Go to The Highland Woodturner Welcome to Highland Woodworking - Fine Tools & Education Learn more about Highland Woodworking View our current woodturning classes and seminars Woodturning articles and solutions Subscribe to the Highland Woodturner
 
Finishing Dyes and Stains Woodturning Tip
By Phil Colson
Atlanta, GA

Dyes and Stains … what's the difference? A dye will color your wood and not inhibit the grain presentation while a stain is pigment or earth (i.e. dirt) and depending on how opaque it is, when mixed it can cover all the grain. Most of the colors I use on wood are dyes. If I need to color a vessel or bowl or any part of them I use dyes.

How do you use dyes? If you are coloring the entire piece, it's easy. Put the dye on to saturation. It's important to saturate the wood so the dye will color the piece evenly, otherwise it could be blotchy. If you need to color a portion of the piece you can't apply dye directly because it will wick and be uncontrollable. I first put two coats of wax free shellac on the areas to be colored. The shellac is controllable and if you make a mistake use shellac solvent to wipe it off and start again. Using a dry brush technique, dip your brush and wipe it on a paper towel then add color to the shellac.

Sometimes I want a finial for a hollow form to look like ebony and for this I use black dye. There are two I use that give a true black: Transtint Black or Transtint Leather Dye Black. Either will give you a true black, not a blueish or purplish black. After the finial is dry I use 'wipe on poly' gloss. After several coat of the poly it looks like glass.

It works for me! Happy turning!


Phil can be reached directly via email at woodturnerphil@gmail.com .

Return to The Highland Woodturner front page

Click the images below to visit some of our most popular tool departments







Finishing
 
Books
 
  Clearance
 
Festool
 
Planes
 
Sharpening
 
Wood Turning 
 
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
ARCHIVE
SUBSCRIBE TO
OUR NEWSLETTER
    WATCH HIGHLAND'S FREE
    ONLINE TV SHOW
VISIT HIGHLAND'S FULL
ONLINE TOOL CATALOG

Highland Woodworking
1045 N. Highland Ave. NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30306
Tel. 800-241-6748

Email us at email@highlandwoodworking.com
Visit us on the web at www.highlandwoodworking.com


Copyright © 2016 Highland Hardware, Inc.

Errors regarding pricing and specifications are subject to correction.
SOME SALE QUANTITIES MAY SELL OUT and become unavailable at the advertised price.