Post up your Rit dye projects..

[Imaposer]

Hello guys, new to the forum. I've been a "knife guy" for a good long while, but for some reason had never owned a Spyderco until recently. I mean, I knew they were a "thing", and having been into knives, had seen many references to them. But for reasons unbeknownst to me, I just never saw what everyone was talking about. I had never owned one. Heck, I can't even say if I'd ever even actually handled one until Blade Show Atlanta back in June where I stopped by their booth for a looksy... Ended up buying one that day, and since, have bought 16 MORE! That's just stupid!! But, what can I say? Once I handled and used them, I saw what all the fuss was about. And then, there's all the designs and blade steel choices, and sizes, etc...

Anyway, I actually don't have too many photos of my knives for some reason, but I did just get done with a little project on one of them yesterday and took some photos today...

I own several of Spyderco's compression locks, and quite a few of the back locks. But I didn't own a ball bearing lock. And a lot of people seem to love the Manix 2. So, a while back I saw a BladeHQ exclusive Manix 2 Lightweight in their mint green color, and with M4 steel. Wasn't a bad price so I ordered one just to see... Didn't really like the mint green but thought maybe I'd warm up to it. I didn't... While I do like the knife, as hard as I tried, I just couldn't get down with that pastel Easter egg green color. So figured I see if I could make it something else... Rit dye and knives go well together!

Some of my current favorite Spydercos are the K390 steel models (I now own most of them). And I've grown quite fond of the blue on K390 knives . I actually wasn't sure about that color either at first either. But after buying the first one, it actually became my favorite. So, I gave a shot at turning the pastel Easter egg mint green Manix 2 into something resembling the K390 blue...

Before...




After...





While in person, it looks VERY close to the K390 blue, it doesn't show up the same in photos for some reason... In shade it looks lighter, and in direct light it looks darker. Go figure.


Either way, it person it's pretty dang close so I'm happy as heck with the way it turned out. Here it is in both lighting conditions alongside my Stretch 2 in K390...


Shade...





Direct light...

[Michael Janich]

Dear Imaposer:

Welcome to the Spyderco Forum.

Stay safe,

Mike

[Imaposer]

For those that may be curious, to get the mint green to the K390 blue, I used 4 cups of water, 6 teaspoons of Rit Dyemore Sapphire Blue, and 1/2 teaspoon of Dyemore Graphite. While I'm not sure if it really does anything on plastics, I also followed up the dying with the Rit color fixative.

I brought to water to a low boil, added the dyes and stirred. Then reduced the temp just a bit below a boil and added the scales and let them simmer while checking often for how they were taking the color. I used lengths of SS safety wire threaded through each scales lanyard hole to allow me to quickly and easily pull them out for a look as I went. Once I got to about 6-6.5 minutes I was happy with the color so I removed, rinsed, then washed with Dawn and a toothbrush and rinsed thoroughly. Then, I put them into the pot with the fixative solution. After just a few minutes I noticed the scales were getting lighter than I wanted so I pulled them out, rewashed and rinsed them and put them back into the dye solution for another 2 minutes. This got them darker than I wanted, and I was afraid I had screwed them up by leaving them too long. Oh well... I washed and rinsed again and put them back into the fixative pot and cooked them near a boil for 30 minutes. And once washed and dried, BAM! They were perfect! I can't say if the fixative does anything to stabilize of preserve the dye, but it definitely DOES lighten the color a bit. So, if you plan on using it I would recommend going a bit too dark with the color first, then allow the fixative to lighten it back up a bit.

One more attempt to show the color compared to the K390 blue. My camera just doesn't "see" some colors the way my eyes do...

[XjJunky]

Looks awesome to me.

[Imaposer]

Looks awesome to me.

Thanks. I do like it MUCH better than the mint green. Not to knock those that like the green of course! I originally thought I might like it just for something different. But, it just didn't grow on me as I thought it might, and seemed really bright sticking out of my pockets.


And that last photo actually shows the color pretty accurately to what my eyes see in person.

[Imaposer]

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.

True. If you look around on Rit's website they give mixtures for different items from large that use 3 gallons of water, to smaller items like jewelry and beads that go down to 4 cups of water. There's also a conversion chart that gives ratios for various batch sizes. It's pretty easy to scale down the formula to whatever is needed. I tend to find the 4 cup mixture works about right in my sauce pan for most knife projects. I recently did a fade on a Delica. That needed to go in vertically to get the effect so I used a smaller diameter Stanley camp cook set that I use for camping. Even with its small diameter I found I needed three cups to get the depth necessary for even the Delica. Of course, with something larger, you could probably get by with less than four cups and still have adequate depth for something that will lay flat in the bottom of a pan. You just have to be careful to not let it boil out during longer dye times.

[Mrj]

I’ve noticed that FRN only takes a small amount of dye. But FRCP needs almost 3x the amount to achieve similar results. G10 is usually similar to FRN but some darker colors need more cook time.

[Imaposer]

I’ve noticed that FRN only takes a small amount of dye. But FRCP needs almost 3x the amount to achieve similar results. G10 is usually similar to FRN but some darker colors need more cook time.

I really couldn't say. I've dyed some other non spyderco scales, some G10, as well as a few micarta scales in the past. My experience has been that FRN takes dye more readily than G10. Not that I have a lot of experience with different colors or on a lot of sets of scales. This was my first set made from FRCP. I was concerned that it may not take dye all that well...

The "recipe" listed on Rit's website called for 12 teaspoons to 4 cups of water. I used 6 teaspoons to 4 cups of water thinking I'd prefer to "sneak up" on the shade I was attempting to get rather than going too dark too fast. It only took about 6-6.5 minutes to hit a shade VERY close to the K390 blue. The fixative lightened it, so I went back to the dye for just 2 more minutes and it got too dark really. Luckily, the fixative took it back down to my target. But still, using just 6 teaspoons (half the recommended amount) of dye, and cooking for only a combined total of 8 minutes showed me that my concerns were unwarranted and that the FRCP dyes just fine.

Last night I also did a K390 fade to sapphire blue on a set of FRP Delica scales. I used roughly the same dye to water ratio and even less time to achieve a fairly dark blue on the pivot end. To give some progression on the fade, suspending the scales from the lanyard hole, I did one dip for a count of ten up to the second scale screw, pulled it out and washed thoroughly. Then did one dip for a count of ten to the third screw, one dip to the midpoint of the flat spot, one dip to the lock bar pivot screw, and one dip to just above the pivot screw. That was a total of five dips, all for a count of ten, washing in between. Then I think I remember going back to the dye a couple more times for a ten count just up at the pivot area to make that blue color I was looking for more pronounced. But adding it all up I'd estimate that even the darkest blue portion was only in the dye for a little over the minute total, definitely less than two minutes, with all the dips. Of course, the fade was just an experiment so is bit harder to control than just doing a solid color change.


I don't have any FRN in mint green so I can't say how they would compare directly to the FRCP.

[Imaposer]

Here's the aforementioned Delica. I did a sapphire blue fade on the scales and a patina treatment on the blade. I know not everyone enjoys a forced patina, but I have two identical Delicas and decided to do something fun with this one.... I also ran the clip through my tumbler to remove the black coating and give it a tumbled finish. I may do the clips on my other K390s as I like it better than the stock black clip.

[AHarbuck]

I’ve had luck with the recipes on their website. Pick a shade you like and dial back the recipe by volume. You can pick the objects you are dying and get an appropriate volume recipe. I most recently used “sunglasses” and the amount was great for endura scales in a glass mason jar.

[Imaposer]

I’ve had luck with the recipes on their website. Pick a shade you like and dial back the recipe by volume. You can pick the objects you are dying and get an appropriate volume recipe. I most recently used “sunglasses” and the amount was great for endura scales in a glass mason jar.

Yeah, I always look at their recipes for colors, then use their conversion charts to adjust to the volume of solution I want to use.

But, I prefer to go more dilute than they recommend for a coupe of reasons. Mainly because I think going less concentrated for a longer period makes the final shade easier and safer to achieve without over doing it. Especially with a color and/or a material you may not be completely familiar with. For example, with my Manix 2 I cut the volume of dye in half from what Rit suggested, and I still got to the shade I was going for in just a few minutes. This allowed me to monitor as I went. If I had gone full strength, it may have been easier to overshoot my goal as it crams everything in a much shorter time envelope. Plus, if you find it too weak, you can always add more dye to the mix. If it's too strong you can't take it back out, and adding more water to dilute it can be problematic sometimes. I've dealt with that before, which is another reason I like starting out on the dilute side.

The other reason, and one I cannot attest to personally, is that I have read some conjecture that a more dilute solution, for a longer period allows the dye pigment to more deeply, and more evenly absorb into the material. I can't say if this is true or not, but on the surface (no pun intended) it makes sense to me.

I forgot to mention that in my 4 cup solution I also added a half teaspoon of Dawn. Dawn is a good surfactant, and lowering the surface tension of the water can help promote even absorption. And clean, clean, clean... Wash WELL. And when you're absolutely certain you've removed all residual oils, release agents, etc., wash it again! Any amount of contamination will likely show up in an uneven, or blotchy end result.

[abbazaba]

For those that may be curious, to get the mint green to the K390 blue, I used 4 cups of water, 6 teaspoons of Rit Dyemore Sapphire Blue, and 1/2 teaspoon of Dyemore Graphite. While I'm not sure if it really does anything on plastics, I also followed up the dying with the Rit color fixative.

I brought to water to a low boil, added the dyes and stirred. Then reduced the temp just a bit below a boil and added the scales and let them simmer while checking often for how they were taking the color. I used lengths of SS safety wire threaded through each scales lanyard hole to allow me to quickly and easily pull them out for a look as I went. Once I got to about 6-6.5 minutes I was happy with the color so I removed, rinsed, then washed with Dawn and a toothbrush and rinsed thoroughly. Then, I put them into the pot with the fixative solution. After just a few minutes I noticed the scales were getting lighter than I wanted so I pulled them out, rewashed and rinsed them and put them back into the dye solution for another 2 minutes. This got them darker than I wanted, and I was afraid I had screwed them up by leaving them too long. Oh well... I washed and rinsed again and put them back into the fixative pot and cooked them near a boil for 30 minutes. And once washed and dried, BAM! They were perfect! I can't say if the fixative does anything to stabilize of preserve the dye, but it definitely DOES lighten the color a bit. So, if you plan on using it I would recommend going a bit too dark with the color first, then allow the fixative to lighten it back up a bit.

One more attempt to show the color compared to the K390 blue. My camera just doesn't "see" some colors the way my eyes do...

Looks awesome and great write up. I wish more people would let us know what they used exactly to get their results

[Imaposer]

For those that may be curious, to get the mint green to the K390 blue, I used 4 cups of water, 6 teaspoons of Rit Dyemore Sapphire Blue, and 1/2 teaspoon of Dyemore Graphite. While I'm not sure if it really does anything on plastics, I also followed up the dying with the Rit color fixative.

I brought to water to a low boil, added the dyes and stirred. Then reduced the temp just a bit below a boil and added the scales and let them simmer while checking often for how they were taking the color. I used lengths of SS safety wire threaded through each scales lanyard hole to allow me to quickly and easily pull them out for a look as I went. Once I got to about 6-6.5 minutes I was happy with the color so I removed, rinsed, then washed with Dawn and a toothbrush and rinsed thoroughly. Then, I put them into the pot with the fixative solution. After just a few minutes I noticed the scales were getting lighter than I wanted so I pulled them out, rewashed and rinsed them and put them back into the dye solution for another 2 minutes. This got them darker than I wanted, and I was afraid I had screwed them up by leaving them too long. Oh well... I washed and rinsed again and put them back into the fixative pot and cooked them near a boil for 30 minutes. And once washed and dried, BAM! They were perfect! I can't say if the fixative does anything to stabilize of preserve the dye, but it definitely DOES lighten the color a bit. So, if you plan on using it I would recommend going a bit too dark with the color first, then allow the fixative to lighten it back up a bit.

One more attempt to show the color compared to the K390 blue. My camera just doesn't "see" some colors the way my eyes do...

Looks awesome and great write up. I wish more people would let us know what they used exactly to get their results

Thanks. And yeah, after reading through this thread I felt the same way. That's why I tried to give the details of the formula, technique and times. Obviously, that's only relevant if someone wants to dye a mint green FRCP knife to K390 blue, but still... If someone does, that's how I did it, and the results I got...

[grimlock]

Spyderco catcherman toned down with Kelly green and dark blue rit dye

[Jeb]

Just got two sprint run knifes in this week, the Police4 and the Endura4 both in the Micro Melt PD #1 steel. The Police4 was to bribe my cousin with to help me put the transmission back in my dually that seems to have quite the appetite for them lol...

Anyway, these knifes come with the Burgundy colored scales, not a fan of the color lol. So I dyed them black after cleaning up all the edges and polishing the scales and liners a little.

Didn't have time to shoot any pix of the Police4 before delivery but here is a couple of the Endura after being completed.

Must say I am a big fan of the PD #1 steel, I have bought 4 and kept 3 in this steel, just not so much on the color of the scales of these sprint runs.

[KeepCalm&Carrion]

I've never heard of this before but I'm intrigued. I've always wanted to try a Native in LC200N as a lightweight hiking knife but the green color is less than ideal given where I spend most of my time.

*not my photo

[ladybug93]

I've never heard of this before but I'm intrigued. I've always wanted to try a Native in LC200N as a lightweight hiking knife but the green color is less than ideal given where I spend most of my time.

*not my photo

if i were you, i'd probably go with magnacut and yellow instead. maybe even dye it orange or put a bright lanyard on it.

[grimlock]

Para 3 dyed with rit red, blue and yellow. Easy to spot this one in my knife drawer now.

[KeepCalm&Carrion]

I've never heard of this before but I'm intrigued. I've always wanted to try a Native in LC200N as a lightweight hiking knife but the green color is less than ideal given where I spend most of my time.

*not my photo

if i were you, i'd probably go with magnacut and yellow instead. maybe even dye it orange or put a bright lanyard on it.

Thank you for this suggestion. I never thought about a bright lanyard, but now that you mention it, some type of glow-in-the-dark materials (beads, I guess?) on a short, bright-orange lanyard would be quite practical. And if I use a lanyard, that sorta opens the door for a Dragonfly in SE H2 to take this spot. Decisions, decisions.

[ladybug93]

I've never heard of this before but I'm intrigued. I've always wanted to try a Native in LC200N as a lightweight hiking knife but the green color is less than ideal given where I spend most of my time.

*not my photo

if i were you, i'd probably go with magnacut and yellow instead. maybe even dye it orange or put a bright lanyard on it.

Thank you for this suggestion. I never thought about a bright lanyard, but now that you mention it, some type of glow-in-the-dark materials (beads, I guess?) on a short, bright-orange lanyard would be quite practical. And if I use a lanyard, that sorta opens the door for a Dragonfly in SE H2 to take this spot. Decisions, decisions.

you can also use cordage that has reflective fibers in it for seeing it in the dark with a flashlight.