Final thoughts before I dye
My walnut dining room table needs a little tinge of red. I’ve been mulling over how I’m going to do that for a while, and per my usual habit, I’m going to share my thoughts and findings with you.
Stains are basically dilute paint. Dyes actually soak into the fibers, so they don’t mask the grain as much as stains do.
While considering dyes, I looked at some dye samples on Maple. Wow. Maple dyes beautifully. I’ve had some lousy experiences staining it–I’ll never try that again.
There are two types of dyes: water-soluble and alcohol-soluble. Water-soluble are more lightfast; alcohol-soluble will fade more after years in the sun. However, putting any finish that involves water on a surface will cause the grain to swell, hence the popularity of alcohol dyes.
“NGR” (non-grain-raising) dyes are water-based dyes that have been mixed with a chemical to make them dissolve in alcohol anyway. So you get the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, I can’t find them locally, so I’m just going to use a water-based dye and deal with the raised grain (getting into how to do that is a bit too much for this article to handle).
You can dilute the heck out of dye, and then apply coats of it until it reaches the right color concentration. You can also wash dye out of the wood if you use too much by adding solvent. Another way dye is superior to stain. I’m using a very, very light wash of red. 1/4 tsp to 2 cups distilled water (warmed in the microwave to speed dissolution), to be exact.
In theory, you can make any dye color with red, yellow, blue, and black. In practice, it’s a heck of a lot easier to start with a color that’s close to what you want, and tweak with the primary colors if needed.
And finally:
This may seem obvious (it sure does in retrospect), but put your water-based dye on first, BEFORE you put on the mineral oil. Oops.
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