On Jan 31, 9:22 am, Nobody Special wrote:

I did go get a nice piece of maple burl yesterday and stuck a
sliver into some TransTint (water soluble) dye yesterday for
about 1.5hrs. Pretty much no penetration.

That's why I put in the earlier post to mix with alcohol. It is
miscible with water, and will actually pull the surface moisture out
of the wood to a small extent, penetrating more than water, bringing
the dye along with it.


I'm thinking if I can get a vacuum pump I might try this:http://content.penturners.org/articl...yurethane1.pdf

On small pieces I have heard of some successes using a food vacuum,
and simply cycling the vacuum several times. The object to be dyed
are put in a vacuum canister (not the bags) and covered with the dye
solution then cycled.

I have some of the plated chrome stoppers, but my newest order
was all stainless.

Are you buying those from Arizona Silhouette?

As for finish, I line mine all up stuck on dowels and spray them with
a couple of coats of lacquer from a rattle can. Then assemble. If my
finish is where I want it I don't buff or anything else before
packaging.

I haven't made that many, but I have been approached by someone that
wants to see if I could make a lot of them for him to give as gifts in
his business. As when I was making pens, it will probably work fine
at first, but then so many will be doing it that the prices will drop
to near nothing.

I get from $17.50 (chrome) and up to $25 (stainless) and everything in
between for one of these. You? Anyone else?

Robert