Black Dye Ain't Black Enough!?

[borge]

So i bought some Briwax spirit based black dye with the intention of doing a uniform black finish with little of the grain showing through, much like this:

David Myka's black shellaced singlecut

(is it alright to hotlink to mykaguitars?)

No, it isn't.

i had planed on: dye 2-3 coats> build up finish with teak oil, sanding later coats to grain fill. or maybe grain fill before dyeing depending on scrap tests.

but the dye isn't at all uniform or even very black, it comes out quite brownish and slightly patchy, successive coats don't change that much.

i read in this thread that waterbased dye produced a uniform black finish.

would i be better off getting waterbased dye?

or could i get some shellac and add my spirit based dye to it to go for the effect myka got?

or is there something i can do with what I've got already? like add dye to the teak oil maybe?

Edited September 14, 2008 by Setch

[GGW]

India Ink is very black and easy to use; just protect you hands. It may actually bee too black for your taste so experiement and maybe thin it. I used it on ash, trying to get the effect you're after, but it was so dark that you need to look twice to see the grain.

Link

[Rick500]

I made a few truss rod covers that look exactly like ebony, out of maple dyed with india ink. Works pretty well.

[Mattia]

Have you tried clearcoating scraps of the stained wood? The straight stain won't look much like the finished product. Test the full process.

[borge]

Yeah, the tests i did were were oiled 3 coats over top, it did improve it somewhat, but not enough, at certain angles it looked great but others not so great.

I'll give India ink a try.

Thanks.

[marksound]

Black Shellac . . . wasn't he the president of France? Never mind . . .

[fryovanni]

If you want the finish David achieved, why not ask him what he used. He is a very nice guy and I am sure he would be happy to tell you.

Go right to the source, takes the guess work out of figuring these things out.

Rich

[marksound]

If you want the finish David achieved, why not ask him what he used. He is a very nice guy and I am sure he would be happy to tell you.

Go right to the source, takes the guess work out of figuring these things out.

Rich

At one time there was a thread about that guitar, and here it is!

[borge]

thanks marksound! he sure knows his stuff.

If you want the finish David achieved, why not ask him what he used. He is a very nice guy and I am sure he would be happy to tell you.

Go right to the source, takes the guess work out of figuring these things out.

Rich

well I knew it was shellac from his website its also open pored and looked thin, all of which I didnt want, I assumed I could get a similar finish with dye and oil