Black Dye on Basswood

[WhiteShaman]

Hello all,
I was wondering if any of you have experience with using black dye with a toner followed by a lacqer in order to get a deep ebony color while still allowing the wood grain of the basswood to come through?
I want to stain the horns of a buffalo that I am planning to carve.
Another question I have is where do you get dye and toner?
Thanks in advance fo your help!
This where I got the idea to us dye from:
Success with Black Stain
Blessings,
James

[Claude]

Hi, James.
You can get wood dye at Rockler and Woodcraft stores. Possibily at the local Home Depot or Lowes (but I haven't looked there). Something that wood turners use is a chunk of steel wool, dropped into some white vinegar for a week or so. The iron reacts with the acid in the vinegar and when painted on wood, reacts with the tannin in the wood and turn is black. Process is called ebonizing. Don't know how much tannin is in basswood, but you could try it on a scrap piece and see if it works. Price is right... Since horn is not wood, it might not react to the ebonizing. If you have a scrap piece, you could try some black dye from the fabric store that is normally used on cloth.

Claude

[WhiteShaman]

Thanks Claude.....I read something about ebonizing but I just read over it.
I'll have to look at it in more depth.
(Tannin amounts types wood.....hmmm....I have something else to learn about!)
By the way, the horns will be made from basswood.
Thanks again,
James

[mobjack68]

Hey Shaman..most wood supply stores offer dyes, Aniline dye specifically, can be mixed with water or alcohol. The color seems to become very vivid and intense with alcohol mix, these packets are not terribly expensive. I have also used latex/acrylic paint thinned almost to water consistency and used like a wash to get the depth of color desired, don't forget about the grain raising feature of the water...

[WhiteShaman]

Originally Posted by mobjack68

Hey Shaman..most wood supply stores offer dyes, Aniline dye specifically, can be mixed with water or alcohol. The color seems to become very vivid and intense with alcohol mix, these packets are not terribly expensive. I have also used latex/acrylic paint thinned almost to water consistency and used like a wash to get the depth of color desired, don't forget about the grain raising feature of the water...

Thanks............I really like the look in the link I added in my first thread where the guy dyes the wood and then adds regular black wood stain over it with a toner.
If I could get that along with a nice shine, that woud be awesome.
Blessings,
James

[Jbarr]

Hi James, I use a lot of leather dyes on my Santas they are alcohol based and are already diluted and ready to use. as with all dyes spraying them with an air brush works best. I prefer to seal the wood first with a stain or nat. sealer it will let you get a good even dye job.
James

[Dicky]

I have used the vinegar/steel wool solution on mahogany and it worked well. Turned the mahogany very black and takes a finish nicely. While experimenting, I found to my surprise that the ebonizing layer is quite shallow. A small shallow chip brings you right back to the original colour. Might be handy for special effects.

[WhiteShaman]

Thanks Dicky, James!

james did you see the link I posted where the guy adds wipe on stain afterwards as oppose to sealing the wood before like you mentioned. He also uses a toner to get the evenness you describe.
Any thoughts on that?