blue grain pop

Has anybody tried or seen the grain popped with a blue dye or ink added to the timbermate?

Nope but I did this instead.....

Attachment 18922
Indoor shot
Attachment 18923
Outdoor shot

Check the build thread in my signature if you want to know more.

Cheers, Waz

EDIT: uploaded wrong photos, should be good now

I've seen a number of builds that have used a black stain/dye first which has been wiped off pretty quickly first, then the blue over the top.
https://scontent-syd2-1.xx.fbcdn.net...fa&oe=5985527B

https://scontent-syd2-1.xx.fbcdn.net...1e&oe=597F1A27

These are not my photos,they've been stolen off facebook!

Yeah I've seen plenty on youtube where they have used black dye or black ink or even ebony timbermate to fill and pop the grain first and then finish with a blue or red over the top, in one of my previous builds I used an oak timbermate on an ash body as grain fill which was just dark enough compared to the ash to highlight the grain once it was cleared. I was considering using a blue to highlight the grain before clear coating and was wondering if anybody had seen this done or whether you think it would be too far out there. here is a picture of the subtle fill on my sta-1m.Attachment 18932

Ahh ok, sorry I misunderstood! No reason why you couldn't do that. I'm sure someone on here has already done it, but I'm not sure what colours can be added to Timbermate.

was thinking of food colouring since it is waterbased like timbermate.

Food colouring may not be colourfast, it might fade very quickly.
I've used black timbermate on most of my builds( even my speaker cab and head) and then used various stains , dyes or inks over the top

Agree with Dedman about food colouring not being colourfast.

Best idea might be to buy some white or neutral/natural timber mate and then add either fountain pen ink or ink jet ink and proceed to mix up a batch of the desired colour. On my Tele that was done with Cyan Blue inkjet ink diluted down a fair bit but full strength it has more depth. Fountain pen ink usually comes in 2 shades of blue where the darker one is blue/black and in my opinion quite dull and not as vibrant.

Is this for the scratchie? What woods did you end up using for the body? If it's a mixture of open and closed pore woods, you could get quite different results on the closed pore than the open pore wood, which might look odd.

The closed pore won't take much of the Timbermate, whereas the open pore will. If all closed pore, it could look very effective. If all open pore, you'd might be better going for a straight stain then sanding back. It's not a veneer, so you don't have to worry about sanding through.

Dedman, I have black timbermate and tried a bit on some scrap the other day with mixed success due to the different pieces,

Waz, you and Dedman are probably right about the food colouring, thanks for the tip on the ink. That blue tele looks so sweet, haven't done a tele yet but if you keep showing me that sort of finish on one I'm going to need one, is that a PBG kit? love the flame top

Simon, Yes thinking about it for the scratchie, just an idea at the moment, you could be onto something with the different grains, and although the timber is all meranti the outside wings?( I guess) are much softer than the darker pieces in the middle. So the tests that I did the other day timber mate gave very mixed results. I suppose the only way to find out is to clean up a bit of each and test to see how it looks.

Thanks for all of your input everyone.

Hi DK, the Tele was from another supplier who was going out of business and is probably from the same factory where PBG's come from as they are almost identical except the PBG one is now a quilted maple top on an Ash body with white binding whereas at the time I bought that kit from memory I think PBG's was quilt on basswood with black binding.

First attempt on a veneered top with binding and was paranoid about sanding through the cap as everybody else was doing it at the time.

Yeah Waz, I know what you mean about the cap, my first ever build was a spalt maple/ mahogany LP, what a nightmare, the spalt was so soft that a piece came out of the top when sanding with 400 grit. In the end I rushed the clear coat and put on too many coats too quick, it loked okay for a while until all the clear lacquer cracked, I would refinish it but with the dark stain and the spalt cap I don't think Iy is worth it unless I went with a solid colour which I don't want. I put a pair of entwhistle x3's in it so it looks dirty and sounds dirty too, so that's how I will keep it. Was the veneer on the tele really that thin that you could cut through it.

Ubeaut make water based dyes that are colourfast, have have been used here by some builders with good result - an Aussie product and non toxic food quality standard - they do blue too...

http://www.ubeaut.com.au/dye.html

I tried to do a blue grain fill today using white timbermate with some blue ink, I don't think I used enough ink to get it dark enough, but I have to say it just looked weird, I also tried some plain white which actually looked better than the blue but still somewhat strange.