How to finish food coloring dyed pen

[Petricore]

I have gotten some good food coloring and finished my curly maple with it. It will dry 99% so almost no color comes off of the pen, but for some reason I just cant get the pen finished. When I try CA finish (thin or thick) and with ludicrous amounts of glue, whenever I start sanding it I get blue coming out of the finish. I make sure to take all the finish off of the bushings to make sure it isnt bleeding off of there, and for some reason I just cant get it. If I finish it all the way down with my sandpaper I get the glossy look I want, but hold the finished barrel with a paper cloth and it gets blue rubbing off of it.
help !

 

[loglugger]

I would try to seal the pen with wax free shellac from a spray can and see if that would seal in the color. I have never tryed it with food coloring.
Bob

 

[fernhills]

Hi,when i dye a pen i use anniline dye. I never sand once the color is on because the dye comes off like you said.However,what i do is smooth it out with brown paper bag.You get the dust nibs out and it gets it smooth and very little,if any comes off..Doing it that way gives you the rich darker color you start out with.. Carl

 

[Dan_F]

You might want to check on the permanence (lightfastness) of food dyes, which I would assume is probably not very good, though I could be wrong. That wouldn't have anything to do with your sanding issue, but your nice blue pen may look very different after a while.

Dan

 

[Petricore]

Let me clarify, I am sanding AFTER the CA finish is on. I know sanding straight on the dye would be bad

 

[fernhills]

Hi, then i would try another type of dye,they sell anniline dye at Wood Craft under another name,i think its called Trans Tint something or other. Dye never came off after CA was applied..Carl

 

[JohnU]

Ive had good luck using rit dye disolved in denatured alcohol which I think gets better wood penetration. After it dries, I use tripple EEE to take the surface dye off and give the wood a shine. It makes maple look transparent with the dye deep in the wood. Then I seal and finish like any other wood.

 

[jrc]

Food dye works great on food why not use a dye made for wood. You should not have any trouble finishing it.

 

[scotirish]

For the fun of it I turned a pen and dyed it with food dye because the color's were closer than any I found in regular dye for wood. I used Poplar for the pen, two coats of dye allowing time to dry between coats. Finished with a lite sanding with mm 12000 and then used "Hut Crystal Coat". Applied two coats and polished with cotton cloth at high speed for heat. So far no fading, no color coming off. Perhaps since I used a porous wood the color stick's. Thats my story and I am sticking to it!

 

[Chasper]

For food dye I sand to 600 grit, then apply the dye, then apply the CA. I give each coat of CA an extra few seconds of buffing with an unused section of the paper towel as a accelerator to get it dry. I do not use liquid accelerator because it often dries the CA into micro beads which require going back to about 320 grit to smooth out again, and in the process I sand through the dye.

After I get 4-5 coats of CA (thin only for me) on and dried, I MM all the way up. Buff on a coat of wax and it is finished.

 

[ahoiberg]

i think what happens is the CA is dissolving a little of the surface dye when you apply it and subsequently putting some on the surface of the finish. does it actually detract from the finish? i would assume that having a slight tint to the CA is OK. can you finish the process without it looking too bad or does it look cruddy when you're done polishing the CA?

 

[jimmyers]

I just made my first perfume pen (from the big WC group buy) and used some powdered dye also from WC.

The dye did not come off with the Blo/CA finish.

 

[Petricore]

Thanks for the tips.
Chasper, I will try that technique out now.
Ahoiberg, my finishes looked AWESOME, but they were leaking the blue through the finish.

 

[MichaelS]

I think Carl has it. Food dye is dissolved by the ca and deposited on the surface. Food dye is not meant for wood! Wood Craft sells Anniline dyes that can be mixed to obtain the color you want. Try it on a sample first. A neighbor runs the service department for a local furniture store and mixes all his dies using the above from Wood Craft.

 

[loglugger]

CA will dissolve some anniline dyes a little and turn some reds to yellow, will show a little color on the CA rage as you are putting CA on the pen.
Bob

 

[el_d]

I sand thru 400 then go to the kitchen and grab my wifes food coloring, I believe its the McCormack brand. Has to be the liquid and not the gel(makes a really big mess). wipe on the color with a paper towel and let it dry. After dry Ill use thin 3 coats thin CA and sand very lightly with the last 5 higher grit(cant remember the grits) MM and thin CA between grits.
Hope this help some.