I am trying to duplicate the ammonia fumed look with the combo of dyes/stains on QS white oak. The problem I am having is that the dye will not get into the open grain (too much surface tension I guess). The result is the board is dyed with thin streaks of undyed grain. Stain fills them mostly, but not enough. How do you make sure the dye gets to all of the wood?
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A drop (really just one drop) of dawn dish washing soap can sometimes kill enough surface tension to help with the dye penetration. But often you do need to use stain to fill the pores with color. I would seal the dyed wood with a light coat of shellac, and then use a pigment only stain to fill pores. I mix my own, with artists oil paint providing the pigment, and a bit of varnish providing the binder. Thin with mineral spirits to a workable consistency. A good gel stain might work as well. YOu don't want stains from the big boxes, like Minwax. These often have a dye component that interfers with background color, and the cheap stains tend to have coursely ground pigment that don't cover very well. To match ammonia fuming results you want to experiment with the pigment colors so it is virtually an exact match to the dye.
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