How about this -anyone

[Mark Riegsecker]

I don't know much about this stuff called dry powder dye, but I need a few conformations.
I'm about to dye (color) a maple plywood project to a dark cherry. I'm first going to mix dry powder dye using maple and cherry dye in water which I've read will make wood look like dark cherry. Then I'm going to spray a tinted 1# shellac washcoat if I didn't get a deep enough color other wise an amber shellac. Finally a few coats of lacquer or varnish.

A few questions:

-Can a water dye be under oil based products?
-Does anyone see anything wrong with this formula?
-Would it be better to mix the dye with something else but I don't
know what it would be, denatured alcohol maybe?
-Could BLO help in high lighting the dyed grain used before the shellac?

Any help would be appreciated. You know how it is, all that machining work and time just to get this far than a not so good finish.:mad:

Thanks Mark

[Carl Eyman]

but here is what I do think I know:

The dye is ok under any other finishes I know, but seal it. With shellac - dewaxed in some cases.

Should you use another medium than water? The only reason I can think of is to prevent grain raising. If You follow the instructions for water based dyes, specifically, to raise the grain with a water wipe, let dry, then sand off the "fuzz" before applying the dye. I can't see any reason for using alcohol based dyes.

What colors to use? I don't know. My only answer is that whatever color you use the dyed piece will look entirely different after you apply the finish. SO! What ever you decide to do make a practice run first.

IF you have other questions? I'll have to look and try to answer them later. Oh, you asked about BLO. my quick answer is I don't know a darned thing about it. Good luck.

[Cecil Arnold]

Carl gave you most of your answers, but if you're trying for a dark cherry color, why are you going to use a maple/cherry die mix? The best part of Carl's answer, however, is to work out your finishing schedule (including your die mix) on some scrap.

[Mark Riegsecker]

Thanks Carl and Cecil, for the reply. I will use scrap wood first.

I got that maple cherry mix from Homestead finishing. I wanted to enquire about what any of you thought of this before I proceeded and if you could improve on my methods. I don't know why I can't get this finish thing, it can't be that tough.

Mark

[Steve Schoene]

The dye would only be impacted by a waterbased finish.

In that case you would need the shellac sealer coat, but otherwise its not needed. There is no reason you can't get the dye to reach what ever darkness you want. Mixing with alcohol makes the dye dry very fast so it is hard to avoid overlaps. When you are preparing samples, you can adjust the concentration of the dye, but don't mix all the powder in the initial test since you would have to buy more to get a darker color. You can also mix the colors on the wood, first applying the maple, and then adding the cherry, although this takes more experimentation.

You can use BLO if you want, but it takes a while to cure, and the effect on the figure will be pretty minor compared to directly using an oil based tradional resin varnish. Behlen's Rockhard is good over dark woods.