Spyderco Forums

These are all nifty!

I seriously have to try this. Have to say though, thanks for the abundance of tips and tricks.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=80112

Here's a bit longer and more current thread.

So you can block dye by painting on some nail polish, dye as you do, and then remove the nail polish with acetone.

DukeBrnz wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 15, 2020 4:47 pm

So you can block dye by painting on some nail polish, dye as you do, and then remove the nail polish with acetone.

Nice! Great idea!

Well thanks Julia!

i was thinking that i would like to try a rit dye project but all of the scales i want to dye are black. is there a way to lighten the black to a grey or put another dark color on it like dark red or dark blue.

rabbitanarchy14 wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 16, 2020 10:48 pm

i was thinking that i would like to try a rit dye project but all of the scales i want to dye are black. is there a way to lighten the black to a grey or put another dark color on it like dark red or dark blue.

No,,, all I have read is you cant lighten it or dye black scales

DukeBrnz wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 15, 2020 4:47 pm

So you can block dye by painting on some nail polish, dye as you do, and then remove the nail polish with acetone.

that is really cool. what color dye did you use for this? i'm going to dye a salt knife red soon as well. i'll also be trying the masking technique. the nail polish method looks cleaner than the hot glue.

has anyone tried brushing dye on to control where it colors, or do you just have to mask off the places you don't want colored and dip it always?

Has anyone dyed the grey that comes in the LW Maxamet models? I have a Maxamet Manix 2 LW on the way and I'd like to take it to an OD green (or maybe a forest green).

kennethsime wrote: ↑

Tue May 05, 2020 11:20 am

Has anyone dyed the grey that comes in the LW Maxamet models? I have a Maxamet Manix 2 LW on the way and I'd like to take it to an OD green (or maybe a forest green).

Well, I tried a mix of RIT All-Purpose Liquid Dye, similar to my Stretch, and came up with zero results. I did not add dish soap, and I did not add vinegar, but I didn't have to do that with my Stretch. Tested at 5 minutes and then at 60 minutes, while the color looked reals cool for about 2 seconds, it rinsed right off. To add insult to injury, the Maxamet had some light surface rust from sitting in the mixture. On the bright side, the rust came right off.

I'm not sure if it's just that Grey FRCP is darker than the Ivory FRN of the Stretch, or if it's because it's a different material.

Would love to hear if anyone has had better results, and how.

Has anyone had any luck on dying their LW Manix? I’ve tried it on my Orange LW and haven’t had success.

kennethsime wrote: ↑

Tue May 05, 2020 11:20 am

Has anyone dyed the grey that comes in the LW Maxamet models? I have a Maxamet Manix 2 LW on the way and I'd like to take it to an OD green (or maybe a forest green).

Here is one I did a few months ago but used blue:


Did the Vtoku2 Endura as well as the hb df2.

legOFwhat? wrote: ↑

Tue May 26, 2020 7:56 am

kennethsime wrote: ↑

Tue May 05, 2020 11:20 am

Has anyone dyed the grey that comes in the LW Maxamet models? I have a Maxamet Manix 2 LW on the way and I'd like to take it to an OD green (or maybe a forest green).

Here is one I did a few months ago but used blue:


Did the Vtoku2 Endura as well as the hb df2.

Wow, great job! Would you mind sharing more about the Manix? What Rit Dye did you use, and what was your process? I'd love this effect with Green.

I’m having a second go at it and not having any success. The frcn scales on the Manix 2 LW’s are a different beast than the frn on the Endura’s. Any tips would help.

Azilla21 wrote: ↑

Tue May 26, 2020 5:50 pm

I’m having a second go at it and not having any success. The frcn scales on the Manix 2 LW’s are a different beast than the frn on the Endura’s. Any tips would help.

I've heard the synthetic dye works better, but haven't tried it yet.

kennethsime wrote: ↑

Tue May 26, 2020 5:10 pm

Wow, great job! Would you mind sharing more about the Manix? What Rit Dye did you use, and what was your process? I'd love this effect with Green.

All 3 knives were dipped in the rit dye liquid without disassembly. The maxamet blade did end up with some light pitting in the blade after only 1-2 minutes, but since it's a user I didn't mind. Since the lw manix2 maxamet had rivets instead of screws so I didn't want to drill them out and then search the internet for the correct screw and barrels. I'm one of the few who doesn't like the lw models compared to G-10.

legOFwhat? wrote: ↑

Wed May 27, 2020 11:57 am

kennethsime wrote: ↑

Tue May 26, 2020 5:10 pm

Wow, great job! Would you mind sharing more about the Manix? What Rit Dye did you use, and what was your process? I'd love this effect with Green.

All 3 knives were dipped in the rit dye liquid without disassembly. The maxamet blade did end up with some light pitting in the blade after only 1-2 minutes, but since it's a user I didn't mind. Since the lw manix2 maxamet had rivets instead of screws so I didn't want to drill them out and then search the internet for the correct screw and barrels. I'm one of the few who doesn't like the lw models compared to G-10.

Did you use the synthetic RIT Dye? Also, how long did you end up soaking? That blue looks great!

kennethsime wrote: ↑

Wed May 27, 2020 11:01 pm

Did you use the synthetic RIT Dye? Also, how long did you end up soaking? That blue looks great!

Yep, it was the synthetic sapphire blue and it was dipped around 2 minutes or so. I let it dangle for 30 or seconds then pull it out and check, back and forth until it got to the desirable darkness. Good luck and can't wait to see your end result!

This was the coyote brown Urban before going into a blue synthetic fabric dye:



It kind of turned out a dark purple-blue, which I quite like. At least I prefer it to the original FRN colour.

Here it is next to a Caribbean which was dyed also in a synthetic fabric dye - this one called ‘Gunmetal’.



The dye seems to have ‘held’ quite well in the former yellow bumblebee stripes.

After dying the Caribbean for about 10-15 minutes in a simmering pot, I decided to use the dye on a yellow Tasman as well.

I can’t remember exactly how long it stayed in the dye for, but probably about 5-8 minutes.

First it turned a dark brown kind of colour, but over the summer it’s faded considerably.



It does get left on a hook in a greenhouse often, so it probably gets a fair bit of UV light. I actually quite like it in its current colour with the warm yellow showing through. But it was a very different outcome to the colour on the Caribbean.