. I did this once by pouring some stain inside a vase to begin coloring the interior portion. After a few seconds I heard a loud 'pop'. The rapid drying process of the alcohol stain caused the wood to crack. If you apply the stain with more care than I did it does an excellent job. Here are two images, one of the lime wax on black finish and the other of a dark maroon alcohol stain.

 

[robo hippy]

Well, if it is an old ash tree, and big, the center will have a brown color, some times called olive ash. If you are lucky enough to have that in it, it is one of those colors that won't stay on the shelf if you sell. My first 'personal' bowl that I kept was plain white ash. It got a nice amber color over the years. I am one that doesn't really care for colored woods, at least not for anything I want to eat out of. Oh, if you have any walnut dust around, it will get down into the open grain and never come out. I do like it when it does that.

robo hippy

 

[Randy Anderson]

Nice pieces Brian. The dark color with lime wax is like one I saw in a video that got me interested. Yep, not too keen on getting into complex coloring and stains but if I can enhance a bit without getting too deep into it then maybe I can sell a few. In my market traditional bowls are a tough sell. I can add beading, holes with jute string etc and sometimes they move but without some enhancements they just don’t. I save sanding dust from various woods for patches so might give rubbing some of that in for a look. I’ll have plenty to try. If it has dark heartwood then that’ll be a hit but none I’ve ever seen around here has that.

 

[Doug Freeman]

Metal acid dyes are my choice. I use Transtint. If looking for simplicity, the chestnut dyes are probably the way to go - they include shellac as a binder to “fix” the dye. This allows more color intensity to be built up - important if you want the color to really “pop”. I make my own by mixing shellac with transtint.

If you spray pieces, dye can be mixed into finishes, called “toning”. A big reason I use transint is it will mix with shellac, lacquer, and wb finishes. The chestnut dies will only mix with shellac.

You can use wb/alcohol dyes under oil based finishes. There are also oil based dies (I use WD Lockwood) that will mix with oil/poly OB finishes - great for lower intensity grain accentuation.

As mentioned, and found in many videos, are various paints as well.

Coloring and finishing is a skill unto itself. There are way too many possibilities to go into any real depth here.

 

[Dave Landers]

My favorite embellishment with ash is burning. The open pores (early/spring growth) in the rings burns easier than the denser summer growth. I usually then like to dye the rest (I use chestnut spirit stain). I usually go red, just because I like it.

 

[Bernie Hrytzak]

I like that effect with red dye.

 

[Tom Gall]

Randy, I haven't turned a whole lot of Ash and don't know if there is much difference between the trees in your area and the trees in NJ. I like the natural light color and look of the wide grain patterns in Ash. Here's an old piece with a quick texture and some airbrush paint.

 

[Lars Hansen]

@ Dave Landers: Is that color straight, unmixed Chestnut spirit stain?

 

[Dave Landers]

@ Dave Landers: Is that color straight, unmixed Chestnut spirit stain?

Yep. That's the "Red" color. Photo makes it look a little bit darker than it really is. I burn the rings, usually with a propane torch for bigger pieces, or a butane brûlée torch for smaller. Then clean it up (brass brush or toothbrush) as needed, then wipe on the dye till I'm happy with the coloring. Coat of shellac (rattle-can) over that. And either stick with the shellac or switch to a lacquer top-coat.

I will often burn the outside of a hollow form before doing the inside, just so there's more mass to take the heat (less cracks, I think).

I use multiple colors on other pieces, where there's some figure to accent - my favorite here is cottonwood pieces that around here get neat swirls and chatoyance. My favorite color combo on those is red / yellow. Not mixed to make orange, but applied in layers. Usually red first, then yellow to highlight the figure, several layers of each till I'm happy.

 

[Bob Sheppard]

Another alternative to dying the wood is to burn and wire brush it. With the grain in ash, you can get some nice texture in your piece.

 

[John Walls]

Really like that burn/red stain job! I use alot of ash, usually put a clear coat over it if it has any figure. Plain jane ash I will sometimes bleach it with 2-part kit then use some chestnut spirit stains. Never tried alc. based dies.

 

[Lynn Dudenbostel]

I've done a little bit of staining on curly maple turnings, and a lot of staining on mandolins and guitars I've built. I'll agree, TransTint are my favorite, and are soluble in water, varnish, alcohol, shellac, and lacquer. They are very user friendly. One thing to be aware of, if you are hand applying any stain to bare wood, the end grain will absorb more stain than face grain, so if you want a uniform stain, it takes some work. Spraying/airbrushing minimize this effect.
Here is a small curly maple pick bowl that I stained with TransTint using paper towels and stain straight from the bottle and an occasional spritz of water to lighten/blend colors. Only three different colors were utilized in this piece. Well, 4 colors if you count the India Ink on the rim.

 

[Dean Center]

Good for you for experimenting on low cost wood you don't care about trashing. Ash has some special characteristics, open grain for one, that make it excellent for a wide array of special effects, as the others have mentioned above. Sandblasting would be another. Sharp, crisp details can be difficult to create with it. Try a variety of embellishments and show us how they turn out.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Did a bowl with ash burned and then silver applied to higher grain. Top is maple.

 

[Philip Rose]

I like working with ash and alcohol-based dye. I've done a little with India Inks as well. For the dye, the ash absorbs nicely, and with a cup of DNA you can work the dye on the woodjust like a watercolor painting. Here is one example.

 

[Gary Morgan]

Ash stains well using the Chestnut alcohol stains. Stewart Furini on YouTube demonstrates a method where he puts on a coat of black stain, scrapes it off, then builds shades as he wishes.
Interesting note, Milliput will also take the stain.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Ash is also one of the more "unforgiving" woods when it comes to sanding.. over-sanding usually becomes plainly obvious once finish is applied, no matter how perfectly smooth and scratch-free the sanding job is, if you have over-done it, you gonna see the ripples, similar to sandblasting... been there, done that