I've made some hollow forms which I dye black with India Ink, and then sand it back to accentuate the grain lines. I'd like to try to do the same with black leather dye, as I've read about people using it to ebonize their pieces. My question is, will the leather dye sand back and leave the grain lines accentuated, the same as my experience with India Ink? Thanks.
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Fiebings Leather Dye
- Thread starter Ed Weingarden
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- Apr 27, 2004
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In general Probably not. It will also vary with species. Doug fir or Ash you would likely see the hard part of the grain line after sanding. Because the dye won’t penetrate as deep.
It’s been a long time since I used India ink. I think the ink does not penetrated as deep as the leather dye.
The leather dye is going about a 1/16 inch deep. Unless the wood is porous enough to let it bleed through to the inside.
I have used leather dye on hfs it can bleed through to 3/16 thick camphor when I’m ebonizing the whole piece.
I tried airbrushing leather dyes over resists. It wicks under the resists. Here is a failed experiment on a old demo piece that I tried you can see the dye on the ends of the kokopeli head dress.
here is a ball sanded, sandblasted, and leather dyed. The dye is a bit shiny on the sanded surface giving s black on black effect
It’s been a long time since I used India ink. I think the ink does not penetrated as deep as the leather dye.
The leather dye is going about a 1/16 inch deep. Unless the wood is porous enough to let it bleed through to the inside.
I have used leather dye on hfs it can bleed through to 3/16 thick camphor when I’m ebonizing the whole piece.
I tried airbrushing leather dyes over resists. It wicks under the resists. Here is a failed experiment on a old demo piece that I tried you can see the dye on the ends of the kokopeli head dress.
here is a ball sanded, sandblasted, and leather dyed. The dye is a bit shiny on the sanded surface giving s black on black effect
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I use General Finishes Dye stain when I want to lay down a dark layer in the figured grain. It's water based and sands back nicely.
hockenbery - nice pieces! The wood I want to try it on is Ash. However, if the consensus is that the dye penetrates too deep to be sanded back without taking 1/16" off, I'll probably stick with the India Ink. I'll try it on a piece of Ash I haven't turned yet to see how it sands out.
john lucas
AAW Forum Expert
Yes feibings leather dye goes in pretty deep. I have colored the inside of thin vessels.and had it bleed all the way through. Not good.
Thank you John.
Has anyone learned of a way to ...limit the penetration of the leather dyes?
How deep a dye penetrates is carrier dependent, evaporation rate and viscosity. A thicker, fast evaporating carrier wont goes as deep. I suspect a heavier shellac, 2-3# cut, applied in a controlled manner, will limit penetration. Im not sure what the binders and carriers are for leather dye, but easy enough to test adding some to shellac. Solvent lacquer would limit penetration as well.
Thanks for the input Doug. BTW...I watched the OSU/Texas Tech game - always a good rivalry between "cow colleges"
. I went to Texas A&M - another cow college
. I went to Texas A&M - another cow college