Staining clear glass??

[Mike Burch]

Tried a search and couldn't find anything.

Has anyone hear ever tried staining clear glass??....say you have a bow you like but the limbs are lighter in color than you like.....you like the veneers but wished it was darker. Is there a way to stain the glass to a darker hue, and still see the veneers underneath?

Thanks, Mike

[lpcjon2]

Did you check the bowyers bench in the main forums

[Mike Burch]

Yep..

[Bob Morrison]

Mike you can a couiple different ways. You can sand the surface with 220 wipe stain on and wipe back off, it leaves a little, if you want it darker, put the stain in your clear finish and spray fog it on the limbs, to the darkness you want.

[Ragnarok Forge]

The stain will only be on the surface of the glass.  The glass itself is impervious to  stains.  Bowbldr's second thought seems like it would work perfectly.

[Bob Morrison]

Sorry, but if you sand the glass with 220 it will take some stain and you spray clear over it.

[manfromthepast]

I would say aniline dye has a much better chance of working than oil or water based stains.

[Ragnarok Forge]

Bowbldr

You are correct that a small amount of stain will stick to the rough surfaces of the glass when it is sanded.  The glass itself does not like to absorb stain and the resin once hardened won't accept stain at all.  The glass resin matrix when hardened properly becomes impervious to almost anything.  When you sand the glass / resin matrix you open up small amounts of fiberous surface area and those areas will hold a small amount of stain in the roughed areas.  

I think we are agreeing while saying things slightly differently.

[Apex Predator]

Draw on it with crayola crayons.  When you get tired of it, wipe it off.  Either that or limbskins.

[2treks]

Nice tip Mr. Morrison. It is great when a salty dog like you jumps up and offers a tip like that.
I may try it just to see how it works.Thank you.