Water based versus alchohol based dyes

[Henry Anthony]

Hi,

I would appreciate any advice on water versus alcohol based dyes. I am thinking alcohol would be better due to no raised grain. Thanks.

Best regards,

Henry

[Dave Arbuckle]

Unless you are spraying the dye, alcohol dyes are tricky to work with. You have to work very quickly to avoid lap marks. Grain raising is an overblown concern, in my opinion. Pre-raise and very light sanding off is simple and effective.

Dave

[Henry Anthony]

Yes... hmmm... I didn't think of the evaporation rate of alcohol. Thanks for the tip!

[cnicol]

Henry,

I can not speak to the grain raising caused by water based dyes, but I can speak to the speed at which alcohol dyes dry. Very Very Very Fast. I learned this leason the hard way. I would not recommend them unless you have someone giving some direction as to the best way to use them. I was lucky I was putting a pigment stain over the dye that I was able to salvage my project, but it still does not look as nice as I though it would. I did test strips and everything looked great, but when I started working on a large piece it was a whole different ball game.

So just to summerize, as Dave stated alcohol dyes dry very fast.