# Dying questions.



## jmurray (Jan 2, 2016)

I recently got some great figured maple from @Mike1950 . I want to try to dye a couple. Can anyone give me a quick pointer or two, what dye to use? I'm assuming I turn and sand then dye? Any help will be appreciated

Reactions: Like 2


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## Mike1950 (Jan 2, 2016)

Make sure you sand to perfection-especially in the heavy grit. I only have played with dye a little bit but it showed flaws in sanding more so then satin. Big leaf is probably one of the woods that gets dyed more then any other..

Reactions: Useful 1


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## gman2431 (Jan 2, 2016)

I use trans tint cut with DNA. Get a test piece ready to dtermine what shade you want, it can be deciving especially after it flashes off. 

Sanding is key as Mike said I don't raise the grain before applying but I sand up real high in grits. Species of wood seems to be the factor in grit.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Useful 2


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## Mauser (Feb 19, 2016)

Sanding is important but I also go back and backsand to 120. I also cut stains like NGR back quiet a bit you can always reapply.


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## frankp (Feb 19, 2016)

I have some electric guitars I made with quilted maple tops. I used water-based analine dyes that turned out great. http://www.woodcraft.com/product/123836/homestead-transfast-dye-powder-accent-color-black.aspx

Color is still solid after 6+ years hanging in the sunshine in my living room (not direct sunshine but visible from the street in front of my house). I did two coats of dye on the darker colors (purple, blue, and some of the reds) and 3 coats of dye on the lighter colors. I sanded to 600 before dying. The purple on my daughter's guitar turned out much darker than we wanted and we should have only used a single coat for it to better match the purpleheart neck. It also seems to be getting darker over the years (not in the sunlight) and is nearly black now. (It hangs in my daughter's room away from sunlight.)

I can't access the site from here to grab the pictures (firewall, and a lifetime ban due to arguments with the new management of the site a couple years back) but here's a link to the build thread I put on WWT. www.*woodworkingtalk*.com/f13/*couple*-*works*-*progress*-11625/index1/


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## Fsyxxx (Feb 19, 2016)

One of the best demos I've ever seen using dye is with jimmy clewes. Even if it's not turning the info is the same. He's done this demo a million times so he has a little experience working with the stuff

Check it out....

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1 | Agree 1 | Great Post 2


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## frankp (Feb 19, 2016)

I figured out a way to pull pics from that other website. Here are a couple of my dyed quilted maple guitar tops. 

Single coat of purple. Again, sanded to 600 prior to dying: 


 
Apparently I can't upload any of the other pictures from this computer (actually surprised this one worked) so I'll have to load them later.


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## jmurray (Feb 19, 2016)

Fsyxxx said:


> One of the best demos I've ever seen using dye is with jimmy clewes. Even if it's not turning the info is the same. He's done this demo a million times so he has a little experience working with the stuff
> 
> Check it out....


It's hard to watch such long videos, but I really liked that guys. I wish he was my neighbor


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## Fsyxxx (Feb 19, 2016)

He's awesome. Did three days for our club and got to know him some. Really neat guy


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## frankp (Feb 19, 2016)

Okay, home now. Here's a shot of the other guitar with a lot of the colors so you can sort of see what they can look like. 


This one is a little harder to see the grain of the wood due to the way the dye pattern is, but it gives you a good idea how the colors show.


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## DaveHawk (Mar 13, 2016)

These are the dyes I use but mainly to make glazes, and great dye are water dye. Great price if you make it up yourself.


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