Staining a bone nut...suggestions please?

I recently had a black plastic nut replaced with a bone nut which was way too white and looked out of place, so I tried the soak in coffee method and also tried a little amber stain. In both cases the nut came out bright yellow so I've bleached it back to white. Does anyone have any suggestions for a stain which will give it a very light brown tone?

Thanks,

George

[Scott in Dallas]

Iodine?

[Stu L.]

I've held nuts and acoustic guitar saddles over an open flame with good results. Sometimes, allowing the flame to touch the piece.

[joegeezer]

Soak some leaf type chewing tobacco in a small amount of water, and pitch it in there for a day or two. Should get it to where you want it to be.

[PilbaraBass]

black leather shoe dye...get the alcohol based variety...

[lhoward]

If none of the foregoing options are suitable, try having an ebony nut fitted. I've been using them where I need a 'black' nut, on both fretted and fretless, with good sound results.

Lloyd Howard

[Scott in Dallas]

You could boil it in something like coffee or tea, add some salt to it and drop it in.

[vinny]

Try a Sharpie. That permanent stuff soaks into everything porous. Also, believe it or not Rit dye will probably do it too. I've used that with good success on molded nylon parts for other things.

[Scott in Dallas]

Originally Posted by vinny

Try a Sharpie. That permanent stuff soaks into everything porous. Also, believe it or not Rit dye will probably do it too. I've used that with good success on molded nylon parts for other things.

Rit dye would work. My coffee or tea suggestion is basically a hot dyebath. Same principle.

Thanks for all the great suggestions, I'll try a couple of these and post the results next week.

George

[MakiSupaStar]

Originally Posted by Scott in Dallas

You could boil it in something like coffee or tea, add some salt to it and drop it in.

Then throw it in some pasta and serve it up for dinner. It'll get brown eventually....

[Scott in Dallas]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

Then throw it in some pasta and serve it up for dinner. It'll get brown eventually....

Coffee pasta? Where's that vomit emoticon when I need it?

[62bass]

Rit clothing dye will work. Sharpies look good at first but fade with exposure to light.

Well, I tried dyes, stains, coffee, and was not satisfied with the results. Last night I decided to try a friends blonde hair dye and not only did it not work but it ate some small particles of the nut rendering it useless. My next plan is to start all over with a new Tusc nut or something like Corian in the proper color. My coloring project failed but it's been fun and educational.

George

[pkr2]

Originally Posted by X Wolf

Well, I tried dyes, stains, coffee, and was not satisfied with the results. Last night I decided to try a friends blonde hair dye and not only did it not work but it ate some small particles of the nut rendering it useless. My next plan is to start all over with a new Tusc nut or something like Corian in the proper color. My coloring project failed but it's been fun and educational.

George

Sorry about the nut but it was a very interesting thread.

[sublime0bass]

I would like to further explore this, because i have an extra bone nut lying around that i would like to be black

[daveman50]

(reviving an old thread.)

as I just learned today:

Rit dye does not work for dyeing a bone nut. The dye will not adhere to the bone material.

[RMay]

EDIT: I just noticed this is an old thread. HA! Anyways...

KIWI Brown shoe polish. I have used KIWI on a bone nut and had great result. Apply a thick amount then let it set for 5 secs. and wipe clean. Continue this process till your achieve the desired light brown color. Also, it works on tinting clear poly finishes. If you dont like the result use warm soap water and a lot of elbow grease.

[daveman50]

I bet that would work for a light brown stain.

Black is another story. I haven't found a way to stain a bone nut black.

[curtis r]

have you thought of useing a grafite nut