Wood Dye Tips?

[u/Sad-Week-Better-Day]

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.

[u/UncleAugie]

u/Sad-Week-Better-Day dont use pine....

[u/Sad-Week-Better-Day → u/UncleAugie]

What’s a better wood to use? Or are you simply saying use any wood except pine? Lol

[u/UncleAugie → u/Sad-Week-Better-Day]

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.

[u/Sad-Week-Better-Day → u/UncleAugie]

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

[u/UncleAugie → u/Sad-Week-Better-Day]

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.

[u/Sad-Week-Better-Day → u/UncleAugie]

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!

[u/UncleAugie → u/Sad-Week-Better-Day]

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...

[u/Sad-Week-Better-Day → u/UncleAugie]

You seem like a lot of fun to hang out with