Transtint Dyes, Bright Red

Some liquid tints gloss over whether they are suitable for shellac. Perhaps they are with prepared shellacs, but I am working on an antique that's finished using alcohol soluble tinted shellac. That means starting with flake shellac dissolving it in Ethanol (usually denatured with Butanol and Isopropanol alcohols to preserve the Ethanol's quality as a solvent and not a beverage), and applying the shellac using brush or French rub methods.One of the beauties of this kind of alcohol based shellac is that it dissolves into an existing finish and saves you the hassles of blending in spot repairs -- but you need to get the shellac tint at least close to the right shade. When you are working with dark colors you also need a bit more tinting agent. The catch is that water based tints can also effect the alcohol solvent enough that freshly tinted shellac no longer smoothly dissolves into the existing shellac.In my case it's a 1940's dark red Mahogany on probably beech or birch veneer. The Transtint 6010 dark red mahogany I normally use has a bit too much red so I needed to tone down the red. Alas, my vial of Transtint 6008 Brown Mahogany dye was down to one drop -- if I was lucky. In the last minute I had to order this brown Mahogany stain to dampen the reddishness.Which brings me to an important point. Woodcraft Supply didn't wait the obligatory five days before shipping (the absence of that delay is the value added for only premium members). Instead, Woodcraft Supply promptly shipped the dye and, to my delight, it arrived within Washington DC within three days. Thank you, Woodcraft Supply (picture is of the dye on the Shellac mixing/tinting machine with the four poster bed back board project in the background).

This dye is great, can mix with water and it really penetrates the wood. Used by several you tube woodworks and I now know why, it really gives a lot of control and flexibility.

Works well. I use this on cherry to bring out the grain with a deep hint of red. Looks so much better than the usual coat of stain. The dye is absorbed into the wood so the color is deeper. I was first taught about using dye by a master cabinet maker 50 years ago. Applies easily, be cautious about the fumes of the alcohol used as the carrier. Dries quickly.

The only reason I gave the dye 4 stars instead of 5 is because I think its a little 2 expensive for what it is. Do not get me wrong this is a great dye, but I have used other dyes that performed the same way for half the price. I just wanted to try this because it seems this is what a lot of the more experienced wood craftsman that I watch online use. One thing I really like about these dyes is that I can mix it up in a Mason jar and keep what ever I do not use. I actually had some of this in a mason jar for about 6 months. I took it out shook it up and it was ready to use. Now I don't know if there are any warnings against doing this but it has worked great for me. Transtint also makes these dyes in a lot of different colors which is quite nice and they can be mixed together to create your own custom colors. You may have to do some serious online searching to find all of their colors though, as some of the colors seem a little hard to get your hands on. I have also used this to tint some clear shellac and it worked well for that. All and all the dye works great on hard woods. As with any water based dye or stain on blotch prone woods like, birch or poplar. I recommend spraying the dye on with an HVLP gun to get a nice even absorption. Sand your wood good with a 120. Then wipe it down with a fairly wet cloth. Let it dry completely and sand it again with a 220 before you stain or dye. Though I have applied this to pine with a phone brush and got really nice results.

Worked out great on my Ambrosia Maple project.

I’m making a Telecaster from scratch and wanted a butterscotch blonde look so that it resembled Micawber (Keith Richards’ famous Tele). I used TransTint honey amber and got surprisingly close, although not exact. This was my first go at getting this color so I’m sure after more experimentation, I can more closely produce the color. Anyway, I got close enough to be happy, although probably a little too dark.The directions say to mix with denatured alcohol OR WATER! I used water since I don’t have a proper respirator to deal with the nasty fumes from denatured alcohol. I also don’t have any spray equipment, so I simply mixed it with water in a red solo cup. I filled water up to that line (the circumferential indentation in the cup) you can see above the liquid and the used maybe 1/8th of the dye mixed in. See the picture of the TransTint bottle I included. This is what’s left in the bottle. The bottle was brand new and full before.If you didn’t know, the creator of TransTint is Jeff Jewitt, who is not only a master of finishing, but also a master luthier and makes beautiful custom acoustic guitars. Check him out.Anyway, since I used water, it raised the grain, but that is fine and lightly sanding the grain back down (I used 1000 grit), it creates a super smooth surface. Note that the guitar as pictured is after 3 coats of TransTint honey amber. It also has 5 coats of Tru Oil already as seen in the picture. I think I will do 4 or 5 more coats. Before doing Tru Oil, it did loom closer to banana yellow, but Tru Oil has a nice amber color which helped to bring that to what you see in the pictures.

Exceeded expectations. 2 things I noticed…1. This die results in a nicely subdued black finish when used for epoxy repair. It is common for people to mistake the resin for natural dark streaks of lumbar, whereas the black mica powder I previously used looked nice, but far less organic.2. As soon as I add a few drop to the epoxy, it feels like the viscosity drops, resulting in easy stirring, almost like a lubricant. Unclear why, but it has no detrimental effect on the results. It may actually aid in penetration if the viscosity is indeed lower.Very fond of this product!

Awesome product, came out the exact color I had envisioned. Definitely wear gloves or else your hands will get purple.