Light Cherry Dyes

E

edmakepeace

New member
Can someone suggest a cherry aniline dye that that does not provide too dark a result? Can dyes be diluted to lighten the color? I would like to to achieve a consistent color, but have the color be light so the grain really pops. Some of my recent work has turned out darker than I prefer.
 
    I think that Golden Amber (Olde Mille Cabinet Shop in York, PA or others carry a similar dye) looks great with most hardwoods, although I'd experiment a bit with some other dyes as well.  I have probably 20 colors, but find myself always going back to just a few that seem to work well. 

  That said, any aniline dye will preserve the grain.  Unlike pigment stains, they soak into the wood and do not coat it.  Start with a dilute mixture, and you can always add more. I use quite small amounts of dye powder -  just add about a quarter teaspoon to a few cups of hot water (I use water based).  Each coat will darken the wood further.  The beauty of aniline dyes is that you can even lighten the hue by flooding with water.  I've never had to do that, because I'd rather start light and darken with another coat or two, to taste.  It will look awful when it drys, but don't worry, it will come to life with the top coats.

  Personally, I think that boiled linseed oil accentuates the grain in cherry.  So I'd start with the dye, then use BLO, and finish up with shellac. All 3 combine to create a wonderful chatoyance.
 
My experience with cherry is that it is very hard to get consistent color when staining.  I have had good success with glazing.  Nice thing about glaze is that you can wipe it off if you don't like it.I have used gel stains and also made my own.  I really try not to stain cherry, but sometimes....

I recently finished a cherry piece that required 'colorizatrion."  After some experimenting, I ended up sealing with a light coat of chellac, then applied a thin glaze of oner and then another color.  Came out to a very rich color.  I was very pleased.  The Minwax gels make good glazes.  You really have to experiment a  lot to get the desired color.  And then, of course, the cherry will darken, so figure that in as well.


There have been a couple of good articles on staining cherry and glazing in FWW.


Tony
 
 Tony makes a good point.  Usually I don't do anything to colour cherry, especially if there's a lot of inlay that I don't want to colour with dye. I refuse to go over inlay with shellac to protect it from dye;  I find that rather pointless.  BLO, shellac, and sunlight works beautifully alone.
 
1 pound cut seals all inlay without issue and a light dye works fine.. Cherry dyes beautiful and easy. I dislike new cherry look.

FR
 
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