Dyed Ash 5072

Nice dye job on this vase and the previous one Bruce. Did you prep the wood with sealer prior to the dye? If not, was there any special prep? I'm asking because it looks like you got a real uniform dye coat across the entire piece. Looks great!

No sealer prior to the dye(water soluble aniline dye). What I usually do is to sand the piece to 320 and then apply a coat of black (or dark) dye inside and out. After drying overnight I sand off most of the black,continuing on to 400,600 and then burnish with a piece of a brown paper bag. This pre-treatment makes sure the grain pattern will stand out after another dye coat is added on top. Then I put on the top coat of colour(sometimes two coats of different colours). After drying overnight, I very gently sand (lathe off)a bit with 600 grit to even out the colour if necessary, and burnish with brown paper again. As a final step and preview of what it will look like after applying the lacquer finish, I wet it by rubbing with mineral spirits on a paper towel. I think this blends the dye a bit more. And if you don't like what you see, you can always get out the bleach and start again.