Replies

1. 
   LeeGrinding1 | Jan 16, 2003 11:34pm | #1

   It sounds like aniline dye mixed with either straight alcohol or mixed with shellac. Shellac is alcohol based so it would work as a glazing/finish mixed this way. If it builds a film it has shellac.

   Apply it anyway you want. Wipe it on for a very thin application. If it contains shellac brush it on for a thicker film or glaze.

   Lee

   Lee Grindinger

   Furniture Carver

1. 
   BoJones2 | Jan 17, 2003 08:37pm | #3

   Lee,

   The stain leaves a semi gloss finish simular to the finish I've noticed from uncut shellac so I would say you are right on the money.

   Thanks a ton for your help!

   Bo

   PS Im real glad I don't have to spray it. Not equiped, yet.

2. 
   booch | Jan 17, 2003 12:21am | #2

   If it is analine (sp?) dye it is an alcohol based color that goes on wonderfully deep and thorough. It generally is available in powder form for your own special mixing pleasure

   Downside is it stains your skin for weeks AND it leaves a mean lap mark on your work.

   Rubber gloves solves the first.

   The second is solved by slobbering it on small pieces quickly or using the Watercolor trick (I had to use this with 2'x3' leather I was dying for a desktop). The watercolor trick is a "wash" Before you put down the stain on the wood (or any other material)

   The wash is just clear alcohol that wets the surface and allows the color to flow rather than cause overLAP marks as applied. The clear alcohol base saturates the surface and allows you to apply the concentrated stain you now have so it runs smoothly.

   For an example look at a watercolor picture. Sky and the deep background is generally done this way. There they paint the sky with water (no paint), and then a brush with sky blue is touched to the wet paper in a flourish. That thin line bleeds or runs the color throughout the wetted area. Color does localize but, in general, it uniformly disperses.

   To continue with the watercolor description, the foreground (say a ships mast) is brush painted. Here the paper is dry and the brush is loaded with paint for point of use application.

   Yes this is a bit artsy but the alternative is having you swim in the dye as you slobber it on a breakfront. In my application on leather I had some person at Tandy show me how to "rub" it on with concentrate and a sponge block. Yuck! her result looked like an accident rather than a toned surface.

   If nothing else this will make you appreciate the nuances of watercolor painting. My old Art teacher "Wolfgang" used to spend his summers in northern michigan cranking out beautiful pictures in 1/2 hour of pop & flourish then sell them for a couple hundred. It is an art.

   Last thought before you wash the surface with alcohol. This isn't like spilling a beer on the kitchen floor, the smell is pretty strong I advise getting anywhere that is ventilated. It dissapates quickly if there is enough venting. (that is why the grain doesn't raise)

   Jack of all trades and master of none - you got a problem with that?