Custom Dyed GEC’s by Nathan & Travis

[Travman]

‘

More great results, superb difference.

I wonder if he has any GREEN dye....?? I have a 73 Beaver Tail in Ivory Bone aka verdigris that might benefit

As far as I know, he doesn’t have any green dye. It would be a nice fix for your knife though.

Will Power Edit: I just talked with Nathan. He just saw his finisher friend yesterday and he is going to order more red dye for Nathan. He may also be able to get yellow and green. I’ll let you know if he gets green.

 

[ephsea]

‘

As far as I know, he doesn’t have any green dye. It would be a nice fix for your knife though.

Will Power Edit: I just talked with Nathan. He just saw his finisher friend yesterday and he is going to order more red dye for Nathan. He may also be able to get yellow and green. I’ll let you know if he gets green.

Travis, have I told lately that you're a swell guy with gorgeous knives?!

 

[Travman]

Here is a 94 Nathan worked on. Before:

After:

 

[madtaz63]

Here is a 94 Nathan worked on. Before:

After:

Blood Red Dye?

 

[birdsbeaks]

Blood Red Dye?

By Jove, it looks like Hemlock Green!

 

[Travman]

Blood Red Dye?

Just more red dye with longer lengths of time in the dye bath which leads to darker red bone.

 

[Travman]

We could have left this one alone, but I thought it looked slightly washed out. Wanted something that looked older. Before:

Here is the after picture of the dyed fixed blade:

 

[TheIncredibleHoke]

That after photo is sweet! Subtle, but definite improvement.

 

[Will Power]

Yes, looks like a Ten Year carry knife now. I'd like my similar boned White Owl to see some of that

 

[TheIncredibleHoke]

Yes, looks like a Ten Year carry knife now. I'd like my similar boned White Owl to see some of that

You and me both! I would need to actually carry my White Owl to achieve that.

 

[Travman]

Very nice dye job. I dyed a red #13 Speaker Jack with RIT dye several years back, but went for a dark brown rather than sticking with red. The dye job turned out ok (ended up very dark), but it did have some adverse affects on the spring and blade (and I thought I’d done a good job keeping the blade out of the dye).

I’m really glad you posted this. That is exactly the same sort of corrosion that I would get when I would use RIT dye’s. It is simply too salty for carbon steel. Have you tried using Flitz to clean up those blades and back springs?

 

[Travman]

I bought another white bone Pemberton that I spent the day trying to dye orange. Here are the before pictures.

And this is after several hours, a lot of mess, and multiple attempts. The orange dye that I’m using is a very vibrant and bright orange. This bone isn’t absorbing this dye very easily. I’m not gonna give up though. I’m gonna keep working on it.

 

[waynorth]

We could have left this one alone, but I thought it looked slightly washed out. Wanted something that looked older. Before:

After:

The after-photo seems to not work here???

 

[Travman]

The after-photo seems to not work here???

My photo hosting site let me down several months ago. Imgur inexplicably canceled my account. Some of my pictures still show up even though I can not use that account anymore. Unfortunately many of my pictures are gone. Originally I thought that perhaps my account was cancelled because of the knife pictures. Now I think they dumped my because of my volume. They never gave a reason. I think they probably just wanted to save some space.

I will go back and fix that link for you. I’ll find another picture of that dyed fixed blade.

 

[draggat]

These look amazing!

Out of curiosity, has anyone ever tried dye on smooth stag instead of white bone? I've seen some stag that just had no figure at all and seemed visually really similar to a sort of white/yellow bone, but I don't know if the porosity or anything is different that would make it not take dye as well.

These are all stag of the Pere David variety. I found them to be a bit ugly so I sanded out the brown bits before dyeing the red and blue ones. They absorbed the dye faster than bone.





I've also dyed several GEC's with results similar to what is seen in this thread using Fiebings Pro Leather Dye. It is alcohol based and doesn't cause any corrosion. I even left a knife to soak in the dye for a week (sealed inside a ziplock bag) with no adverse results.

This dye is colorfast and doesn't require any type of heat to work. Just need to be careful not to get it on your skin.

The hardest part is rinsing the excess dye out. I always used rubbing alcohol inside a ziplock bag, soaking the knife until the alcohol runs clear.

This one started life as a mustard color. The Patina was forced with vinegar, the dye did not harm to the metal.

 

[GaiusJulius]

Travman Thanks for looking for another pic of that knife in post #67, I’m curious.

I have a White Owl with very “faded” stripes, and I’m seriously contemplating having it “enhanced” -in the red vein, perhaps, a la #35 cattle knife.

At this point it’s like a white bone knife with a lot of “inclusions,” (to use a jewelry term) which I *think* will probably end up looking like very dark red/black spots on the scales (much as they do now really.)

I’d also like to polish the shield smooth to remove the “White Owl” inscription but I’m undecided as to whether to do this before or after dye. I’m thinking before is safer but still hemming and hawing over the ideal method of attack.

 

[Travman]

Dyed another one. Before:

After. I was going for a reddish brown.

 

[waynorth]

My photo hosting site let me down several months ago. Imgur inexplicably canceled my account. Some of my pictures still show up even though I can not use that account anymore. Unfortunately many of my pictures are gone. Originally I thought that perhaps my account was cancelled because of the knife pictures. Now I think they dumped my because of my volume. They never gave a reason. I think they probably just wanted to save some space.

I will go back and fix that link for you. I’ll find another picture of that dyed fixed blade.

Thanks Travis!!

 

[Travman]

I bought another white bone Pemberton that I spent the day trying to dye orange. Here are the before pictures.

And this is after several hours, a lot of mess, and multiple attempts. The orange dye that I’m using is a very vibrant and bright orange. This bone isn’t absorbing this dye very easily. I’m not gonna give up though. I’m gonna keep working on it.

I have applied the orange dye on this one a few more times trying to make it darker orange. It is very slow going. It is almost like the bone has reached its saturation point.

 

[draggat]

I have applied the orange dye on this one a few more times trying to make it darker orange. It is very slow going. It is almost like the bone has reached its saturation point.

.

I think it looks great! You could try leaving it to soak for several days in a sealed container. I did that to two different GEC'S and had no corrosion. As long as you took care to ensure no water, you'd probably be fine. It took about 5 or 6 days but mine had really good saturation