Bone color...

Dave Anderson · Post by **Dave Anderson** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 12:36 am

I have been looking for some bone nuts and saddles -unbleached with a more darker
amber kind of tint to it. Does anyone know of a source for this Or
Does anyone dye the bone for a darker more vintage look? I have tried a couple tests with
amber and yellow tint with poor results.They came out either too yellow or too dark.
Does anyone out there color their bone this way?

kiwigeo · Post by **kiwigeo** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 1:27 am

From another forum:

"soak a bleached bone nut in some coffee for ten minutes and watch what it does! A bit of amber aniline dye will work too..."

I havent tried this...I prefer my nuts clean and sparkly white.

Cheers Martin

Colin S · Post by **Colin S** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 7:39 am

LMI carries unbleached bone, said to be harder than bleached. I always use camel bone which is said to be harder than cow bone because it is 'work hardened'.

Colin

Dave Anderson · Post by **Dave Anderson** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 10:20 am

Coffee stains? OK, I'll try it in the morning. thanks Martin.
Colin, I too have heard that camel is very good hard bone. Also giraffe. I have ordered
some of LMI unbleached a while back. It was darker but not much.
J. Kinnaird told me about Stew-Macs vintage bone that looks just like what I'm looking for.
I don't know how I missed that. Thanks guys !

Taffy Evans · Post by **Taffy Evans** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:36 pm

I've heard those comments above work also, getting the bone too hot on the sander works for me, but I like it white.

Hesh1956 · Post by **Hesh1956** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 10:20 pm

Dave buddy the LMI stuff has been just kind of dirty looking lately and not amber like it used to be. Perhaps you could make a special request to them and I am sure they would hand pick out some amber bone, if they have any.

I tried both the coffee and tea staining thing including soaking it for 24 hours. What I did not do was try it after the nut was completely sanded and polished with micro-mesh. So it all came off for me but may work if you soak a polished nut.

Dave Anderson · Post by **Dave Anderson** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 11:41 pm

Thanks Taffy and Hesh,
I ordered some of the vintage stuff from Stew-mac. We'll see how that
looks. I am trying soaking a polished nut in some strong black coffee and
I'll post some pics when done...

Dave Anderson · Post by **Dave Anderson** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:16 am

OK , here after 15 mins. soaking in coffee, are the results...
The "Coffee Nut" is on the right. Looks good to me !

[/img]

Hesh1956 · Post by **Hesh1956** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:43 am

Well Dave I feel funny being the one to tell you that your nuts look great.......

sebastiaan56 · Post by **sebastiaan56** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:06 am

Does anyone know how lightfast coffee is as a stain?

Dave Anderson · Post by **Dave Anderson** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:55 pm

Hey Hesh, Thanks!

Paul B · Post by **Paul B** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:59 pm

Tea also works. You might also want to give it a try and see how it goes. Unless you're happy with the coffee.

Lillian · Post by **Lillian** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:47 pm

Tea will give you a slightly more orange, amber color, where as the coffee will be more brown. Both are light fast are a commonly used to dye for fabric.

Hesh1956 · Post by **Hesh1956** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:43 pm

While we are talking about staining our nuts.......

Why not use Easter Egg coloring?

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