Wood Dye - Aniline Dye 5 Color Kit - Wood Stain Powder

Great product, although make sure to watch youtube vids to get an idea of how the application differs from stain. I prefer the liquid, it is a bit "cleaner?" looking, its hard to describe, but the price difference means ill stick to powder for everything but blue/red, since i make use of them the most, and tend to just add yellow, brown, or black to adjust the hue. Works good on white pine, aspen, hickory, poplar, cedar, hard maple, and mahogany, although ive mainly used it on pine, poplar, and aspen so far with excellent results. Works the best with aspen and hard maple in my opinion. I will be trying red oak at some point soon. Play around with the mix ratio in small batches, you can create some interesting colors that can vary depending on lighting and/or the woods grain. Keep track of the amounts used so you can duplicate colors.I've made a blood red with orange highlights and an almost indigo blue with teal undertones that i am very happy with. Dont use anything higher than about 60% isopropyl alcohol unless you add water or it may not dissolve properly. The shelf life after mixing has been pretty long if kept in sealed container (approx 3mo so far). I DONT RECCOMEND LACQUER THINNER AS A BASE, it seems to allow the dye to permeate lacquer even after it was allowed 24hrs to dry. Isopropyl does not seem to have the same issue. Water only has not given very good results either, it doesn't seem to get into the wood very well at all. Sanding to 400 grit on soft woods seems to work best for me, but with harder ones approx 180 is probably sufficent. The finer you sand, the longer it takes to get in the wood, but too rough and it will go too far, just like oil or water based stain. Youll probably use more than expected, maybe 4 times what you would expect to use on a project than oil staining the same thing? Thats a only guess though, it could be more, but you will never manage to get the same results using a stain, either water or oil based, although i am going to try using Minwax's new 'True Black' oil stain instead of the black powder using mineral spirits maybe as the base and will update if the results are worth mentioning. i havent looked to see if they mention using MS as a base works or not.

Practical instructions are a bit vague with this product, but the product itself is very good. If you want to know how to get certain colors, search for a video on color mixing with watercolors. That should help, then you just have to work out the proportions. Bought this for a custom sofa build using red oak. The fabric is indigo velvet and the legs, arm and back supports are brushed aluminum. I like oak - it's durable and has nice grain, but I didn't want the natural oak color - it just doesn't go with the fabric or the metal well. I had originally designed the sofa to use purpleheart, but it is very hard to work and expensive. Also, purpleheart fades over time to a brown. Too many problems, so I opted to dye the oak. I didn't want the wood to stand out so much as blend in. I mixed up 1/8 tsp black, 1/4 tsp blue, 1/4 tsp red in several tablespoons of alcohol then topped up with warm tap water to make roughly 1 quart of dye in a 5 cup plastic food storage box with tight lid. I put several coats of dye on all pieces and left them overnight to dry. It was too red and not dark enough. I've painted for years, so color mixing is something I'm pretty good at. I added an additional 1/2 tsp of the blue powder after warming in the microwave for 1.5 minutes. Got a lovely black/blue/purple Once lacquered, it will look really nice with the brushed aluminum and dark blue velvet. Very happy with the results. I wanted almost a black purple. Looks great! It highlights the grain very well, too.Use a small scrap piece to test the final finish. Dye it at the same time and then test the finish coat on the scrap BEFORE you put any finish on the real pieces.. This will keep you from making a really big mistake if you don't like the actual finished color. You don't want to have to wait for the finish to dry and then sand it all off again so you can start over - huge time waster and extremely annoying. Colors always change drastically once the final finish coats are applied. They will be darker and richer - usually. The dry wood looks a bit dayglo, but once the lacquer goes on, it becomes rich and deep. The dry wood will not give you a real clue what the finished wood will look like. I used a scrap stick and after the first dye session lacquered it only to find it was far too red. So, back to the dye a second time.I found the dye very forgiving. I had accidentally left some small drips on the wood the first time around, but when I applied the second round of dye, the drips vanished completely. I think this was largely due to it being oak. If it had been a softer wood it would most probably have soaked in enough to be a problem. You have to be really careful of drips and fingerprints with any dye or stain. I applied it with a brand new cellulose sponge cut in half and rinsed out with tap water. It worked very well. I had finish sanded with 150 grit paper as per the instructions. If you sand too smooth, the dye won't penetrate well. I think a brush would be very messy. Cut several pieces and have them on hand. If you drop one, you will not want to reuse it unless your garage is far cleaner than mine. This type of dye is powerful and long lasting. I've been told it will stay on you for weeks if you really let it sink in. In my case, I'd look like a blue cartoon character - not desirable really.... You want to wear gloves and protective clothes. Don't wear anything you don't want stained. Be careful mixing the dye as well. It can and will stain your countertops and possibly your floor really well... If you use rags to work it in, don't wash them with your clothes! (No I didn't do this, but back in my younger painting days, such things happened.) It is very thin when mixed, so it will splash really spectacularly if you get too busy with the mixing spoon or when applying to the wood. I didn't wipe the dye off. I worked it in with the sponge until it was all soaked in, but I wanted really dark wood color. I just made sure it was even and not pooling anywhere. Very nice product. Good bright colors. Easy to use. I'm using Deft gloss lacquer after the dye has fully dried. Going for a Japanese lacquer look... High finish and super smooth. Lacquer is the best for this, though a bit more work. Good product. It works. Staining wood is definitely a process. Give yourself enough time to do it or you will regret it. Otherwise, have fun with it! Some friends shook their heads when I said purple wood, but now they say it looks great. Hey, it's my sofa - it can be purple if I want it to be purple. Your sofa or guitar or whatever can be any color you want... Beware of backseat designers on any project. It is your vision. Stick to your guns on it or you will end up with something you didn't really want. A hard learned lesson I am passing on for free... Hope this helps...

I had never used a dye on wood before and liked the selection of colors in this pack, the ease of mixing, the ability to mix colors and mixing with water. I’m only offering this review as a caution to those who may be putting their project outside. As stated, I used water to mix the dyes and I used the colors on wood planters and covered all with a UV protective spray sealer. That was about 3 months ago. We have had over 100 temps for many days since and these are sitting in direct sun. The yellow and green colors have faded away, almost 100% fade. I do not attribute this to a product fail, I simply used the product as I did in the past with oil based stain and it did not last in direct sun. I will try again on smaller projects that are in more shaded areas with alcohol base and marine/UV coating. Indoors I have no doubt the colors would stay vibrant. Live and learn, overall I’m happy with the product :-)