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Question On Finishing With Dyes On Figured Wood


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Todd,

No, I didn't finish sand or buff the nitro.. But it's pretty smooth after spraying. I can see clearly through it. Finish sanding and buffing would help make the overall finish look better but for a test I don't think it makes much difference.

I didn't try sanding after the blue. I have some 600 grit, I'll lightly go over it to smooth it out.

I can certainly tint the clear, I thought that would just make it more muddy. A couple of coats with the blue then more with clear?

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try them when I get out of work tonight.

-John

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I don't think you want to add more color to the piece you already tried, I think you'll need to start with a new piece of scrap wood.

Let's see what Rich or one of the more experienced guys say before I have you going down a useless path. I'm learning from your question too and will be doing this in a couple of weeks when I get back to NC, but with just a light honey amber color.

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Dyes always make the grain look dull and dead; it livens up a little more once you clearcoat it, but....if you want that really shimmering 3D look in real life, I find a light tinted clear works better than dye. Dye 'locks' the light and dark end-grain areas into a pattern more strongly than clearcoat seems to. An analogy I read somewhere is the loverly shimmering blue seas you see in the tropics; the background (sand) is white, the water clear, and reflecting the sky (ie, bit of color imparted to the translucent clear). Rather than painting the bottom green/blue with a clearcoat on top.

Try both ways, see which works best. I sometimes like one, sometimes another, as direct stain methods will give you a far more striking, impressive, complex look than 'just' applying tinted clearcoats, but it is a little less subtle and chatoyance-y (3-D ish).

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Mattia,

Are you using aniline type dyes or stains? I noticed you used both terms.

Thanks,

Todd

Sorry, bit sloppy that way at times. I've used (incidentally) water and alcohol soluble powdered anilines, these days I pretty much exclusively use TransTint (OK, so it says ColorTone, but that's because StewMac's the only one who will ship the stuff internationally for a reasonable price).

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