Post up your Rit dye projects..

[JoviAl]

Had a stab at rit dying a few salts this evening. Really enjoyed myself, although my wife is likely to be somewhat less enthusiastic when she discovers the black stained saucepan. The Stretch XL doesn’t show up so great in the pic, but it fades from fully black at the public end to a dark olive drab at the business end.

[grimlock]

My first try at coloring knife scales. My sister did not care for the pink scales on the para 3 I bought her. I used rit sapphire blue on them. It came out a nice lavender shade which she likes. I dyed my endura with earth brown scales in the same batch of dye

. It came out a lot like British racing green. I think for my first try they both came out pretty nice.

[Mage7]

I'm pretty disappointed in how this ended up, but it was my own fault.

I got some Rit Dyemore "Apricot Orange" to dye the GP knives white FRCP handle. I followed the directions on the bottle and got things at a strong rolling boil, but I used way too much. I don't know why I didn't think to slowly add dye until the color looked right... Instead I just put the whole bottle into about a 6qt pot. It ended up more crimson than orange.

Well, I had also bought some acetone because I was told I would need that, so I was hoping it would let me do kind of a controlled fade back to orange. It kinda worked, but there are those two spots on each side of the scale where it gets uneven.

It kind of looks like a reflection of the light, but nope. So I think I am gonna have to redo it, or it will probably bug me forever.

[Mrj]

I'm pretty disappointed in how this ended up, but it was my own fault.

I got some Rit Dyemore "Apricot Orange" to dye the GP knives white FRCP handle. I followed the directions on the bottle and got things at a strong rolling boil, but I used way too much. I don't know why I didn't think to slowly add dye until the color looked right... Instead I just put the whole bottle into about a 6qt pot. It ended up more crimson than orange.

Well, I had also bought some acetone because I was told I would need that, so I was hoping it would let me do kind of a controlled fade back to orange. It kinda worked, but there are those two spots on each side of the scale where it gets uneven.

It kind of looks like a reflection of the light, but nope. So I think I am gonna have to redo it, or it will probably bug me forever.

This will be your friend but be aware it stinks.

[Mage7]

I'm pretty disappointed in how this ended up, but it was my own fault.

I got some Rit Dyemore "Apricot Orange" to dye the GP knives white FRCP handle. I followed the directions on the bottle and got things at a strong rolling boil, but I used way too much. I don't know why I didn't think to slowly add dye until the color looked right... Instead I just put the whole bottle into about a 6qt pot. It ended up more crimson than orange.

Well, I had also bought some acetone because I was told I would need that, so I was hoping it would let me do kind of a controlled fade back to orange. It kinda worked, but there are those two spots on each side of the scale where it gets uneven.

It kind of looks like a reflection of the light, but nope. So I think I am gonna have to redo it, or it will probably bug me forever.

This will be your friend but be aware it stinks.

Yeah I was hoping to find that next. They didn't have it at Walmart. So much for getting everything to do this in one night.

I'm wondering if I'm right that I added too much dye, or if it was more about the "dip time". I have read people say to only dip for something like 30 seconds. I had them in there for 30 minutes lol

Worst of all, though... I think the acetone warped the scales a little bit. They still fit together ok, but there's gaps on the back that I don't recall being so wide. I'm wondering if the orange just makes them more contrasted, except the white color would have provided plenty of contrast too.

[Mage7]

Well, it looks much better this time around...




That color remover didn't seem to do much. It lightened it up a bit, but after a while the water just boiled out, and it was still pretty orange. I decided to see if I could just over-dye it to get things to even out. I only added a quarter of the dye I did last time.

It's still a little darker than I expected/wanted. Was hoping it would come out like the Mora for example. But to be honest I do like the darker shade too. Kinda reminds me of Mopar orange.

[Mrj]

Well, it looks much better this time around...




That color remover didn't seem to do much. It lightened it up a bit, but after a while the water just boiled out, and it was still pretty orange. I decided to see if I could just over-dye it to get things to even out. I only added a quarter of the dye I did last time.

It's still a little darker than I expected/wanted. Was hoping it would come out like the Mora for example. But to be honest I do like the darker shade too. Kinda reminds me of Mopar orange.

The remover takes a slow rolling boil for 30-40 minutes. It usually gets 95% for me. But since you used same color I this ur turned out well. Looks good to go!

[Mage7]

Well, it looks much better this time around...




That color remover didn't seem to do much. It lightened it up a bit, but after a while the water just boiled out, and it was still pretty orange. I decided to see if I could just over-dye it to get things to even out. I only added a quarter of the dye I did last time.

It's still a little darker than I expected/wanted. Was hoping it would come out like the Mora for example. But to be honest I do like the darker shade too. Kinda reminds me of Mopar orange.

The remover takes a slow rolling boil for 30-40 minutes. It usually gets 95% for me. But since you used same color I this ur turned out well. Looks good to go!

Yeah I think maybe I just needed more than one package of the color remover. It definitely lightened things up enough for the over-dye to work.

Thinking about trying it again to see if I can lighten it up to the shade I really want. They sell a shade called Sunshine Orange that is what I would like, but it's the all purpose formula which I hear doesn't dye the FRCP very well.

I might just quit while I'm ahead too though. I think sticking these scales into boiling water full of solvents has warped them a little bit.

[Mrj]

I was bored so I dyed my old burlap RGT shaman scales deep red.

[JSumm]

That looks awesome @Mrj !! Don't sleep on dying Micarta folks. Easier than G10.

[Mrj]

@JSumm is . It might be a knew passion lol.

[Co Pilot]

How do the Yellow Salt models stand up to exposure to salt water? Does it lighten or fade off?

[Ocho]

Not only can you dye the scales, like I did on the fragged Para 3 and the k390 DR4GNFLY, but you can also dye the paracord. All three bundles of paracord were the same color (coyote brown in the middle). I dyed the bundle on the right to a copper maroon, I dyed the bundle on the left to a deep navy.
Black knives matter... but variety is the spice of life

[Cletus]

This is a BHQ M4 Yojumbo exclusive that I dyed using the Rit Synthetic saphire blue. Before and after.

And this is a Caribbean using the same dye.

[Jeb]

I would be really worried to boil the scales for more than a few minutes lol. Then as they are I only had mine to the point of boiling and turned the heat off, and let them cool down in the dye.

Now I have done 3 or 4, Police4's that was the blue scales that came on the K390's and I made them black. These being a bigger set of scales, I was concerned about warping the longer thin scales with the heat.

I do have a M2 in SPY27 steel that I have made two attempts to black the Ford blue frn scales and I only darkened the blue. Something way different about these scales lol.

The second time they went back in the dye, it was much more black dye, vinegar and a dab of dawn soap and they boiled for a few minutes before I whimped out and turned the heat off lol, and here I read some of you guys boiling them 30 minutes...

[Cletus]

I dye mine very scientifically. Step one: make sure my wife can't see me do it. Step 2: Pour distilled water into a sauce pan, enough to cover the scales or entire knife by an inch. Step 3: Pour a good 1/3 bottle dollop of Rit Synthetic saphire blue dye in and bring to boil. Step 4: boil the scales or the entire knife until the colors seem right, then boil some more. You can't hurt either the FRN or the G10. Step 5: Rinse in the sink and lube (if it's the entire knife). Step 6: clean the pot and cover my tracks, erasing all evidence the wife might find. Step 7: Enjoy a nice new colored knife.

[vivi]

Guys, for one set of scales dyed in a small sauce pot, you can generally get by with just a cap full of dye. Some of ya'll are using way more than you need. This stuff is designed to be used by the gallon for dying large bundles of fabric. A little bit goes a long way when working with such small items.

[cabfrank]

If I ever get around to it, I'd just buy an old sauce pan at a resale shop, and probably do it outside.

[Ocho]

A little bit goes a long way when working with such small items.

That's what she said !

[Ocho]

A word of caution !
R I T dye is ADDICTIVE !!
Once you get started, it's hard to stop!