Rit Dye Wood Finishing Tutorial

[chithead]

Well hello fellow junkies!!! Chit here, with another installment of, crazy fab ideas that involved way too much time thinking about, and way too little time actually doing. Just kidding. This technique does take a bit of time invesment, but not as much as you would think. Depends of course on the final finishing you want, whether it be a high gloss, very smooth, distressed, etc.

Wood is a very beautiful product to use, but unfortunately, doesn't really fit with the majority of modern automobiles. With a bit of creativity however, you might could integrate it into a future build, or even projects around the house.

Rit Dye is available in an expanded rainbow of colors, and is quite cheap compared to a lot of powdered dyes. They also have a ready mixed liquid variant, but I find them to be a bit strong. You might like the bold color, but I typically dilute the ready mix liquids. Which is another cool thing about the dye. Color too bright, add more water. Hot water though. You can literally achieve thousands of colors with either a bit more hot water into the mix, or just applying another coat.

I try to catch them on sale, or closeouts when grocery or craft stores are clearing them out:



Here is a quick project I completed last night. Seriously, took an hour from start to finish to accomplish this. Found an arrow sign at a local craft store for $2, decided to do something interesting with it.



I knew this needed to be a very faded blue. Royal blue would have been much too bright, as referenced here:



By diluting it though, you can achieve that color. Using one part Royal Blue, to about 8 parts Hot water:



If your project is smooth enough from sanding already, you can get away with a paper towel, but, I do prefer rags or foam brushes if not. After a single coat, you can see the blue starting to soak in:




I start at one end, and try to go completely across in smooth motions without stopping, or letting too much puddle in one spot. The ends work best if you, "dab" the rag or brush, because of the grain there. After three light coats, you get this:



Notice the lifted grain, that is from the moisture. A quick sanding takes care of that. Using 180 grit, it should look similar to this:



From here, you can apply more coats, and sand if needed again using a finer grain sandpaper. This was to be a distressed look however, so I left it as is. Using a black marker, I added some text:



Then outlined with a fine tip grey marker. Sanded the whole piece again with 1500 grit, and it's all done:

[chithead]

If you want a nicer finish, this is a subwoofer enclosure using birch, that I applied Scarlet Red, then about five coats of Polycrylic. Wet sanded with 400 grit, then applied a sixth coat. Waxed that, and this was the final finish:

[chithead]

You'll read this a lot with finishing, but I'll stress again. ALWAYS try it on a scrap piece if possible. Case in point, this is Denim Blue:





You'll notice there is hints of blue jean color, but mostly, it's a brownish purple. Looked great on this piece of pallet wood as a wall hanging, but if you were hoping to build a nice speaker enclosure out of it, then you better like brownish purple and not stonewashed blue.

[Glenn]

Great tutorial Daniel, testing on scrap is indeed important. Different woods contain different natural chemical and compounds such as tannin which will change the color.

Thanks!

[chithead]

Thank you for the inspiration to step outside the box and try it, and also for the Scarlet Red recommendation

[chithead]

Finished up a quick project. Just trying out some different colors and dilutions:

[papacueball]

Nice job, chit!

[chithead]

Here is another mini tutorial -

Started with some $2 boxes from a craft store. Presanded with 220 grit to knock off some of the burrs and grain:



After mixing up Kelly Green, Scarlet Red, and Cherry Red, used one packet of powder to one cup of hot water. Lightly applied with a foam brush:



After completely drying, resanded with 320 grit to get some of that raised grain from the moisture:



Then applied another light coat with the foam brush:



Ended up doing three coats of the red colors, and four coats of the green. Only applied after each coat completely dried. Then, applied Tung Oil over the stain. Glenn had suggested it for another project, and I always wondered how it would affect the colors. The first coat of Tung Oil didn't do a whole lot, but this is the second coat applied:

[chithead]

And, this is where less than desirable results occurred. I read online, that a guy recommended waiting five minutes, and then applying the next coat, BUT - it was a different brand of Tung Oil. One that contained almost 80% varnish. What I used, did not. And oh yeah. There was some bubbles with the third coat on top of the second coat after waiting only five minutes.

There is a cure however! With a spray bottle of water, and 400 grit sandpaper, this was the final result:



Since these will contain USB flash drives with pictures from our son this year (they are Christmas gifts to the grandparents in our family), I printed and cut out a little phrase that seemed appropriate.

This is Kelly Green (four light coats):



Scarlet Red (three light coats):



Cherry Red (three light coats):

[cadaver]

you know what? You have some God-given talent,friend. good work.