Hi,
There seems to be a consensus “out there” that aniline dyes will do whatever chemical once did. But potassium dichromate is still being used by some to darken Mahogany and the results, based on what I saw, is exactly what I am looking for. I want to bring up more brown tones than red in honduran mahogany for my bedroom dressers.
Anyone has experience with this? What is a good recipe (grams per gallon)? How do you apply it?
I am a chemist by trade and handling chemicals is my day to day job, including safety aspects, so I am good on that front. Based on what I know about wood chemistry (lignin and cellulose based material), I have a hard time to believe that dyes will behave the same as a strong oxydant like PDC. Dyes will go where the water goes, whereas PDC will work on contact and yield a more even color. Thats the theory at least.
Thanks for any inputs.
DL
Replies
Unless applied by spraying, dyes are applied to saturation and turn out giving a even coloration. Potassium dichromate also gives an attractive color and even results. It is likely more light fast as well. With experimentation both K2Cr2O7 and dye can achieve colors that are very close. Of course with dye, if you get it too dark you can lighten it with water (before topcoating of course).
I have experimented with the chemical dye, but in the end decided to go with a schedule based around dyes because it allowed me to achieve a more lively mahogany look, more like that in museum antiques--not really perfectly. The mahogany we see today is relatively light both in density and in color, and is often quite bland. It takes dye and stains evenly so simple applications give a pretty boring look. I seek to create some "blotch" bringing nascent figure out to create color highlights, albeit subtlely. I will typically start with a lemon yellow dye in a moderately light concentration. The result is quite disgusting it remains disgusting after it is sealed with a light coat of shellac (perhaps 1 lb. cut) This doesn't completely seal the mahogany but does do a relatively more thorough job on the denser portions. I then apply a second dye coat this time with something like a brown mahogany dye color. The shellac seal preserves some of the denser portions as golden highlights. This may be a bit over the top but is then tamed with either a pigmented stain or pore filler. The degree of "taming" depends on how well I seal the second dye coat. A relatively full sealing with something like 2 lb. cut shellac will leave more highlights than a less thorough wash coat of perhaps 1 lb. cut.
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