LMII anyline dyes

[Phil Mailloux]

The LMII website doesn't offer much information about their alcohol based dyes besides the fact that 1/2 an ounce will make 1 to 2 quarts of solution.

That's fine but I have no idea whatsoever what those measurements are.

I thought I worked it out and tried mixing 5 grams of dye into 100ml of denatured alcohol but after shaking it up like hell and letting it sit for 45 minutes, I still get a hell of a lot of deposit at the bottom of the jars (5 different colors mixed in 5 jars).

Ok, so I tried dyeing a piece of scrap maple with a rag, I tried the red, amber and yellow colors on different spots. I can barely see what I dyed, it just looks like dirty/lightly shaded colors. At this rate I would assume I would have to do 10-20 layers of dye before I get a proper dyed color.

Is this normal?

Anybody got experience with LMII alcohol based dyes and want to share some tips?

Anybody knows what the proper mixing ratio is in metric ?

[Scott Rosenberger]

I mix all of my dyes very strong except for the black. I't all really comes down to trial and error as far as I'm concerned

[Phil Mailloux]

what's very strong?

Could you tell me how much dye to alcohol ratio?

[Scott Rosenberger]

I have no idea. I just keep putting it and testing it until I get the strength I want

[Drak]

I have had the same problem with alcohol-based powders before.

That's why I always use Solar Lux alcohol based anilyne dyes now.

They're already in liquid form. If you read the directions carefully, I wouldn't be surprised if it states somewhere in there to also add water along with the alcohol for your powders.

Solar Lux dyes rule.

I still mix my water based powders w/ water, but not the alcohol based ones, I got tired of experiencing exactly what your experiencing. And when you're putting them in a gun to shoot, you can't have any of those particles, they'll block the tip of the nozzle, so I stopped using them, and my water-based dyes don't do that.

Use Solar Lux and be happy.

[Morben Guitars]

Phil,

I use Transtint Alcohol powdered dyes. I'm sure they are similiar to the LMII dyes. I typically use a Mason Jar to mix the power into, and have found that 1/4 of the small bottle of powder is necessary. I fill the jar 3/4 of the way full. After I mix it in, I need to let it sit overnight to properly dissolve. Then I strain it through a cheep paper paint strainer to remove any small particles.

In my experience, I don't like the look of dying the wood directly. Wood can absorb the dye differently on different spots - leading to a "patchey" finish. I have found the best results come from first sealing the guitar with a sanding sealer - sanding flat - then applying the dye to the sealer. Goes on very smooth and evenly. I put a tutorial up a few weeks ago detailing this process for a sunburst guitar. Hope that helps!

-Ben

[rsera]

1 to 2 quarts = 1 to 2 liters

[GuitarMaestro]

1 to 2 quarts = 1 to 2 liters

Nonsense

[Devon Headen]

1 to 2 quarts = 1 to 2 liters

Nonsense

"1 liters = 1.0566882 US quarts"

--Google

[Little Bit]

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