A couple of months ago a demonstration at my woodturning club prompted me to start experimenting with dyes.   Dyeing and coloring is one of those subjects that can be pretty intimidating.  There are so many colors out there where do you start?   Well, my first step was to buy myself a color wheel.  I also spent some time researching what type of dyes to start with and eventually settle on TransTint Dyes.  The next step was to decide which colors to buy.   After looking at the number of colors available and the cost of the dyes, I decided that I would just buy the primary colors and black.  I figured that with those colors I could mix any other color that I might want.

With that decision behind me I placed my order for a bottle of red, blue, green and black dyes.  While waiting for the package to arrive I took a trip to Harbor Freight and got some 8oz squeeze bottles.  I also went to Walgreens and got a small syringe for accurately measuring the dyes.  If ever you want to feel like a crack addict, going to the drug store and asking for a small syringe will do that for you.  Although they very kindly didn’t charge me for it, the kid at the pharmacy looked me over twice and also asked to see my drivers licensee before giving me the syringe!

The package of dyes arrived and, feeling like a mad chemist, I opened it up ready to start mixing.  Well, who knew that green is not a primary color!!!  I guess if I’d taken the time to really look at the color wheel I brought I might have know.  Apparently the laws of physics/chemistry weren’t going to be changed just because I had brought the wrong color dye, so a trip to my local Woodcraft and I had a bottle of yellow dye to add to my collection.  (“My local Woodcraft” is a relative term here involving a three hour return trip).

My plan was to mix up a “master” bottle of the three primary colors, red, yellow and blue, and then use those to mix up “master” bottles of the secondary colors, orange, green and violet.   From these six colors, along with the black, I figured I could mix up any other color I wanted on a “as needed” basis.

TranTint dyes can be mixed with water or alcohol.  They can also be added to common finishes including shellac, water based lacquer and polyurethane and most oil based finishes.  I chose to mix the dye with a 50/50 solution of denatured alcohol and lacquer thinners.  This would have the advantage of not raising the grain of the workpiece.  The one disadvantage of doing this is that the solution dries very quickly after application.  As you only get an idea of what the final color will look like when the dye is first applied and wet this does not allow for much time to see if the color is to your liking.

The dyes need to mixed in the following proportion, 1 oz of dye to 1 quart of water or alcohol.  If you’re not interested in doing the math, this came to 7.5 ml of dye to be added to my 8 oz solution of alcohol and lacquer thinners.

Related posts:

1. Update on ebonizing wood
2. Ebonizing

Burnt natural edge bowl

Burnt natural edge bowl

As you can see, once again Mother Nature did a beautiful job. The spalting in the sweet gum is amazing. The bark had fallen off the piece before I turned it, so I needed to define the rim. I choose to do that with my wood burning tool. I used two different nibs. I first burnt a random pattern of dark dots with the writing tip. Then I went over the entire rim with the shading tip and blackened it completely.

Related posts:

1. Turning a Natural Edge Bowl
2. Ebonized Cherry Bowl
3. Al Hockenbery Demo

I did not get as clean a transition as I hoped for.  The ebonizing solution seemed to soak deeper into the wood in some places.  I think next time I will put a sealing coat of shellac on the inside and outside of the bowl, before applying the ebonizing solution to the rim.

Ebonized Cherry Bowl

Click to enlarge

Ebonized Cherry Bowl

Related posts:

1. Update on ebonizing wood
2. Burnt natural edge bowl.
3. Lidded Bowl

I made another pen and demonstrated the ebonizing to my pen turning club.  I could not get to the pen for a couple of days after the meeting.  When I did, I just sanded it lightly with some non-abrasive steel wool.  The aluminum shone nicely and I still kept the deep color of the ebonizing.

Ebonized maple with aluminum inlay

Click to enlarge

Related posts:

1. Ebonizing
2. Ebonized Cherry Bowl
3. Laser Cut Pen Kits

Ebonized Maple Pen

Click to enlarge

In the June 2009 issue of Popular Woodworking there was an article by Brian Boggs that really caught my attention.  The article was on ebonizing wood.  As I read the article I imagined a pen made from ebonized maple inlaid with aluminum.  Why not just use ebony?  Well, a couple of reasons.  Firstly, though not a huge factor when dealing with pen blanks, maple is a lot cheaper.  Secondly, maple is a lot easier to work with.  Finally, ebony has a tendency to crack and split.

I laminated a maple pen blank with some aluminum, turned it and then followed the steps outlined by Brian on ebonizing.   The picture above shows the results.  Read on to see what is involved and my thoughts.

Traditionally woods that lend themselves to ebonizing well, are woods that are high in tannin acid, oak for example.  Brian has found a process that allows more control and also allows almost any wood to be ebonized.  The process involves introducing tannin into the wood in order to allow the chemical reation to take place.

The first thing I had to do was to dissolve some steel wool in vinegar.  I washed the steel wool with soap and water first to get rid of the oils.   I also drilled a very small hole in the container lid as while the steel wool is dissolving gases are released.  This took about a week.  Once the steel wool was fully dissolved I strained the mixture through a coffee filter.

Introducing the tannin into the wood is achieved by the use of a bark powder tea.  The powder is made from a tree bark called Quebracho.  It is used in the tanning of hides.   I got a small package of it from Van Dykes Taxidermy.  The “tea” is made up by mixing a heaped tablespoon of the quebracho in a pint of hot water from the faucet.

During the application process it is important to use separate clothes for the bark tea and the steel wool/vinegar mixtures so as not to contaminant the two different liquids.

Here is how the mixtures are applied to the wood:

1. Wipe or brush the bark tea onto the wood.  Allow it to soak into the wood.
2. While the wood is still slightly damp, not wet, apply the steel wool/vinegar mixture.
3. Allow the wood to dry.
4. Buff gently with a soft cloth.

It was pretty amazing watching the maple turn black!

In the article Brian recommends not sanding past 320 grit and raising the grain twice before applying the bark tea.  I did not sand the blank at all.  Just applied it on to the finish I achieved while turning with my skew.   Initially I did not get any reaction.  I think the problem was the skew had burnished the wood and did not allow the bark tea to penetrate.  I went back and sanded the blank with 120 grit and everything worked as promised.

I also found I needed to take my time and make sure I got all the areas stained.  When you are dealing with a turning you have both side and end grain exposed.  There was some variation in how the two grains reacted.

The main problem I had was in getting the aluminum segment to shine.  I don’t know whether it was affected by the chemical reaction happening in the wood, or if it just had residue on it.  However if I tried to buff or sand a shine into the aluminum, I knocked some of the rich black off the ebonized maple.  I’m still thinking about how to work around this.  The pen was much darker than you see in the picture.  It would have been great to have kept it that dark and get the contrast with shiney aluminum.  I have a few ideas that I’m playing with.  If anyone else has any thoughts let me know please.

Related posts:

1. Update on ebonizing wood
2. Ebonized Cherry Bowl
3. Burnt natural edge bowl.