You certainly got some nice outcomes on your green and red stains!Originally Posted by Trevor Davies
From what I have been able to glean here on on mfg websites, dye stains are pretty much always mixed with alcohol or water and are designed to maximally penetrate the surface of the wood. Many seem to be dyes (as for clothing) that are used as stains on wood. There are also dye stains that (like from General Finishes) that are only used as wood stains. I don't think there is any universal rule about this, but I think that non-dye stains, for the most part, are designed not to soak in quite so much to bare wood, and some are even often designed to stick to other preparations like filler, sanding sealer, or top coats. From some mfg's there are also "gel stains." I think that, for the most part, these are more viscous than other stains, and designed to go over the top of other stained/finished items to change.* The mfg I mostly use, General Finishes, seems to recommend using their dye stain on closed grain woods, and either their non-dye stain or their gel stain on open grain woods to avoid blotchiness.
I have also seen people "stain with paint" by spraying a thin, translucent color over prepared wood. I think this is the way factories often do it.
Having said all this, I also think there may not be hard and fast rules for what products are named. That's one reason that you'll often seem me inquire about the mfg of finishes. I am not sure how comparable one brand's product name is to another.
*I have, however used a "gel stain" called Craftnique that is very thin, and seems just like a dye stain when used on bare wood, but will stick to finished surfaces. I have used it to alter or deepen a color from a dye stain.
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