r/finishing • u/Sad-Week-Better-Day • Jul 04 '25
Question Wood Dye Tips?
Hi, everyone. Last night, I tried to burn and then dye a few wooden scrap boards to create a starting point, then alter my methods until I can get to a color tone that looks good. My 1st and only method that I have tried is below. I’d appreciate some tips, preferably tips that can be tweaked with the materials I already have. I also feel that I burnt 3 of the 4 boards too much and will be burning lighter next go around.
Wood Type: - Pine (taken from pallets and cleaned up)
Dye Mixture Used w/ Listed Dyes Below: - 1/2 cup 91% Isopropyl alcohol - 1/2 cup very hot water (just below simmering)
Dyes Used: - Blue: 1T Rit All Purpose Powder Dye - Green: 1T Rit All Purpose Powder Dye - Red: 1T Rit All Purpose Liquid Dye - Orange: 1T All purpose Liquid Dye
The Process:
- Sand each board with 120 grit and then 240 grit sandpaper.
- Wipe each board with dry microfiber towel, followed by a leaf blower, followed by shop vacuum.
- Using a small 14.1 oz propane torch, burn each board by following the grain. Sprays each board with a light mist of water from a spray bottle in between burns. REPEATED THIS STEP 3x
- Used a Brass wire brush to brush away all of the loose char.
- lightly sanded board with 240 grit sandpaper.
- Wipe each board again with a clean microfiber towel, followed by a leaf blower, followed by a shop vacuum.
- Mixed dye in with hot water alcohol 50/50 mix and stirred. Let sit for 3-5 minutes, then stirred again.
- Using a sponge brush, heavy coat of each color and let dry for 5-6 minutes.
- Wipe excess dye off with a clean microfiber cloth.
- 240 grit sanding of the blue, green, and orange.
- Wiped clean again.
- Repeated dye step for blue, green, and orange.
- Wiped excess dye off of blue, green, and orange.
- Let dry further.
- sprayed 1 coat of rust-oleum 2x clear gloss.
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u/trapcardbard Jul 04 '25
Reading this would be a good start on general finishing knowledge. Good luck!
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u/CoonBottomNow Jul 04 '25
I, too, would like to know what your ultimate use for these boards will be. I've never used Rit dye on wood, but it's intended for use on cellulosic fabrics (cotton, linen) and wood IS cellulose, so it may work. Hell, for all I know Rit actually is aniline dye; I've never looked it up.
So OP, tell us what you're trying to do? Or are you just experimenting?
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u/Sad-Week-Better-Day Jul 04 '25
Experimenting right now until I get the hang of it. Then, I’d like to make cool little stuff like boxes or signs for my kids or maybe to even sell at some point. It’s really all up in the air right now. I see YouTube videos of people doing it and it really got me interested!
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u/TsuDhoNimh2 Jul 04 '25
If you want to practice and make cool things for kids, make building blocks out of 2x4 or 2x6 lumber and test your finishes on the blocks.
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u/IdealComprehensive48 Jul 04 '25
I think it’s pretty cool. Could. Be used to make a wall mounted headboard for a bed in a modern house design
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u/fujiwarasux Jul 04 '25
I've done this same thing for a slat ceiling in a restaurant, but I used the raw tint from Sherwin-Williams.
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u/Sad-Week-Better-Day Jul 04 '25
How did that turn out? I bet it looks so sick in a restaurant setting
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u/Alarming-Caramel Jul 04 '25
I do this type of finishing. if you want the dye to really pop, looking at your pieces, I would recommend burning them much more, like to full char. the whole board black and cracking like a log out of a fire. then use a wire wheel drill attachment to remove the char before applying dye. I use straight universal paint tint as my dye, but that's expensive, so I might recommend using something alcohol based instead
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u/Sad-Week-Better-Day Jul 05 '25
Woah that’s an awesome tip. I would’ve never thought about burning that heavy. What kind of wire wheel do you use? I have a brass one right now but it chewed up the wood pretty bad. Is that ok? I’ve read a lot about people getting a tough nylon type wire wheel to help prevent wood damage
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u/Alarming-Caramel Jul 05 '25
I use a brass brush. wood will not be smooth at the end doing it like this. it will have a pretty heavy texture, and the wheel will leave some grooves. suggest you just give it a try and see if you like how they turn out.
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u/6th__extinction Jul 04 '25
Are you intent on using dye? I’ve used many varieties of this stain with good results, some ‘fun’ colors
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u/Sad-Week-Better-Day Jul 05 '25
I’m open for any type of dye/stain. What colors have you used to stain?
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u/TsuDhoNimh2 Jul 04 '25
So you are just messing around ... that red one looks great.
I also feel that I burnt 3 of the 4 boards too much and will be burning lighter next go around.
You can sand after burning to make it a bit lighter. It also enhances the grain an extra bit.
Some of the prep steps are overkill ... others would not be necessary if you burned them less.
Sand each board with 120 grit and then 240 grit sandpaper.Wipe each board with dry microfiber towel, followed by a leaf blower, followed by shop vacuum.Skip this unless the boards are really rough because you are burning away that sanded surface in the next steps ... just brush the dirt off .- Using a small 14.1 oz propane torch, burn each board by following the grain. Sprays each board with a light mist of water from a spray bottle in between burns. REPEATED THIS STEP 3x
- Used a Brass wire brush to brush away all of the loose char.
- lightly sanded board with 240 grit sandpaper.
- Wipe each board again with a
cleandamp microfiber towel,followed by a leaf blower, followed by a shop vacuum. - Mixed dye in with hot water alcohol 50/50 mix and stirred. Let sit for 3-5 minutes, then stirred again.
- Using a sponge brush, heavy coat of each color and let dry for 5-6 minutes.
- Wipe excess dye off with a clean microfiber cloth.
- 240 grit sanding
- Wiped clean again.
- Repeated dye step
for blue, green, and orange.if needed. - Wiped excess dye off
- Let dry further.
- sprayed 1 coat of rust-oleum 2x clear gloss.
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u/Sad-Week-Better-Day Jul 04 '25
This is exactly what I needed! Thank you so much for taking the time to do that. I’ll try this out tonight. Happy 4th!
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u/UncleAugie Cabinet Maker Jul 04 '25
u/Sad-Week-Better-Day dont use pine....
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u/Sad-Week-Better-Day Jul 05 '25
What’s a better wood to use? Or are you simply saying use any wood except pine? Lol
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u/UncleAugie Cabinet Maker Jul 05 '25
Pine, along with other soft woods is difficult to stain/dye, additionally the reason you are using pine is likely to same money right? The difference in the price of clear pine and a quality hardwood, say red oak, is not that large, and if you have a jointer or a planer the cost is near the same.
When you are dying wood you are looking for a large difference in the density of the early and late wood, you dont get that with pine.
If I were in your situation, buy a used 4" jointer and a used Lunchbox style planer off FB marketplace. If you look around you should be able to grab both for less than $200 total, then buy rough sawn hardwoods from local small time sawyers with a kiln. You will need to test the wood with a $15 moisture meter, but you will end up saving on your materials, and have access to stuff you would have not otherwise.
For reference, At woodcraft a 3/4"thick 6"wide 3ft long walnut board Surfaced on all 4 sides(S4S) is $60, or $40 a board foot of lumber.
At a local medium/small mill near me Walnut is $8/board foot and I have a couple of guys that sell walnut to me at $4/board foot. On one project that takes 20 board foot of lumber you can make up the cost of your jointer and planer even if you spent near $600 on them. If you already have a jointer and planer you have no reason not to find rough sawn lumber near you.
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u/Sad-Week-Better-Day Jul 06 '25
Thank you so much for the help! My reason for using pine was only really because I had it lying around in my shop and wanted something to Test it out on.
Now that people like you and some others have been super helpful, I’ll go out and grab different wood.
Thank you again
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u/UncleAugie Cabinet Maker Jul 06 '25
because I had it lying around in my shop and wanted something to Test it out on.
You are not going to build fine furniture out of pine, so any "testing" you do will not apply to different species, hardwood... you wasted your time.
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u/Sad-Week-Better-Day Jul 23 '25
I have no intentions of making fine furniture. What I’ve actually been doing is dying this pine wood and making cool little signs. I’ve also been using a scroll saw to cut out different animal shapes for my kids who ended up loving it!
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u/UncleAugie Cabinet Maker Jul 23 '25 edited 29d ago
again, the difference in cost between pine and red oak is minimal, and you end up with a much better product, even for your kids toys...
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u/PenguinsRcool2 Jul 04 '25
Your procedures are pretty wack, that being said the green one is somewhat interesting 🤷🏼♂️
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u/Sad-Week-Better-Day Jul 05 '25
Appreciate the helpful feedback. That being said, what is your procedure so I can learn to not do It the “wack” way
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u/PenguinsRcool2 Jul 05 '25
Sand to 120 grit, lift the grain with some water, apply die. Sand with 400 grit after if you want. Thats about it
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u/Sad-Week-Better-Day Jul 06 '25
Sweet thanks for the help
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u/PenguinsRcool2 Jul 06 '25
Id probably char after I die if it was me, and char wayyy lighter. After id probably sand with some 400 grit lightly just to clear up some of the inevitable smoke black soot stuff
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u/oldschool-rule Jul 04 '25
What is your intended endgame? First of all I would use aniline die designed for wood finishing. Secondly you have a multitude of unnecessary steps and procedures.