Woodchipper
Member
I have a bottle of the blue dye. What woods take it best? Worst to dye? Thanks. Don't want to waste wood and time dyeing something that would look like a disaster.
Transtint dye and wood
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Sly Dog
Member
I have limited experience with TT dyes but I made a blue and orange pen using TT dyes on maple - which does not always take stain evenly - cutting the dye about 50/50 with DNA and applying several coats to blend and darken until I was happy. There is a guy on YouTube - Paul Smith - that demonstrates the application of blue and black on a pen which I found helpful when I dyed this pen. I've attached a pic. Disaster? Well, maybe. 
. But I thought the blue part turned out well. Have fun! Russ
. But I thought the blue part turned out well. Have fun! Russ
Woodchipper
Member
Never thought of blending. My complements. What is the pen kit? Unique. I realize that grain would dictate the absorption of the dye so there wouldn't be consistency on the blank. Only way to get even colors is with solid acrylic or other synthetic materials.
Sly Dog
Member
The kit is a Zen gold. Yeah, how much you want to see or hide the grain is another consideration, and you can vary the dye solution as you wish. I once dyed an Asian Satinwood blank with pure TT black (no dilution) just to see what it would look like (the pen had already gone wrong in a number of ways). The dye hid the most attractive features of the wood - those little eyes - somewhat inconsistently, but I will say it was black alright. That was indeed a disaster!
Woodchipper
Member
FWIW, I did a maple blank with a Sharpie as an experiment. Looked like crap! I soaked a coffee filter with DNA and tried to wipe it off. Looked good, IMHO. Photo attached. Did another yesterday and the colors were different due to grain density of the two parts for a Slimline.
danhoke
Member
I've tried the Trans Tint dye once and used it full strength on curly maple. I was pleased with the results.
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Woodchipper
Member
I like it. Experimenting- either it will work or it won't work. To me that is the fun and challenge of pen turning.
Woodchipper
Member
Sly Dog, got some others in the works or on the drawing board. Looking at a couple of other colors. Will experiment before I commit to drilling and inserting the tubes. Will take photos for the forum.
Sly Dog
Member
Charlie_W
Member
The December 2019 issue of the AAW American Woodturner has an article about airbrushing and discusses dyes. The author says he prefers maple, cherry, walnut, ash, and redwood as they bleach well. He will bleach a piece up to five times to remove as much color as possible from the wood before dye is applied. He also states using an airbrush works well for applying dye as you can control how much/little is applied to different areas of the wood since end grain, side grain and face grain will all take the dye differently.
Bleaching to remove color helps prevent the natural wood color from influencing the final outcome with dye.
Hope this helps!
Bleaching to remove color helps prevent the natural wood color from influencing the final outcome with dye.
Hope this helps!
Woodchipper
Member
Yes, that is an excellent article! Need to fire up the air brush. IMHO, one of the best issues for me as it addresses a lot of things related to turning and finishing.