How To Do A Black Dye Finish?

[sofison]

Hi guys

Does anybody knows how to achieve a finish like this one?

This is a swamp (maybe) ash bass body

[Prostheta]

There are plenty of methods. One is to rub a dark grain filler into Ash and subsequently scuff sand it a little which will leave the least black on/in the wood. The next is to use a black liquid dye all over the wood and again to sand the surface. The areas where the dye takes more (such as the softer grain and pores) than others will stay darker. This is pretty much done more to figured woods as the dye absorbs more readily into the areas where the grain is at an angle to the face of the wood.

For Ash it is also possible to rag the wood with a coarse Scotchbrite pad or to sandblast it which has the result of pulling out or abrading the softer grain and leaving a defined texture of harder grain. This helps emphasise the previously mentioned techniques. It is a good idea not to use steel wool for this as the grain ends up stuffed full of steel debris which is a pig to try and remove.

Many more subtractive (add finish, take some away) methods exist so getting an idea on the different ways of how they work and why might help you invent the ideal method for your own experience, available materials, etc. Not everyone has access to a sandblaster.

[sofison]

Thank a lot Prostheta

Anyway what plan do you suggest?

Mine is:

1) Seal the wood - sand (i think it's better to seal the wood in case something goes wrong)

2) Stain black with aerosol - sand

3) Stain it again till I get the right color

4) Finish it with Warwick wax.

My problem here is that I don't know If nitrocellulose and warwick wax are compatible each other

[Prostheta]

I would wait until somebody else chimes in with specific advice. I tried one of these finishes on some scrap Ash myself and found it very hit and miss. For what it is worth, practicing on scrap is the best way of getting what you want otherwise it is a guessing game.

Wax is generally used on oil finished instruments. This isn't to say you can't achieve this whilst finishing with oil and conditioning with wax. I doubt nitro would touch a waxed surface, but then again I don't use nitro and don't plan to so it isn't really in my sphere of experience other than as anecdotal information. If you have these things readily available, try it out on scrap in lieu of direct advice on what to do (or not).

[RestorationAD]

Use a dark wax on porous woods that have oil finishes or you will fill all the pores with white/light colored wax and it will not come out.