Playing with some dye and vacuum

[Sparky Paessler]

Thought I might see what would happen if I used several colors of dye in a vacuum chamber on a small box blank. Sure made colorful shavings!

[Randy Red Bemont]

Pretty cool results.

Red

[Steve Schlumpf]

That is quite the effect! Sure makes for a unique turning! Thanks for sharing!

[Dennis Peacock]

Sparky,
How did you do that? Sorry, but I've been away from here for a while with life changes...and I'm trying to get back into the swing of things again.

[Sparky Paessler]

Sparky,
How did you do that? Sorry, but I've been away from here for a while with life changes...and I'm trying to get back into the swing of things again.

Dennis
What I did was pour some Artisan alcohol-based dye in a tray and took my rounded blank and placed it in the dye (on its long side) in a vacuum tank. (dye came about a 1/3 way up the blank). I pulled 25" of vacuum on it and cycled vacuum a couple times for about 10 to 15 min. I then cleaned out the tray and put in the next color. Rotated the blank about a 1/3 and placed it in the dye and repated the vacuum process. Did the same again with the third color. then I let it sit for about an hour and turned it. This was spalted ambroisa maple so there are big differences in the density of the wood from spot to spot. Didn't know how it would turn out but am pleased with the results. looks like the ambrosia marks take the dye deeper than the rest so I might rough out a little ambrosia bowl and try a single color on it and see if I can get an effect like the red marks in boxelder (but maybe in blue) That would be different! I do think I need to dilute the dye just a little next time also. Be glad to share more info with you if you need it.

Sparky

[Bill Bukovec]

Now that's thinking "outside the box" or should I say outside the turning?

Was your blank dry before you dyed it?

Bill

[Dennis Peacock]

Thank you Sparky. I appreciate it. Very nice color when turned like that. :D

[Mike Golka]

How much dye did you lose due to the vacuum? I would assume the alcohol would flash off quite fast due to the lower pressure.

[Sparky Paessler]

How much dye did you lose due to the vacuum? I would assume the alcohol would flash off quite fast due to the lower pressure.

Mike
I probably used about 2 tablespoons worth of each color. I wasn't pump as low as the pump would go and only did it for a short time.
Bill
Yes the blank was dry.

[Curt Stivison]

That is a great piece. No concerns about getting alcohol in the vacuum pump.
Curt

[Sparky Paessler]

Curt
I'm using a Gast rotary vane vacuum pump. It does not have oil in it like the HVAC pumps do so I was not worried about getting alcohol I the oil. I have an 8 gallon vacuum chamber and only ran the pump long enough to pump it down to 22 to 25". I was watching it and could smell the alcohol when it started vaporizing and would shut off the tank valve when it started to vaporize too much. I only run the pump long enough to pump the tank down (about 1 minute) and then close the valve on the tank and let it sit at that pressure. With such a large tank the pressure stays low for a long time. I have an old industrial bell jar with 1/2" stainless walls and polycarbonate lid that will hold vacuum for several days after being pumped down. If I let the pump go all the way to 27" the alcohol does start to boil which would not be safe. I do have to say that alcohol vapors are flammable and there is potential that they could ignite and explode so I would not recommend that anyone try this that does not feel comfortable doing it.

[Curt Stivison]

Thanks for the information. I wanted to try using alcohol dye but didn't feel good about using alcohol. I tried water base dye but that didn't wook very well.
Thanks
SPARKY

[Jim Hipp]

This is certainly different but for the life of me I have no idea why the vacuum works.

Would you please explain how this works.

Thanks.

Jim

[Sparky Paessler]

This is certainly different but for the life of me I have no idea why the vacuum works.

Would you please explain how this works.

Thanks.

Jim

Jim. The vacuum works just like when you are stabilizing blanks. The vacuum pulls all air out of the blank and then when it is released the air pressure drives the finish (or dye) deep into the wood. The way I used it with dye I did much shorter times and the dye was only forced into the less dense portions of the wood (like the ambrosia marks) the deeper you go into the blank. (at least that is my theory from what the results were.) The amount of time you do the vacuum seems to make a big difference on how much pentration you get. I was hopeing to get areas that were dyed and areas that were not. I did another test and did shorter times and did not get near the pentration of dye. Will post picture of it when I get a little finish on it.