How To Dye Dymondwood?

being pretty darn water resistant due to the epoxy or whatever is used to make it I'd expect it to be about impossible. not sure what would happen with really hot water as used in rit dying but I'd expect bad things to happen to the dymondwood from the heat.

in other words I wouldn't try it.
 
It has so much resin in it I'd think it would just run off like water.... I wouldn't waste my time and take a chance of ruining it...
 
I wouldn't think so, but someone on here dyed a buck lite and I wouldn't have thought that would take either.
 
I agree with everyone above on the ability of the resin impregnated dymondwood to accept home brewed dye.

I have Rit dyed the sand colored scales for the Vantage 842 (Valox scale ?) , now discontinued, and wrote a story on it in the past.
I went bright orange but some color fading occurs with use and time. You may can find this Vantage on the bay or elsewhere but usually with partially serrated blade. 300

This one was dated 2012, tried a bone Model 55 at same time and wish that I had not. Unsatisfactory color. Was hoping for a more 'camel bone' color. I would name this shade 'gun oil"stained.
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300Bucks said:
I agree on the ability of the resin impregnated dymondwood to change colors.

I have Rit dyed the sand colored scales for the Vantage 842 (Valox scale ?) , now discontinued, and wrote a story on it in the past.
I went bright orange but some color fading occurs with use and time. You may can find this Vantage on the bay or elsewhere but usually with partially serrated blade. 300

This one was dated 2012, tried a bone Model 55 at same time and wish that I had not. Unsatisfactory color. Was hoping for a more 'camel bone' color. I would name this shade 'gun oil"stained.
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confused Sir. you agree or think the dymondwood can or cant be dyed?

the plastic, frn or whatnot sure can. folks do it all the time. your picture, Sir is a plastic frn or whatever glass nylon buck uses, isnt it? appears orangish in the pic.
 
The resin in the Dymondwood can be dyed to an extent. The dyeing is very much surface level in nature; if you sand the surface you will remove the dyed layer. I've used RIT dye to darken my charcoal Dymondwood scales. After this, the exposed wood fibers on the surface of the Dymondwood swell and create a rougher surface than you originally start with. I used a layer of cyanoacrylate as a varnish of sorts, and polished that to give my handles a smooth finish.

I'm not sure how well the process will work with other colors, but I used black dye on my Vantage to darken the Dymondwood. Then II coate with a thin layer of super glue and polished it up.
 
GundaManiac said:
The resin in the Dymondwood can be dyed to an extent. The dyeing is very much surface level in nature; if you sand the surface you will remove the dyed layer. I've used RIT dye to darken my charcoal Dymondwood scales. After this, the exposed wood fibers on the surface of the Dymondwood swell and create a rougher surface than you originally start with. I used a layer of cyanoacrylate as a varnish of sorts, and polished that to give my handles a smooth finish.

I'm not sure how well the process will work with other colors, but I used black dye on my Vantage to darken the Dymondwood. Then II coate with a thin layer of super glue and polished it up.
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So basically what you are saying is that it can be dyed to some extent but then it needs some sort of protective coating over the top to keep it from coming off. Do I understand you correctly?

I learn something new everyday around here.
 
Sounds like you can slap some paint and varnish on it but ain't nothing penetrating it. I've sanded it and I don't recommend that either.
 
DocT said:
So basically what you are saying is that it can be dyed to some extent but then it needs some sort of protective coating over the top to keep it from coming off. Do I understand you correctly?

I learn something new everyday around here.
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Hi Doc, that's right. The dye doesn't penetrate deep. Sanding with something like 120 grit is enough to reveal the original coloring after dyeing. I read about people finishing Dymondwood with super glue, so I gave it a try myself after I dyed my scales, with the results above. I carried that Vantage for a couple years, and it lasted pretty well.

As for why I did it, I wanted to darken the scales so they looked more like ebony or some other dark wood. After doing this, I also swapped out the blade for a Vantage Pro S30V one, and polished the clip, liners, and rear handle spacer. It was a really nice classy EDC =)
 
Question answered to a degree. I have gone to actual knife stores and with a kind word was allowed to look thru all their boxes to find a Vantage DW scale I liked. If you hate it there should be a bunch of coatings and colored epoxies that might help. Thin superglue (Cy Ar) is used to coat custom made wooden pens and fancy thread wraps on some fishing rods. But, it is a special water thin type glue. Custom rod builders use a clock like motor to constantly rotate the rod to get even coverage. On a knife I guess you do one side at a time.

What ever the scale material my Vantage shown was, Rit soak into it and I was a little nervous and removed it from the hot water/dye a little earlier than the time I had researched in the Traditional Knife forum. 300
 
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