HOMESTEAD TransTint Dyes, Reddish Brown

TransTint makes some pretty effective dyes. I use it on wood and it does the job well when mixed as directed and wood is prepped properly. However, the price is no longer justifiable as other equally good dyeing agents are available from Lee Valley and other places so I will no longer be using it for that reason. If cost is no barrier to you,then buy it as it works well.

I bought this to tint lacquer. I added 10 drops of the tint to 2 oz. of lacquer. The lacquer was extremely dark, but my test strip showed that I had a nice transparent color. I shot it through my spray gun (after thinning it with 2 oz. of lacquer thinner) and the color was nice. The tint was transparent and it really added depth to the finish. Additional coats made the color richer without obscuring the wood grain. I loved how the product was packaged. They put a heavy rubber band around it to hold the cap on, which I am still using. Extremely pleased with the product, will purchase more of the same in different colors when I have reason to.

I had some red oak rails and stiles that I cut from the straight grain at the edge of a wider board. As woodworkers may know, that tends to be sapwood that is lighter in color. After finishing with stain and water "polyurethane", it became apparent that this was a poor color match for the existing cabinetry and panel boards. The solution was to add about 2 drops of red-brown and 7 drops of medium brown to 30 mL of clear shellac and 30 mL of alcohol. The tinted and cut shellac made an excellent toner that adhered to the polyurethane, eliminated the color mismatch, and was easily finished over with another 2 coats of water polyurethane. Just a few drops of dye go a Long way, especially this red-brown. Start with your base of cut shellac and add the tint a drop or two at a time, testing until you hit the desired color. When applied this way, if it is too dark, you can wipe it off with denatured alcohol. If too light, add another coat of tinted shellac.

If used by itself on a light wood (poplar) it is pink! When tested on the intended project using quarter sawn white oak it came out pretty good but we could see pinkish tinge in some areas. But, I bought this to put a little warmth in the medium brown and it is perfect for that. So I plan to use this dye color to add a little red to another dye and get the color I want. I didn't test it on darker woods so it may be okay for that.

Used this for making a guitar. Used about 1/3 of the bottle. Could do at least two more guitars. Mixed it with denatured alcohol. It worked well. Used this and vintage amber color.