Using Clothes dye as a dye (or is it stain?)?!? - created 12-15-2003

Giavelli, Michael - 12/15/2003.01:37:08
Future Maker of Monsters

I heard about this from a friend of mine. I'm not sure if this is true, or even possible. I'm still relatively new to wood-working, so I'm not totally aware of what's feesable and what's fantasy. Any feedback would result in a happy and more enlightened rookie.

Hi Michael, and welcome to the MIMForum. There is often talk here about using clothing dyes or natural dyes/stains on wood, and as a group we recommend against it. There is no documented history on how well they hold up over time, and you wouldn't want your lovely turquoise guitar to fade to a sickly puke-green after five or 10 years. Stick to dyes and stains that are designed to be lightfast on wood. This is not a good place to try and save money.

I have used clothes dyes for pressure dying wood many times and you need to understand that some artificial dyes can be quite fugitive if exposed to a lot of light. The brighter colors tend to be more fugitive and difficult to get right. Red, bright greens and blues, etc. Some natural dyes are very lightfast but are usually available in mostly earthtone colors. Black fabric dye is quite safe. You also have to figure that a guitar is usually not exposed to direct sunlight(UV is the culprit)and even a dye that is not the best may be just fine for the life of the instrument.

An item need not be set out in the sun in order for the dye to revert. Simply being in a natraully lit room is enough. In other words, if there's a window in the room, it'll revert.

And since most people set their instrument on a stand or hang it on the wall the same way each time, the fading will be more pronounced on one side than the other.

Real dyes aren't expensive. Why mess with this?

By all means, use the good stuff.

Thanks for the advice! 'Tis much appreciated.

What are the real dyes, the good stuff? I have been using aniline dyes from Lee Valley which work fairly well. They will soak all the way through a piece of veneer in about a week. Apparently the powder is a dangerous carcinogen if you breathe it. Will they hold their colour when exposed to uv?

The good ones that are more lightfast are metalized dyes that are soluble in alcohol. It depends on what you are tying to do, where it will be used, how strong the dilution and other things. If you are trying to stain a wood into a bright color or if you are just trying to obtain a little shading of the natural wood. In some cases pigments are used in stains, pigments can be extremely lightfast. But since there are particals the pigments work best for a background stain and then use a dye stain for the foreground grain.

Better yet do your own test; color some wood samples with various stains or dyes and then throw them outside in the sun for a couple months, then compare them with control samples. Ask Lee Valley if they have metalized dyes.