Rit Dye Question

[BP_]

I have a camo/satin Military I am thinking about doing a dye job on. Does anyone have any experience dying camo scales black? I think black camo pattern would be really cool, but I can only assume the black would cover up everything and just be one solid color. Input?

I've also seen mixed opinions on wether or not to disassemble the knife to dye the scales. If anyone would like to chime in on the best technique, I would appreciate it. I know there are many threads on how to rit dye scales, I'm just curious if one method is better than another. I have never disassembled a Military, but I can't imagine it would be too difficult. Thanks!

 

[toxophilus]

Hi, I had obtained pair of Cruwear scales that the previous owner had taken off of his and I wanted to experiment with different shades on my CTS-XHP blade since the person I bought that original Military had sanded the OEM scales smooth. I disassembled the knife which was pretty easy so the color would take on the entire scale behind the liners etc. I would suggest that you add a quarter of whatever color you're going for and submerge for a little while to see what shade/hue you get and if you want it darker add more dye and/or submerge it longer.

I suspend the scales in a pot of water/vinegar and powdered RIT dye (simmer @45 minutes); Yellow & Blue got me a bit green (Fig 1), later I decided to make it a bit darker by doing the same process with a bit of red added but that turned out too much of red rock hue. Finally settled on RIT Sandstone, mixed with the previous red it came out a dark brown (Fig 2).

Picked up a user Cruwear, cleaned that one up and RIT dyed it Pearl Gray so the dirt would show up less (Fig 3).

The last example is a factory 'Seconds' blurple that was RIT dyed to Royal Blue (Fig 4); on this one there was red loc-tite that I couldn't get off but after boiling the scales, the liner that was giving me issues came off easily.

Apologies if the images post more than once, getting used to the controls on this new forum structure...

Fig 1


Fig 2


Fig 3


Fig 4

 

[anycal]

FWIW, and not sure if the pic will do it justice...

I used dark green RIT. Used the whole box in 32oz of water. Water looked almost black, so I decided to dilute it with another 32 ounces of water. Brought the water to boil, put the scales in, turned off the heat, let the scales sit for 30 minutes.

The main difference, what used to be beige is now green. Anything green is now darker green. And the scales absorbed the dye differently. Probably can't tell once on a knife. I will likely do it again to go darker. May even try different color.

If you go black, and want to maintain the camo pattern, I would cut the RIT amount by half. You can always go darker.

 

[BP_]

Awesome. Good info, thanks guys. I thought I might try the black camo on my way to solid black, just to see how it works.

I also had that fear mentioned above, of the knife not disassembling easily, but I suppose a little common sense and patience will do the trick. I am adept at these kinds of things anyway, I just get in my own head when it's a new knife

I really like how the blurple came out! I love my blurple but that blue just looks darn cool and pops like crazy.

Has anyone ever had any of the dye come off? Rub off on hands, fingers, clothes, or otherwise?

 

[on_the_edge]

Something I forgot to mention in your other thread was that I used liquid RIT, not the powdered stuff. Some folks say that makes a difference and I think IIRC folks who have done both have generally preferred the powder. Still, I had no problems using the liquid RIT on my camo PM2. I've never had the dye rub off on my hands or clothing either.

If you do take your knife apart, as I took mine apart, I would highly recommend that you get Wiha bits rather than some cheap stuff at Lowes made out of soft metal. Wiha bits are the only bits I will use given their hardness and precision manufacturing.

 

[toxophilus]

Awesome. Good info, thanks guys. I thought I might try the black camo on my way to solid black, just to see how it works.

I also had that fear mentioned above, of the knife not disassembling easily, but I suppose a little common sense and patience will do the trick. I am adept at these kinds of things anyway, I just get in my own head when it's a new knife

I really like how the blurple came out! I love my blurple but that blue just looks darn cool and pops like crazy.

Has anyone ever had any of the dye come off? Rub off on hands, fingers, clothes, or otherwise?

I forgot to add, after the dye job I run the scales under cold water (outside hose) for about a minute; seems to help set the color and I have yet to have any of it rub off.

I did experiment with lightening the Pearl Gray scales with hair salon grade peroxide in the sun and they came out more of light denim since I last took that picture.

 

[BP_]

I really like how that grey camo came out! I agree, I need some Wiha bits, I've bent several others learning that lesson the hard way.

It's also nice to know it doesn't rub off, even over time. I'll do the cold hose water trick to make sure. Thanks!

 

[uxo2]

OP.

Add a little Salt and some vinegar to the RIT dye.

Here is my CruWare Manix2 with Grey scales that suffered from Dirty scale syndrome.
Emerald RIT Dye.

 

[BP_]

Nice! I like the way that color turned out. Noted to add salt and vinegar.

How much of each should I add? What exactly does that do to the dye?

 

[Rusty_shackelford]

I was about to start a thread with some RIT dye questions.
I was going to try the foliage green scales on a g10 dragonfly2.
I was hoping to get them closer to a pine or Forrest green.
Any other tip/tricks would be appreciated.

 

[91bravo]

I've dyed tons of micarta scales and have never added the vinegar or salt. What exactly does it do? 10-15 min soak always did the trick for me. I don't bring my water to a boil, as I have warped some scales before. I bring it almost to a boil, when the water is giving off steam. Remove from heat, drop the handles in for 15 min and voila! Nice colored scales! I agree with rinsing under cold water to lock the dye in. Never had any color bleed off onto my hands... As to liquid or tablet, I've great success with both and can't tell a difference between the two.

 

[BP_]

Thanks for the reply. I'm still interested in some input on the vinegar, it's not the first time I've heard it. It's nice to know from people with experience that they dye doesn't come off on skin or clothes though, no matter how it's done. I sweat and sometimes my jeans get saturated so I was wondering.

 

[91bravo]

Hi, I had obtained pair of Cruwear scales that the previous owner had taken off of his and I wanted to experiment with different shades on my CTS-XHP blade since the person I bought that original Military had sanded the OEM scales smooth. I disassembled the knife which was pretty easy so the color would take on the entire scale behind the liners etc. I would suggest that you add a quarter of whatever color you're going for and submerge for a little while to see what shade/hue you get and if you want it darker add more dye and/or submerge it longer.

I suspend the scales in a pot of water/vinegar and powdered RIT dye (simmer @45 minutes); Yellow & Blue got me a bit green (Fig 1), later I decided to make it a bit darker by doing the same process with a bit of red added but that turned out too much of red rock hue. Finally settled on RIT Sandstone, mixed with the previous red it came out a dark brown (Fig 2).

Picked up a user Cruwear, cleaned that one up and RIT dyed it Pearl Gray so the dirt would show up less (Fig 3).

The last example is a factory 'Seconds' blurple that was RIT dyed to Royal Blue (Fig 4); on this one there was red loc-tite that I couldn't get off but after boiling the scales, the liner that was giving me issues came off easily.

Apologies if the images post more than once, getting used to the controls on this new forum structure...

Fig 1
View attachment 733517

Fig 2
View attachment 733518 View attachment 733517 View attachment 733518

Fig 3
View attachment 733524

Fig 4
View attachment 733526

I love how the blurple turned out. I'm gonna have to do this to my own Millie!

 

[uxo2]

https://www.ritdye.com/faq/why-should-i-add-salt-or-vinegar-to-my-dye-bath/

Synthetic materials.
I add about a tea spoon of each.
House will smell like vinegar.

As 91bravo stated. Simmer.
I check the color saturation ever 10 minutes.
Cold water rinse. Dry.. Color check in day light.
If I don't like it... Run under tap to get them wet then put them back in
and continue cycle.

Once your done.. Rinse to remove dying agent and dry..
No color bleed off.

 

[jlhoffman74]

Rit Dye now makes a dye for synthetics, works rock solid. No bleed off. Didn't have to add anything.

 

[BP_]

Well, that was a terrible experience. It created a really dark line around the outside edge of the scales. Other than that, they soaked up very minimal dye at all. Now I am the proud owner of an ugly off colored green camo striped Military.

I believe I followed what I was supposed to do, but I must have done something wrong. I let them soak about an hour, because I wanted them black. No such luck. Not sure what I did, but I won't be doing it again. I am now officially amazed at the results I've seen from others. Some kind of magic I don't possess, I guess.

 

[uxo2]

This stuff works real good when simmering hot.
Smells bad too.

 

[BP_]

This stuff works real good when simmering hot.
Smells bad too.

I completely forgot all about that stuff. I'll have to pick some up tomorrow and reverse it. Thanks

 

[on_the_edge]

Do you by chance have a pic? I'm not morbid, but a pic may hint at what happened.

 

[BP_]

Do you by chance have a pic? I'm not morbid, but a pic may hint at what happened.

Sorry, should have done that the first time



I should also add, I cleaned them thoroughly and dried them using gloves so as not to get the oil from my hands on them before I put them in the dye. I also added vinegar and salt.