I've been tinkering with using fine dust from one type of wood to color another. For example, fine padauk dust to color ash, then seal it in with something. Any of you try this type of thing? Any tricks you have found getting an even color?
I don't think this would work all that well without some careful prep. Fine dust will not only fill the most prominent grain, but also the smallest grain - so that padauk on ash would really look pink. Having made a few necks with padauk & maple, it certainly looks pink on maple, which has WAY more subtle pores than ash. Maybe if you sealed a bit first to seal off the small pores, then applied a slurry of some sort rather than dry dust, you might get the effect you're looking for. More like a traditional grain fill.
Yeah, I'm finding that it is a lot of work, as not only do you fill in grain, but any sanding marks too.
The padauk pink can be turned to padauk red-brown, with one day in full summer sun. Example is in my build thread, on maybe the third or fourth page.
A very interesting concept enjoy experimenting with it. When I wet sand my laminated necks the woods colors do blend, less so if I wait until the last coat or 2 though. I like using the effect with Mahogany or Black Limba necks with Wenge stringers for instance.t
I tried putting black walnut dust on a fresh coat of varnish over an ash body. The experiment failed miserably and I ended up resanding back to bare wood and proceeding from there without the black walnut dust. If I had used a quicker drying finish, and been able to put on more coats and dustings,and done more between coat sandings, the experiment might have been more successful. I just lost patience with the proccess.
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