What do you use for applying dye??

[George Bokros]

Do you use rags, staining pads (terry cloth wrapped sponge available at big box stores), foam brushes or something else??

Thanks

[Larry Browning]

I almost always spray it on with my $30 harbor freight HVLP conversion gun. It goes on even and quickly. I sometimes use a foam brush to even it out a bit when necessary. On the rare occasion when I apply by hand I use a foam brush.

[Willem Martins]

Spray gun.

[Prashun Patel]

If applying by hand (not spraying) I like the foam brushes. I find anything cloth based to be inefficient. They suck up too much dye and don't deliver it in a flood to the surface, which is what I want if I'm applying by hand.

If I am concerned with blotch, need to hit a target, or don't want to use water for grain raising, I prefer to spray.

[John TenEyck]

Spray is my preferred method whenever possible, because I can avoid blotching that way. When I do it by hand I usually use a sponge to flood it on and another to wipe off the excess.

John

[Steve Schoene]

I like a sponge when hand applying. I just wring it out before wiping off excess. I would spray alcohol based dye, but like the ease of the hand application since flooding on the dye it makes the concentration of the dye the determinate of the color, with very little finesse needed in applying the dye.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Mix cup with wb dye.

disposable ship brush in right hand, with a pad made of cotton rag nearby.

clean cotton rag in left hand [with a pile for resupply]

Slop and spread with brush - on big-big surfaces, will just pour on from mix cup.

Spread and even with RH and cotton "pad", while LH is following close behind wiping.

Can go back with RH and pad at any time to even out if needed.

Put it down, smooth it out, and get it off. I don't let it sit to get a deeper color - I either make a stronger concentration, or I go at it again after it is not-quite dry.

[Jim Becker]

Until recently, I ragged on the water soluble dyes I use, but I am now spraying the dye. Obviously, for a really small project, I'd probably still wipe it on, but no longer for bigger stuff!

[Rick Mosher]

Spray only. Even if I am going to wipe it off, I spray it on.

[Chris Padilla]

I normally sponge it on but I have a largish surface area to dye and I'm dying maple hardwood and plywood so I'm going to give spraying a shot (thanks to advice from John T. above) for two reasons:

(1) To minimize splotching (maple is famous for this) and
(2) to get a uniform coating with no lines or streaks

I'll be spraying Behlen's NGR dye (Hickory color...basically a darkish walnut color) but I'll thin it at least 1:1 with some DNA to give me an opportunity to sneak up on the right color.