Steps for using dye on alder body
- Thread starter jayroc1
- Start date
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Ira7
Doctor of Teleocity
YouTube is your friend for applying dye.
Don't know what translucent means in regards to analine dye, so put that in your search term.
How does your grain look?
Some of the best dying techniques involve using two different colors, even very similar colors, and even if you're not doing a sunburst. Apply one, sand back, apply second, rinse and repeat.
Otherwise, dye can kind of just look like stain.
Mods should also move this to Finely Finished Forum.
Don't know what translucent means in regards to analine dye, so put that in your search term.
How does your grain look?
Some of the best dying techniques involve using two different colors, even very similar colors, and even if you're not doing a sunburst. Apply one, sand back, apply second, rinse and repeat.
Otherwise, dye can kind of just look like stain.
Mods should also move this to Finely Finished Forum.
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eallen
Friend of Leo's
Translucent, rather than opaque, is color that can still be seen thru. There are a dozen ways that all work. You just have to find what you are comfortable with. I prefer to sand, vinyl or other seal, grain fill, then spray on light dye layers to have better color control. Others are masters at wiping on dye which I do on some base colors.
Red Alinine is fade prone from sun expsoure so be aware as it will turn pinkish. The depth of red, fire truck verses dark cherry, can come by mixing in black or spraying light black layers to darken as desired.
Red Alinine is fade prone from sun expsoure so be aware as it will turn pinkish. The depth of red, fire truck verses dark cherry, can come by mixing in black or spraying light black layers to darken as desired.
Martinp
Tele-Afflicted
End grain can also be an issue, a couple of spit coats of clear shellac will even out the absorption
Mike Simpson
Doctor of Teleocity
Seal it and coat with clear.
After the alder is sealed tint the next few clear coats lighter than your final desired color and add tinted coats to get to the desired color.
Add additional clear over the tinted coats.
Alder does not accept dye well and you will likely have a blotchy dye job.
After the alder is sealed tint the next few clear coats lighter than your final desired color and add tinted coats to get to the desired color.
Add additional clear over the tinted coats.
Alder does not accept dye well and you will likely have a blotchy dye job.
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Vizcaster
Poster Extraordinaire
+1. Your first inquiry is whether or not the species of wood behaves well when applying dye. If it's a particularly beautiful, stain-friendly wood like mahogany or figured maple then it will come to life with the stain applied to bare wood. But pine or alder, fuggedaboutit.
It may soak in so unevenly that it looks dirty or smudged in some areas (affectionately known as "blotching."). So don't do it. At least not by soaking the dye into the bare wood. Many, many finishes (especially most factory made furniture) rely on the topcoat to apply color without trying to get it into the wood.
Rather, if you seal the wood with either a sanding sealer or a coat or two of clear lacquer, you can then make up your "toner" coats by mixing the dye into the lacquer. You spray light coats until you sneak up on the amount of color coverage you want. This technique also permits you to experiment with pigment instead of dye (Mixol is a good product to add to clearcoats); even with pigment it won't be opaque until you really add a lot of it (in fact if you want an opaque color start with a solid white base and add color, adding pigment to clear will give you a translucent coating). Remember the particles in pigment are so tiny they're smaller than pixels, so you're not "obscuring" the wood grain believe me. it's only when you use too much pigment that you might get things looking a little muddy, but that's where the hype about dye stain comes from.
Then when you're happy with that you can start with clear. The first topcoat of clear should be very light just to lock things in (the dye may otherwise try to bleed up into a fully we clearcoat). Then cover it with enough clear so you can wetsand and buff when it's cured.
Tone Revival
TDPRI Member
+1 on applying dyed coats after the wood is sealed.
Dying bare wood is usually done on veneers or flat pieces of wood where joinery blocks the end grain of the piece.
on a guitar, the exposed endgrain will absorb more dye than the rest of the surfaces, making it much darker.
Sometimes, dying the bare wood in black aniline, than sanding back to accentuate the grain lines is done, but all subsequent tinted coats are still done post-sealer.
