# two tone grain enhancement



## ericleo3445 (Jul 26, 2011)

Has anyone ever seen grain enhancement like this before (specifically the orange/yellow looking one)? I know the technique has to do with exploiting the different absorbencies of the wood grain but I am not sure how this is actually done. Can anyone point me in the right direction??


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

You can use one of a few universal tints in different media to get the color.













 







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## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

Bohning,Fletch-Lac has been around the longest....heck,I've been usin it for 40 years.See if these pics come out.The one with single arrow is hard to see.Its one of a dz I airbrushed to recount my eldest son's first Spring Turkey hunt(goin on 20 years ago).It really needs to be seen up close to see detail.BW


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## phinds (Mar 25, 2009)

Some woods, such as wenge, have a contrast between early and late wood that can be made MUCH bolder by using bleach. If you then want the early wood (which becomes very light with the bleach) to be a different color, you can dye the wood but I think that only works well on woods where the late wood doesn't absorb much of the dye, otherwise the strong contrast gets lost.


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## jack warner (Oct 15, 2010)

you could try food coloring. that stains everything. wipe it on, let dry, then sand with 280, just to take off the surface. but your limited to 4 colors. maybe wipe with a blue, let dry, sand, then wipe with red lightly. that would give you a purple,blue,red, orenge, yellow effect, depending on the wood you use.

the orenge - yellow one can be done with red,dry,sand, and wipe with yellow.

diluting the die will lesson the effect if the die is to strong.


i would guess if you could put the arrow in a lathe or something to spin slowly, would make it easier to paint strips with art brushes.


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## ericleo3445 (Jul 26, 2011)

Thanks for the info Jack, I think i need to keep the sanding to a minimum though. 
Phinds, I will be using a Port Orford Cedar for this project, I am pretty sure this is a very soft wood, how does that compare to a wenge? 
I am looking specifically for a process to follow to acheive this effect without any sanding. I read a few forums that talked about using Ritt Dye to do this type of thing, has anyone ever done this before?? Does anyone know the steps I need to take for this type of project?? Also what are the pros and cons of using alcohol versus water as a medium for the dye??


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## jack warner (Oct 15, 2010)

ritt, food coloring, are dye's. alcohol will dry very fast, water not so much. the process would be the same as earlier explained for the food coloring as most dye's. sanding can be skipped. all the sanding does is remove the color from the higher surface. this kind of thing is something you need to play with. if your first color and second color blends in to much, you can try alcohol for first, and water for second, or the other way around.
another idea mop first color on, wipe off, then maybe dry brush your second on.
maybe but a dark color on, let dry, then brush on another color heavyish, then use a rag or spunge, and dap off some of the surface paint leaving a texture effect.
kinda like this board, all just playing around with material.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

ericleo3445 said:


> I read a few forums that talked about using Ritt Dye to do this type of thing, has anyone ever done this before?? Does anyone know the steps I need to take for this type of project?? Also what are the pros and cons of using alcohol versus water as a medium for the dye??


Rit dye works very well in water. It's available in both liquid and powder. You can vary the strength. Here's a color chart. You can click on the chart for a larger view.












 







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## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

RIT is the ticket for dyeing feathers,starting w/White flecth,BTW........you can pick up some of the shaft's background colour doin it.BW


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## ericleo3445 (Jul 26, 2011)

Thanks again for the info Jack, Thats exactly what I needed to know. I'll be playing around with this pretty soon but this cuts alot of the preliminary guesswork out of it. And thanks for the idea BW that should cut down on the amount of fletchings i have to keep in stock. Do the colors fade though on the feathers over time??


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## ericleo3445 (Jul 26, 2011)

phinds said:


> Some woods, such as wenge, have a contrast between early and late wood that can be made MUCH bolder by using bleach. If you then want the early wood (which becomes very light with the bleach) to be a different color, you can dye the wood but I think that only works well on woods where the late wood doesn't absorb much of the dye, otherwise the strong contrast gets lost.


Phinds, I know this is an old post but I finally got around to playing with this a little bit and I found that it wasn't quite as i expected. seems I need a wood species with a little more contrast in the absorbency of the early wood vs. the late wood to get what I'm looking for. I was wondering if you might know which of these would be more ideal for the grain contrast; Ash, Douglas Fir or Western Larch?


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## RandyReed (Jul 30, 2014)

Oak would be best. I would lay a light dye stain of the color of my choice first, a thinned down 6%-12% sealer, scuff sand, then apply a semi weak wipe stain or instead of a wipe stain, I would apply a penetrating stain right over my dye stain for even more grain definition. Then 2 acrylic topcoats of somewhere around a 30 Sheen. 

When I make a penetrating stain, I use 60% Naptha, 25% Mineral Spirits and 15% penetrating oil. After that, I tint to what ever color I want and apply. It really pops the grain, specially on Oak.


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