# 2 tone dying wood



## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

I do alot of this and get asked how it is done some times, so I thought I would just show how that way I could refer people to it in the future. I use RIT clothes dye. In my work shop I dye items like knife handles,pistol grips,turned wood pens,wooden fishing lures...RIT is just a common (and inexpensive) grocery store item, found by the laundry detergent. 

Step1: Start with a piece of figured wood (curly/quilted) in picture one it is a scrap of quilted rock maple. Mix up the dye following the instructions (a little goes a LONG way, a $2 package will make gallons).

2: Paint the piece with the first color (black in this case) don't be scared of it, get it soaking.

3: Wash it off in hot water as soon as you get it fully covered. You are going to want to work quickly, you only have a few minutes for best results. Figured wood is a mixed of end grain and face grain, it soaks deeper/faster into the end grain. The dye on the face grain rinses off pretty easy.

4: Let the first color dry

5: Saturate the piece with the second color and let it stay .It can be rinsed too if the color is too dark without ruining the first color. I rinsed the last picture just a little to brighten the yellow.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

All dry with a quick shot of spray can lacquer....and yes my fingers are yellow (don't do everything the way I do :no::laughing:, rubber gloves are a good idea )


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

I will follow up by repeating "a little goes a long way", so if you have a spill-you have a mess. Trying to clean up the mess with water...just makes more dye . Make sure you have newspaper or something suitable to work on and plenty of paper towels handy.


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## Charles Neil (Oct 21, 2007)

Daren ,i have seen and done this and it does work great, my only concern is the colorfastness of the fabric dyes,as in long term fading and such, not an issue on small projects but have you used this on any thing larger and have you had any experience with it in sunny or high light situations....metal complex dyes which are the best in lightfastness will not give the dramatic contrast the cloth dyes will,but rather one will offset the other ....nice job thanks


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Charles, this is a small items technique like I mentioned. It is of interest to knife makers and such. The thing that I have used it on most with any track record of high sunlight exposure (as well as water/chemical) is fishing lures. They are finished with several coats of finish with a UV inhibitor, like a Spar marine varnish. No problems so far after a few years.

For bigger things (ie furniture)...I do it just like you do . Maybe you have seen this video :laughing:. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWCptCxNx4I


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## Charles Neil (Oct 21, 2007)

Thanks daren, a good write...super technique...well done


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Daren said:


> Maybe you have seen this video :laughing:. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWCptCxNx4I


For anyone who doesn't get the joke...that is Charles' video I linked, that is him giving the demonstration. (there are 36 others of his well worth the time to watch too, cool dude in my book)


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