I wanted to see what soaking a piece of wood in dye would do. I've heard of logs sinking in bodies of water, that end up with beautiful coloration. Given I only thought of this in November, it was a limited amount of time. So I decided to use dye dissolved in alcohol, as to speed up the dry time. I used a powdered blue and yellow dye to make the green dye. That resulted in some unexpected coloration in the end. I guess we'll call this a blue spruce. I also thought making a Christmas tree, as opposed to say a vase, with this experiment would show how deep the dye can get into the wood.
I wish I would have taken the weight of the blank before the soak, as well as the weight of the alcohol. In the experiment I teased in this video (10 month soak, giving 2 months for it to evaporate), I will make sure to do so. However, I did take weights of the blank after the soak. The blank was placed in the dye on November 25th, removed on December 9th. The weight was taken at the following times:
December 9 7:05pm - 19.75 oz
December 10 9:12am - 17.20 oz
December 10 8:00pm - 17.35 oz
December 11 9:00am - 15.40 oz
December 11 8:01pm - 14.90 oz
December 12 9:09am - 14.35 oz
December 12 7:31pm - 13.95 oz
December 13 9:51am - 13.65 oz
December 13 9:00pm - 13.45 oz
December 14 8:40am - 13.30 oz
December 15 6:00am - 13.00 oz
December 15 7:30pm - 12.85 oz
December 16 8:30am - 12.70 oz
December 17 8:20am - 12.40 oz
December 17 8:00pm - 12.35 oz
December 18 10:00pm - 12.15 oz
December 19 8:17am - 12.05 oz
December 19 1:40pm - 12.05 oz
For the "finish" I just used multiple coats of mineral oil. As I did not want to darken the wood, which I think would have made the dye stand out less. To place my logo/maker's mark, I sealed the wood with a shellac based sanding sealer and I printed it on a type of sticker and used uv resin.
I hope you found this as interesting as I did.
Christmas 2025 will have the video of a 10 month soak.
DISCLAIMER:
This video is for ENTERTAINMENT purposes only. Woodworking can be dangerous. Anyone attempting to use woodworking tools should have a basic knowledge of woodworking and be familiar with the proper use and safety precautions associated with these tools. I would recommend wearing appropriate personal protective equipment. As is known in the hobby/industry, everyone is responsible for their own safety.
I hope you enjoy the video. Thank you for watching!
#woodturning #christmastree #dyedwood #woodturner #maker