I’m getting ready to try another round of t-flex style constructions. I was going to try some wood dye, inspired by kiteriders red board on the WMD thread.
I wanted to do a light grey color but when my wood came it was very orange, not the light blond I expected.
I was thinking of trying wood bleach and then dye, but I read on a woodworkng forum that after you bleach the wood, further staining is not effective as the bleach takes out the grain pattern.
ANyone heard of this or experienced it? ANy suggestions. I’d obviously have to do some test samples to make sure the bleach doesn’t cause any…ahemmmmm…adhesion issues. But right now I’m just investigating the color issue.
Uhmmmm- not real sure what's in the wood bleach you're describing, but....
What has been used in the boat biz, traditionally, is oxalic acid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalic_acid#Miscellaneous_uses ) - it gets iron fastener stains out of acid woods like oak especially well, prolly 'cos they are iron oxide based anyhow. It leaves the grain okay, once you rinse it off well with water. And after that, it takes varnish well, and varnish can be picky as to previous surface treatment.
Never tried staining anything after bleaching it. My thought is that the way the wood takes up the stain or dye vs showing the grain would have more to do with the wood type you're using than anything else, that and how it's cut. The lighter woods, for instance, would likely show a lot less grain anyways and after bleaching I doubt it'd be that pronounced.
It kinda boils down to 'play with it and see'. One thing that occurs to me ( from that last cliche) is that maybe boiling the wood in question would take out the color to some extent, though as I'm sure you know, there would be other issues to deal with. We found that boiling wood to bend it rather than steaming it did several interesting things to the color - turned white oak purple, for instance, probably 'cos we used an iron tank.
You can restain bleached wood and it will look great. After bleaching just make sure you nutralize the wood first with vinager or at least a water rinse. LET IT DRY . Then play around with stains. Results vary with stains, wood and how you apply it. LET DRY. It should then glue up just fine. You have to play around a bit on some scrap to get the look you want then go for it.
You must have bought the “carbonized” darker bamboo by mistake…
You can try colors like red and purple, darker colors that will compliment the darker wood ,orange might look good too… Do some test pieces… Be carefull getiing too many chemicals into the veneer, I’m not sure that’s a good thing… I mix my dye with 99% isopropyl alcohol;, not water, I don’t like the idea off wetting the wood with water, for obvious reasons…
Grey would work best with the lighter “blond” bamboo, It might be worthwhile to order some more, and save the carbonized for a suitable color…