OK, if you want my two cents? Don't use Dyemore. It continues to bleed color over time. They sell a fixative for it but it doesn't work very well on solid items -- it's intended for clothing dyeing, and I am sure it works just fine for that, but when it comes to fixing dye that's penetrated below the surface of G-10 it just doesn't do the job. Oil and lube accentuates the bleed out, it makes it easier for Dyemore pigments to slip free of the resin matrix and end up staining your pocket or hand or storage. How do I know? I've dyed dozens of G-10 and FRN knives with both regular all purpose dye and Dyemore, is how.
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Thanks for this input!
Now I just have to figure out some textile to use my bottle of purple dyemore on...
OK, if you want my two cents? Don't use Dyemore. It continues to bleed color over time. They sell a fixative for it but it doesn't work very well on solid items -- it's intended for clothing dyeing, and I am sure it works just fine for that, but when it comes to fixing dye that's penetrated below the surface of G-10 it just doesn't do the job. Oil and lube accentuates the bleed out, it makes it easier for Dyemore pigments to slip free of the resin matrix and end up staining your pocket or hand or storage. How do I know? I've dyed dozens of G-10 and FRN knives with both regular all purpose dye and Dyemore, is how.
Use the all purpose dye even though you need it at a simmer before it will really work on G-10. it will take longer to penetrate the substrate.... but once it's set up in the substrate and you give it a good alcohol rinse and dry and you work the scales with an oiled cloth for a bit, you don't get any dye bleed. You're good to go. It sets up stronger.
One other thing to keep in mind is not all G-10 is created equally. Some of the resins people use to make it are easier to dye than others. Take 'jade' G-10 -- get a jade knife from CJRB and the scales will dye fast. Get the jade G-10 Mule handles from Halpern? Yeah, you'll be at the stove for over an hour before you see what you need to see.
Does the "Dyemore" also bleed with FRN? That's definitely something I want to avoid.
OK, if you want my two cents? Don't use Dyemore. It continues to bleed color over time. They sell a fixative for it but it doesn't work very well on solid items -- it's intended for clothing dyeing, and I am sure it works just fine for that, but when it comes to fixing dye that's penetrated below the surface of G-10 it just doesn't do the job. Oil and lube accentuates the bleed out, it makes it easier for Dyemore pigments to slip free of the resin matrix and end up staining your pocket or hand or storage. How do I know? I've dyed dozens of G-10 and FRN knives with both regular all purpose dye and Dyemore, is how.
Use the all purpose dye even though you need it at a simmer before it will really work on G-10. it will take longer to penetrate the substrate.... but once it's set up in the substrate and you give it a good alcohol rinse and dry and you work the scales with an oiled cloth for a bit, you don't get any dye bleed. You're good to go. It sets up stronger.
One other thing to keep in mind is not all G-10 is created equally. Some of the resins people use to make it are easier to dye than others. Take 'jade' G-10 -- get a jade knife from CJRB and the scales will dye fast. Get the jade G-10 Mule handles from Halpern? Yeah, you'll be at the stove for over an hour before you see what you need to see.
Does the "Dyemore" also bleed with FRN? That's definitely something I want to avoid.
Yup.
It bleeds with anything if you don't use the fixative they sell with it. It's designed to require a fixative to set up permanently, as opposed to the all purpose dye which does not. The problem is that the fixative doesn't really work on solid material so well even if it's a synthetic material.
I think some folks get thrown because Dyemore will work a LOT faster on G-10 and FRN. Seems like the all purpose dye takes anywhere from three to five times as long to color the substrate as Dyemore does. And it will still work with lower temperature dye, whereas some kinds of G-10 can sit in most kinds of all-purpose Rit at lower temperatures for a long time without taking up any color at all. So you get people thinking that Dyemore works better or that the all purpose stuff doesn't work at all. And indeed it does work faster! It's just that with the all purpose dye, the bleed out seems to stop pretty quickly -if you rinse well with water and then alcohol, let it dry, then rub on some oil and work it with a cloth for a bit you stop seeing any dye bleeding back out in a matter of minutes. With Dyemore it just keeps leaching out dye over time -- zealous rinsing and working in the oil can reduce this but won't stop it. You'll keep noticing dye on your hand and in your pocket, especially if you sweat.
If there's a trick to make it stop wholly I'd love to hear about it, because I really like the Dyemore 'sapphire blue' and 'racing red'. But I could never solve the problem of bleed-out.
