# How can I get dye to penetrate through thin veneer?



## subconix (Dec 21, 2017)

Hello, Im not sure If im posting this in the right place but Ill go for it. Basically I make things with all types of wood veneer. My main problem is that I want to dye my maple veneer different colors. I bought some keda dye, its some sort of analine dye. I cannot get the dye to penetrate past the top layer no matter what I do. It looks great until its time to sand and the real wood actually starts showing up. Should I use a certain technique, or another dye? Its almost paper thin, you would think it would have no problem penetrating.


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

please describe your veneer application procedures. (step-by-step) and coloring process.

are you trying to color the veneer before you glue it to something ?
or - color it after it is all glued down and ready to sand.
I would imagine that when you glue thin veneer to the substrate,
the adhesive seeps up to unevenly block the penetration of stain.

I have seen the technique of putting a vacuum on wood to suck the air out
and the color goes into the cells deeper.

but of course - you must have the equipment to do this at home.
try rigging up your shop vac to a glass jar, pour in your dye and
small pieces of veneer to see if you can achieve a deeper penetration of color.
if that works - then you can experiment further with that process.
try 20-30 minutes for the first try with the home shop vac.

jus my Dos Centavos

.


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## shipwright (Sep 27, 2010)

Thin veneer is easy. I use fabric dyes (Tulip, Rit, etc), hot and soak for about three days for 1/16" veneer. Thin commercial veneer which is mostly 1/42" will fully penetrate in a day, maybe even less. I don't know for sure as I don't use much of it. I have recently dyed some 1/32" and it fully penetrated in about 30 hours.
The difficult part is finding a container to dye in. It has to be able to resist the acidic dye and it is best to have the veneer vertical. 
This is my current arrangement. The vessel shown is a "hotel pan" like you see in steam tables at buffets. This one is called a quarter size and is 8" deep. It is sitting on a warming tray that keeps it ~175 degrees F.


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## subconix (Dec 21, 2017)

Thanks so much! I wonder if I boiled some fabric dye, and poured it in a thermos with veneer if it would work until I can get a setup similar to yours. Either way the veneer is getting squished in a mold so I dont need to retain the organic shape. I have noticed that If I boil the veneer it penetrates much deeper but evaporates too quickly so something like you have is perfect.


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

I think it's common for dyes and stains to be pretty superficial. They don't penetrate the wood very deeply, especially hardwoods.

By the way, why are you sanding dyed veneer? Would you have better luck using wood that has a rich natural color like walnut or padauk?


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## shipwright (Sep 27, 2010)

It will lose shape and expand a lot in the hot dye. It needs to be completely dried before use. The best way is to let it "drip dry" first and when it is just damp, press it between layers of newsprint type paper, changing paper occasionally until it is dry. I buy packing paper from Staples for that (and a multitude of other veneer related tasks).


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## subconix (Dec 21, 2017)

Just some context for you all. This is what I am making, the colored ply veneer boards are much more popular than what I like which is just natural wood. As you can see it is purple but the edges where I had to sand really show up bad. I need it to be vibrant all the way around.


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## LittleShaver (Sep 14, 2016)

Have you tried dye after assembly?


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## Carloz (Oct 12, 2016)

I thought you did inlay or something similar where this could be a problem. But as noted above I am not certain why would you want to dye the veneer separately in your case.


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## subconix (Dec 21, 2017)

They have to be separate because the board consist of 5 plys of veneer. It is extremely popular to have vibrant ply combinations that can bee seen from the side.


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## subconix (Dec 21, 2017)

This is the reason why they have to be dyed one by one. Notice the ply combo in the middle of red, and blue. It looks like straight trash, because after sanding veneer that has not been penetrated it starts to show through.


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

what is that? a miniature skateboard ?


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## DrDirt (Feb 26, 2008)

> Thanks so much! I wonder if I boiled some fabric dye, and poured it in a thermos with veneer if it would work until I can get a setup similar to yours. Either way the veneer is getting squished in a mold so I dont need to retain the organic shape. I have noticed that If I boil the veneer it penetrates much deeper but evaporates too quickly so something like you have is perfect.
> 
> - subconix


Avoid boiling - you want to keep the temp below ~200F
Hot is indeed helpful/needed -

Also when we dyed maple veneer - we soaked the veneer in 200 degree distilled water, for half a day, and poured off the - - pretty nasty water - with the tannins in it.
Helped to get a truer color, when you get rid of the "extra" brown coloring.


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## georgepseifert (Aug 16, 2017)

Would an old crock pot work to keep the dye warm?

George


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## CaptainKlutz (Apr 23, 2014)

Realizing this thread is over 9 months old, and now idle, plus admitting I now nothing about coloring veneer. 
Still felt there was value to share this:

According to my skate boarding son, there are several sources for dyed veneers for DIY Skateboards? He pointed me to websites for RoarRockit and B&B Rare Woods? They both appear to sell dyed veneers requested?

As wood worker, suggest you might be able to get dyed laminated plywood panels from a commercial dyed plywood mfg? Try calling Cousineau Wood Products. They will create custom sized panels, as well as custom colors.

Best Luck.


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## lumbering_on (Jan 21, 2017)

> Would an old crock pot work to keep the dye warm?
> 
> George
> 
> - George Seifert


A slow cooker, even on low would likely be too high of a temp. You can get a pork shoulder up to ~200F on low if you leave it on while you work. However, some of them have a temperature function, which should work, as you can figure a way to keep the veneers vertical with the lid on.


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## georgepseifert (Aug 16, 2017)

I'd appreciate some guidance on how much dye to use. I'm using emerald green RIT dye with a little black mixed in. At first I mixed it so that the color looked pretty good when I spread a little on the veneer. So I soaked it for a couple of hours and it was getting really dark. After about 4 hours it was pretty much black and hadn't completely soaked through yet. So I watered it down quite a bit and it's still way too dark. Now it's watered down to the point where it barely looks like anything when I spread it on the veneer. So far it's been in about 2 hours and it's already too dark. I'm using small strips of ash and figured maple for the tests and the dye is in a glass jar. I heat it up a bit periodically in a double boiler kind of arrangement. So how in the world do you know how much dye to use?

BTW, here's an example of the green color I'm trying to achieve. I'd certainly buy it if I could find a wood like this, but have had no luck finding anything like it. It kind of looks like figured maple to me.


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