hickory shafts dyed with rit and rubbing alcohol

[don s]

these arrow shafts were given to me by a friend over a year ago. i decided since they are hickory, i'm going to make them up for stumping. this isn't about arrow making so much as it is about using rit dye to color your wood shafts as well as risers and or limbs. some people think that rubbing(isopropyl)alcohol can't or shouldn't be mixed with the rit dye. that denatured alcohol should be used. actually, both can be used. i always use rubbing alcohol. only because we always seem to have it on hand for medical reasons. you don't need much. i pour a little alcohol in a small glass bowl and use just enough powdered dye to get the color i want. take an old rag and just have at it. it dries quickly and doesn't raise the grain like water would. if you need it darker, just rag some more on until it's as dark as you want or add more powder to your mix. these took ten minutes to do. don

[don s]

this purple pyramid bow was done for my daughter with rit dye and rubbing alcohol and then finished with tru oil. don

[Grey Taylor]

Those turned out great, Don.
I love working with purple. I recently used liquid Rit dye for a set of arrows: purple Sitka spruce shafts, purple acrylic paint cresting, purple feathers, and purple nocks. They would have been perfect with that purple bow!

Guy

[don s]

thanks grey, i had a few ramin shafts from when she was younger and since the bow is low weight i made her a few dyed purple with yellow nocks and fletching. i just wanted to point out that you don't always have to use denatured. most people have isopropyl in their home for medical use. maybe you only have a few arrows or your doing that kids bow and you need that pink or blue that you just aren't going to get from conventional stains. i also did another bow for a young guy. it is just like my daughters and i dyed the belly forest green. i backed it with white butcher paper and used green, brown and black to do a camo pattern. i don't have pics of that one. if he's ever here shooting it, i'll take a couple pics. don

[Grey Taylor]

Don, I think your point is well made.
I apologize for starting that whole rodeo. When you didn't mention what kind of alcohol to use I thought I'd help out. I had no idea it would end up being such a controversial issue    

Guy

[don s]

grey, i've been wanting to do a post about it anyway. some times people want to do a kids bow and need pink for their little girl. but, where do you ge pink stain? i just wanted to show that you don't need to spend a lot and some things you may already have on hand. sometimes i get nuts. it's all good. don

[monterey]

Don, your post is just in time for me.  I'm near ready to finish a bow for my granddaughter and she loves pink.

She has four wildman brothers and I expected a tom boy, but she is a natural born princess!

Thanks for the post.

Hope I don't muddy things further, but wonder if there is any diff between 70% and 90% isopropyl??

[don s]

theres nothing to muddy. i just got nuts and had blinders on. i get that way sometimes. no difference in percentages. your just using it in place of water. grain won't raise and wood will dry quicker. don

[Grey Taylor]

If I may offer a suggestion...
Rit has two "pinkish" colors: Petal Pink and Fuschia. Depending upon your mix, application, substrate, and the way you hold your tongue, either one of these could give you the perfect pink you want on the bow. I suggest getting both and then doing plenty of testing to be sure you get the color you want before applying any dye to the bow.
Have fun and be sure to post pictures when you get the princess and her bow together.

Guy

[don s]

someone just put this link up in pow wow. click on the color formula guide, find the shade you want and see what the mix is. don  http://ritdye.com/

[Grey Taylor]

Sorry, Don... Here I go being a butt head again    

I'm not sure how well that formulae guide will work for our purposes. Rit dye is meant to be mixed with water and those color formulaes use different colors and water to get the specific colors. Since we mix Rit with alcohol it could change things. I remember trying black Rit dye mixed with alcohol and not getting black on the arrow shafts. It was a beautiful burgundy but it sure wasn't the black I wanted.
I guess the thing to do is test before dyeing the actual project.

Guy

[monterey]

Greg, good advice on testing before leaping!

[don s]

stop it grey, your not doing anything wrong. this forum is for everyone and everyones opinions and ideas. i got on a soapbox about something trivial and got carried away. don