Dyes, Medium Brown

Good results

In the past I've used standard stains that I purchased from my local home center, with very little luck in achieving the final color that I want. I normally buy birch veneered plywood and birch boards for my projects (from the home center) and since birch is a hardwood with very small pores it won't take the traditional dark stains. You basically "paint" these stains on the surface of the wood, which doesn't look very good. This time I decided to use a dye product, and the results were fantastic! I was able to stain the light colored birch veneered plywood a very dark reddish brown color in just 60 seconds. This dye (mixed with water) simply absorbs into the wood and remained when I wiped off the excess. Very easy to use, and excellent results. Once the water evaporates, the colored particles are sitting on the top surface and into the first layers of the wood. It is easy to reactive the dye and remove it when it is wetten again (like, when you apply the clear topcoat), so instead of wiping or brushing the first topcoat I used a spray shellac from a spray can (bought from my home center) to spray a very light layer on the dyed wood. That worked great, in that it locked in the dye and I could then apply my normal water-based poly coat. Excellent product, and I highly recommend it. It really saved me time and headache to get the color I wanted, and looks great.

This transtint is really good stuff. I’ve used it with West Systems epoxy to good effect to fill defects in large wood slabs for live edge furniture and also in small boards where the defects are probably better served by using epoxy vs. wood filler. Also, it works well for creating a dark wood glue when mixing a drop or two with Titebond 2. I have used the titebond 2 dark wood glue and it is good stuff when working with darker woods such as walnut or stained woods to completely hide all jointed line marks. However, the Titebond dark wood glue comes at a price premium (2-3 times more for a gallon). Just a drop or two mixed with the titebond 2 creates the same type of glue coloration in the end product once dried. I’m not sure what dye they use in the Titebond dark wood glue, but it states it is a dyed product. Given the results I’ve gotten with using transtint with the Titebond 2, my thoughts are that their Titebond dark wood glue is simply titebond glue mixed with some aniline dye.

As soon as you get this product transfer it into something else or it will be a constant mess in your shop! And you cannot clean this up. They really do need to redesign the bottle. The top doesn’t stay on and it falls over and spills easily.

I couldn't stain an old walking cain where I had sanded it at all. This stain was put on the section and wiped off and like magic I had an almost match. Happy as a clam.