Dyeing wood for inlays?

[bob_s]

I want to do some inlays of artwork created by a friends children. I plan to create the parts from a thin veneer that I dyed in the bright colors of the illustration. The choices seem to be W.D. Lockwood, Mixol.or Transtint. Does anyone have any experience getting bright colors with any of these products? I know I am going to have to be careful about sanding off too much of the dyed thickness of the wood after it is inlayed, but I think I can get past that hurdle. I am planning to use a light maple of birch veneer for the dyed parts. These are small parts cut with a 1/16 or 3/64 bit. Any suggestions are appreciated.
thanks
Bob

[henrik_o]

Not sure about the products in America, but Swedish tests have shown that if you don't have specialist equipment (thermo or vacuum dye) the best products are the ethanol ones.

Also note that you can burn the veneers using the traditional decopeur hot sand technique. It is hard to do consistent burns over a whole surface, but with some experimentation one can achieve very pleasant shadowing effects relatively easily.

[dlcw]

Bob,

I've done a lot of marquetry over the years and dying veneers to make colored veneer is easy, but time consuming. The important part is to make sure the veneer is dyed all the way through.

The approach:

Get a flat pan about 2" deep - the kind they use for food service at cafeterias - and a lid for the pan. You will also need a low heat source to heat up the dye mixture. Add water and your dye color of choice to the pan. I use water soluble dyes because it takes two or three days of this process to get it to work and alcohol based dyes will evaporate before the wood has time to soak it up. Place your pieces of veneer in the pan, in the colored water over the low heat source and let it sit for 24 hours. Take it out and lay it flat between sheets of newsprint to dry it out. Newspaper can transfer ink so don't use that. Packing news print from places like Three Men and A Truck work great. Once dry, repeat the process. To get a 1/32" piece of veneer thoroughly colored takes 2 to 3 of these cycles. Once done, you have a piece of veneer that is the color you want all the way through. You can sand it and still have the color wood you want.

I've never done this on thicker pieces of material - other then ebonizing maple. That's a couple day process of soaking the maple in black dye and recoating it every three or four hours with another coat. After a couple of days you have a really black piece of maple with a little sanding capability - not much through.

Hope this helps.

Don
www.diamondlakewoodworks.com

[bob_s]

Don;
Thanks for the info - I'll give it a try with some veneer next week.
Bob

[Gary Campbell]

Bob...
have you checked with Herzog Veneers? I have purchased dyed veneers from them in the past. Dont know if they have the species or colors that you need, but they are a great veneer source.
Gary

[3imoh]

I can't add much to the dyeing thread, but thanks to Heinrik for the post about the hot sand technique! I am out of town visiting my wife's family for the holiday...I know next to nothing about veneer and have been racking my brain trying to figure out how the veneer of this dining room table was done. It is has a radiating sun pattern with all of the "rays" being the same type of veneer. They must have used this technique to slightly darken the edge on each piece to give just enough contrast. I am sure someone who was familiar with it would have known right away, but I didn't and I am certainly thankful for this all-knowing forum!

-Howie

[ron brown]

I've dyed a lot of wood using Ritz fabric dye dissolved in wood alcohol. I would think vacuum pulsing the material would force the dye into the cellulose.

Ron.