Has anyone out there tried to use the leftover toner from a color laser printer as wood dye? I just changed a few cartridges and in the instructions it says to wash with water if you get it on your clothes or skin. The google came up with alcohol blotting as a first step. ..so maybe??
The toner fixes to the paper with heat in the printer, any of you chemical techies know how that works?
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I'm not a chemical techie but a lot of dyes available are powders you mix in with a matrix solution of some sort. Might work. Test it on scrap wood and see what happens.
Yes, test. Of course. Does anyone have any experience with laser toner as a wood dye or know if the heat-reactive elements of laser toner would be an issue for glue, finishing, etc.
I don't think this will work because of how the toner is applied to the paper. It uses an electrostatic drum to produce the image and apply it to the paper, but it then uses heat to melt the toner. Toner is essentially a very fine powder thermoset plastic. It doesn't dye the paper, but is melted to it. The powder is typically in the 8-10 micron size.
A gentleman in the woodworking club I belong to uses printer ink, not toner. I have seen his work, it's good woodworking. I have not tried it, but sounds reasonable. Experiment.
I've never tried it but, as Melvang said, because it is a powdered plastic, I have doubts that will work unless you find that it will dissolve in a solvent of some sort.
I have also tried to use printer ink and, as a stain, it initially works well. However, it seriously fades in light. I did a test board using commercial stain and printer ink covering both with the same number of coats of poly. I then covered an area of commercial stain and likewise an area of printer ink to protect them from light and left the rest exposed. I then placed the test piece in a place of regular exposure to sunlight. After 11 months of exposure, the ink stain was severely faded; color probably 75% gone. The exposed area of commercial stain was only slightly faded. Not a real scientific test but, telling none the less.
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