Will leather dye work to dye pore filler?

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I have a jar of Timbermate pore filler I picked up at the Woodcraft store in Boise when I was there last April.
I needed Walnut, but they were out of that color, and there was no rosewood either, so I got a neutral color...birch.
Tonight I spooned a little out in a cup, and I put some brown and black Fielbings leather dye in it, mixed it in, and spread it on
a scrap of walnut. It mixed in with no trouble so seems to be compatible, and dried very fast. I could sand it in 10 minutes.
The Timbermate you thin with water, but I don't think the this leather dye is water soluable....well, I guess I can put some in water and see what happens too.
No real report to make on the Timbermate product yet except to say it spreads really easy with a credit card, and sands easily too.

Kevin

[Jim_H]

Kevin,

Is it alcohol based? oil based? acrylic based?

I would think oil would be bad. The other two are definite maybes. :p

Let us know how your experiment turns out.

[tippie53]

Martin uses ab oil based filler. It works very well . Yes you can ad color as long as it is compatible to the filler base. When I was learning I tried every filler out there and found the oil based Pore O Paq to work best for me. It is similar to what CF Martin uses .
The process is simple , take a small amount ( 3 tbls ) at a time and add a few drops of Naphtha to aid in flashing. Then mix well and apply , Once the surface flashes off and looses that wet look you can start to work it into the wood . It is all part of that finish prep and patience we must learn to make a great looking guitar.

[kencierp]

Over the years in our furniture as well as instrument businesses, I have found that prepping the surface with water based products tends to dull down the natural look of the wood. A sample test of Pore O Pac oil base vs Pore O Pac water base will make this issue almost instantly apparent. Too if you sample the Minwax oil based vs water based stains, findings will be that the oil enhances the finish surface and the WB dulls it down and in most cases also causes blotching.

Regular artist oil paint can be used to tint fillers, acrylics for WB products. That leather dye is very intense -- good for Ebony but I'd take care using it as a general application wood staining agent.

[Jim_H]

John,

He's asking about tinting the Timbermate filler with leather dye.

I don't know much about Timbermate Filler or Leather Dye, but it seems mixing oil and water would be a bad thing(tm).?

That's why I asked about the composition...

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Right Jim, understood. Well the dye mixed fine in the Timbermate. It dried fine on the wood. This morning I sprayed a couple of thin coats of sealer, and a couple of coats of Deft lacquer over it so I'll see what result that does.
I am not too cheap to purchase some tints that are made for this filler, or for that matter, get some of the Walnut colored Timbermate, just thought I'd experiment some with what I had on hand, which is quite a few ounces of brown and black leather dye.
What I will probably do for this guitar is get some of that Hood Finishing lacquer pore filler that Ken Cierp turned us all on to and try that. I like clear, and I like the idea that all that is going on the guitar is lacquer.

Kevin