Advice for dying yellow FRN purple

[Soanso McMasters]

I picked up a Tasman Salt in yellow for my wife. She likes purple best. Any advice for dying the FRN? Since this is a salt knife can I skip disassembly?

[Toucan]

I have an H1 Ladybug that I dyed purple. I did not disassemble, though there is hardware that could hypothetically corrode in both models. I figured the risk was minimal.

I will say, if you haven't Rit-dyed before, that the solution needs to be simmering, if not boiling. Even very hot purple Rit dye solution just gets you a dingy maroonish brown color. Other colors might look ok at those temps, but the purple dye looks especially bad if not done boiling hot.

The yellow FRN takes the purple dye VERY quickly. I think I did 30 seconds total and the knife is a midnight purple that looks black except in direct sunlight. That is fine, but if you want a lighter purple, I would maybe try 5 second increments and rinse in cold water between dunkings to dial in the right shade of purple.

This is true of all FRN dyeing, but wear gloves and give the knife a soak in rubbing alcohol/ water and dish soap, then wipe it down with paper towels. Grease and grime on the FRN can lead to uneven patches of dye.

[Soanso McMasters]

No deformation of the FRN at those temps?

[Toucan]

None that I noticed, but I would suspend the knife in the solution via a wire through the spydie hole so that the FRN doesn't contact the bottom of the vessel. The bottom of the pot can get really hot.

There are different types of nylon like nylon 6, nylon 6,6, nylon 12, etc. All have different glass transition points, which would determine whether the nylon loses significant rigidity in boiling water. I'm not sure what kind of nylon is in Spyderco FRN, or how much glass they fill it with -- which would also affect deforming.

I can't guarantee there won't be deformation, but mine was fine. I guess larger knives could be more vulnerable to deforming under the leverage of their own weight. I don't really think it will be much of an issue though.

Brief exposure, and I allowed the knife to cool off a little while suspended on the wire, and submerged it in room temp water afterwards. Didn't handle the handle until it was at room temp just to be extra careful about deforming anything.

I also had concerns about heat causing deformation, so I originally dyed the knife at 140F. Nothing. 160F/170F was where I got that dingey maroon color from. Finally, I just dunked it in the solution at 212F and got better results. I'm sure I could have found a lower ideal temperature, but it was hard after hitting the maroon-brown color to see minor changes. 180F, 190F, or 200F might be perfectly serviceable, idk.

I would take comfort in that rit is a surface treatment, and it doesn't really take much time at all to dye it. So exposure to the heat is for a brief period of time.

What color purple are you shooting for? if it's a dark purple, you could do what I did and move up temps incrementally until you get desired results. If you want a pale shade I think just a really quick dunk in boiling solution, or possibly a diluted solution would work.

Once last thing. Add more vinegar to the solution than you would for dying organic material. I think roughly doubling it is recomended. I can't remember if I used all purpose or synthetic Rit. All purpose is much less effective as it contains several dyes meant for various materials, but it will still dye nylon -- maybe not as strongly.

Search the forums. Many people have dyed FRN and everyone has a slightly different way of doing it. Luckily, I don't think I've seen anyone one bend, melt, or deform their knives during a Rit dyeing.

Good luck!

[Soanso McMasters]

Thanks for the advice!

[twinboysdad]

My advice- Don’t!

[911rsr]

twinboysdad -- Why?

[ZrowsN1s]

I just re-dyed my Dfly in simmerimg rit-dye. I simmered it quite a bit and didn't take it apart before doing so. Didn't seem to have any negative effects.

I was using Kentucky Sky RitDye-More. Which is a very light blue. A 30 second -1 min dunk will get you a nice lime green color. But as I have had problems with blue color fading I went for a deeper dye job and dunked it 7 or 8 times. Rinsing it with cool water in between dunks. The result was a nice teal color.

I can still see hints of yellow undertones in some spots. I cleaned it pretty well before hand, but this is a well used and carried knife so oil/dirt may be the culprit there. Rit Dye is definitely best on new knives.

[ZrowsN1s]

I'm sharpening it right now, but here is a pic

[Coastal]

I dunk Salts fully assembled, everything else I dunk scales only. A drawback to dunking an assembled knife is that the solution will climb up gaps and seams by capillary action, and can ruin a fade. It's no problem if you're dying a solid color.

I use RIT all-purpose and DyeMore interchageably. I use a whole jar per 2 quarts of water, in a glass Pyrex container. RIT dye will not adhere to the glass.

Heat the solution until it boils slightly, then reduce the heat and hold it just below boiling, the closer to boiling the better. The only reason I don't boil them is to keep the dye solution from splashing. Add about a teaspoon of dish soap. I hang the scales or entire knives from bent coat hangers, and have had no issues letting them touch, or even rest on, the bottom. The solution will not exceed 212º, so I doubt FRN or G-10 will deform.

My experience is that G-10 takes dye better and more predictably than FRN, but that it takes longer. Jade G-10 has the advantage of being an almost neutral color, so it ends up closer to the color of the dye. Sometimes yellow FRN changes color so fast that it can get away from you, and the scales you wanted to be light green end up olive drab, and the ones you wanted to be orange end up red. Dipping them a few seconds at a time is a great idea!

I am excited to hear that someone is trying for a purple dye job, starting with yellow FRN. I haven't tried it, but if someone has done it, or does it in the future, I want to see pictures! Good luck!

[ZrowsN1s]

Thanks for the advice!

So I had a thought. Yellow and purple will make brown when you mix them. It maybe be that if you just keep dying it eventually the brown will look more purple than brown. I was able to achieve teal out of yellow and light blue. So who knows.

But my thought was Red and Blue make Purple.
It's easy to get a nice red color on yellow FRN. Maybe dye the scales red first, then use blue dye to make them purple.