Comments on: I Was Dyeing To Try This…

By: brian d

brian d — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 22:30:46 +0000

I’ve used rose petals for a pink stain on maple.I’ve always wanted to try fallen leaves.They always manage to stain my concrete if i don’t get them cleaned up.

Of course there is always industrial strength ammonia to pickel oak.It stinks even outside but has fantasic results.

By: Tom Mulcahy

Tom Mulcahy — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:32:43 +0000

When I was a kid we used to husk walnuts from my Grandparents black walnut trees. We’d gather,put walnuts thru this walnut husker,
(which looked like an old time meat grinder),then spread the nuts out on a 2×4 frame with a screened bottom. Of course we didn’t wear gloves and our hands stayed a brownish-black for about 2 weeks. Later Gramps told us they used to make stain from these husks. He thought it was funny, Mom didn’t. Never tried it but I’ll bet it worked great………….

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:25:18 +0000

Oooh! More stuff to try!

By: tms

tms — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:21:20 +0000

Hey Tom,

Some of my favorite homemade stains are, iron water (for oak or walnut), lye or washing soda (for cherry), and tobacco tea (works well on curly maple).

Tom

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:29:46 +0000

Wow, I hadn’t thought about doing that.

Remember, I was working with birch ply, so I’m sure the glues will affect it…

By: Shopmonger

Shopmonger — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:52:01 +0000

Tom, can you tell us about the depth of penetration…..
Like cut the boards and show us the end grain..

I am always curious abut using dyes and stains in inlays then being able to sand them, or at least use a scraper to smooth out the transition.

ShopMonger