horn dye

[eggwelder]

Probably been asked before, but what type of dye could be used for powder horns, something readily and easily available. looking for dark colours, brown, red or black. i`ve tried coffee, tea, wood stain, none of those was very effective. they worked well on antler.

 

[Artificer]

Fiebing's Leather Dye comes in black, light brown, medium brown and dark brown - just to name some of the colours available. Also because it is a "spirit" stain, you can lighten the Dark Brown (or other colours) by adding small quantities of it with alcohol or acetone. To "play with" the dye to get the colour you want, you can add the alchohol/acetone by volume such as 3 parts stain to one part alcohol/acetone, Half and Half, etc.

Good idea to use the cut off end of the horn to try out the colour or mixtures on, to see what they will look like when finished.

Gus

 

[Mongo40]

Rit fabric dye works the best for me an seems more durable, I've tried leather an wood dye an it doesn't seem to get absorbed into the horn like rit does an will wear off with use.

 

[MSW]

back in the day, sonny, when men were men and giants walked the earth, we used rit berries ... these came from a secret source, and if'n I told ya where it was, I hafta kill ya...

(but the local JoAnne's probably has them)

good luck with your project

 

[crockett]

I agree, Rit seems to be the overwhelming choice. Just turn the horn upside down and stick the tip in the dye.

 

[eggwelder]

I`ll be checking the local fabric store soon. thanks much to all

 

[user 922]

RIT works a lot better if you heat the solution to about 180 degrees before immersing the horn. Don't polish the horn too much or it will not absorb the dye. After scraping and sanding I just use a brown Scotchbrite pad to give the horn a low, even, sheen.

 

[smoothshooter]

How about some of the wood stains?

 

[woodse guy]

Make sure you use the powder rit dye. Heat in a pot and add a couple tablespoons of vinegar to help set the dye.

 

[omarick1948]

Make sure you use the powder rit dye. Heat in a pot and add a couple tablespoons of vinegar to help set the dye.

I've used the liquid RIT many times when I couldn't find the powdered RIT and it works fine. Never used vinegar in it, as that is added for cotton materials and it doesn't need it for horn.

No offense, just saying that it has worked for me for many moons now!

 

[Black Hand]

People have used hair dye (after all, horn is compressed hair). Aqua fortis also works, but its primary application has been to age the body (light color) to a golden color (apply, let dry, heat).