Ink as a stain

[dkurtz]

What do people think of this guys use of ink... specifically, water-based office-supply-store stamp pad ink... as a stain/dye? -> 

I don't know if I'm impressed with the consistency of his coloring, but that may be due simply to his technique. It would certainly be cheap. But is it compatible with the common fillers, sealers, top-coats etc.?

rabbit

[WRGKMC]

I've worked in the copier business for 35 years with all types of liquid inks. Neither oil or water based inks are designed to penetrate. If they were, you'd see the image on the back side of paper which is hundreds of times more porous than wood. Inks would either wipe off the wood easily or smudge badly. Oil based ink may take forever to dry and never bind with the wood.  Clear coating over it may be disastrous. I'd have to say its a bad idea. Just spend $10 at Home Depot buy stain that's designed for wood. A normal ink cartridge cost $30~40 dollars so its an expensive experiment you'll regret. Use the right chemicals for the right jobs

Stains use either alcohol or mineral spirits to penetrate the wood quickly and dry quickly. Water takes a long time to penetrate wood deeply. A guitar body is not a sponge like paper is. Is its not designed to penetrate its not going to permanently bind to the wood.  

You may be able to mix oil based ink with something like Tung oil change its color. I've done this successfully with regular wood stains, but I still suggest using regular wood stains in any case, Less chance of rejection.

The idea of getting different colors on a guitar body don't normally come from stains in any case. What they used are tinted lacquers. They add pigment to the clear lacquer and get transparent colors so the wood grain shows through them vs. a paint that is a non transparent color. In these cases they often bleach the wood to make it lighter so they reflect light through the lacquer better. A darker wood turns darker with additional colors.

There are cases where you want more contrast in the grain. Wood stain sinks into the soft wood pulp first. The harder grain rejects stain sinking in. If the hard grain is light and the softer pulp is stained, it can give that nice grain effect. If the hard grain is dark, it may be better to stain the soft pulp lighter leaving the hard pulp darker. You really have to know your woods and what you want your end results to be before you begin.

Many people don't know nor appreciate the art of woodworking. It seems to be a dieing art and few are willing to take the time to educate themselves. I like others learned much or it from my parents who learned it from theirs. There's a reason you use certain products designed for wood. Its because they work where others don't. Don't waste your time and money attempting to reinvent the wheel, its all been tried before. Still you can Google up wood stains and staining and get all the facts right there.

It may be some of the pigments in ink are polymers that are also used in wood stains, but I'm no chemist and couldn't tell you for sure without researching it deeply then experimenting. I have used things like a felt pen to cover up dings. Its alcohol based ink that does penetrate a bit but it does a poor job. A lacquer stick would be the best fix in those cases. It gets heated and applied, and you can buff and polish it for a transparent fix. Its made of lacquer and is designed to melt and bond with the original surface.

[dkurtz]

Thanks for the thoughtful response. One note is that we aren't talking about printer ink here. That is indeed ludicrously expensive, even for printer applications . Rather this is ink used for stamp pads. In a major big-box office supply store's catalog (which I will not name because I work for them) these go for $5 or $6 for a 2 oz bottle, vs. $20 for the same size of the stains/dyes sold by StewMac. Of course, you have an extremely limited range of colors... black, red and blue (and whatever variations you can mix up using just those three). And I believe the StewMac stuff is concentrated and meant to be thinned, so a 2 oz. bottle may go a much longer way than you might think. I don't know how much you can thin and stretch out this ink.

On reflection it's probably not really worth considering too much farther. You're right: stick with what's proven.

rabbit