Thread: What are you working on?

Originally Posted by RezDog

So the dye does not penetrate into the CA at all. A lot of stuff can come off in the dishwasher that would not under regular use though. I’m thinking about gold paint on China, photos on mugs, that sort of stuff, so dye on CA is not completely bullet proof. It may survive shaving though.

Maybe in real life this scenario couldn't be repeated in all situations but what if you dyed first, then applied Ca, then dyed again?

Paint on coffee mugs ste udually glazed after paint to provide that protective shiney color. Or at least on ceramic mugs.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Hey Roy!

Outback/Mike has said this a few times. You cant Dye CA. Hope you figure out something good.

And thanks for the props on the scales. I got another coat on them so next week for putting together.

I once tried to put some black India ink in with CA but it wouldn't even mix together.

Thank you Roy!
This is very good info. Tests like these make the difference.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
It’s true!

I'm thinking this is going to save me a bunch of time on two unfinished sets of scales. Instead of going back and removing the clear CA that is over un-dyed horn, and then dying and coating again with CA.. I may be able to simply use leather dye.
I suspect that the black "hair dye" is a chemical reaction with keratin, and that "leather dye" is more of a paint or stain.
Anyway that's just an un-educated guess.

After a bit of research, it's apparent that serious artists do not use Sharpie for the same reason.. the purplish sheen that it makes. A brand that is preferred by many is Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens. Comes in many colors, black included.

I'd prefer to have an extensive arsenal, and so will get the leather dye and the pens, though my list of supplies grows as it shrinks!
Just thought I'd share that bit of info.

QUESTION: Were I to coat a set of scales that have been dyed, what is a good (easily applied) clear-coat?

I'm working on getting Murphy to leave me alone, man he's been all over me this week. I'm beginning to think he was an optimist.

Warning: this may ramble a bit and have little actual value (hopefully a bit of humor?).

I posted about sanding through a peen on my Packwood a couple of days ago, banished it to the workbench and started sharpening knives with my newly flatted ark. Well I decided it had been banished long enough. Last night I came home with the plan to re-pin it after dinner when I noticed one of my stones sitting next to the sink. My son has been learning to sharpen on some junk knives I got for free and he has free access to my sharpening equipment. I also noticed he hadn't rinsed it off, so I gave him some minor grief, he apologized, rinsed the stone and all was good. Pinned the pivot of the Packwood and came in to finish the job. Couldn't remember where I'd left off so I started with a lower grit and hit the wedge pins again. Got to the last pin with the last grit and...yep went through the peen on the wedge end. I know this was my fault, but the timing was remarkable. So back to the workbench it went, and I decided to relax my mind by customizing my peening hammer (strip ugly paint, refinish wood is the plan). My son came out to watch the new Forged in Fire episode and I asked him what stones he used to finish the knife he worked on (He had left out a synthetic ruby I've had for a couple of decades. I've no idea what the grit of the stone is, but it cuts fairly fast and gives a nice edge when followed by a medium then black ark). He told me the arks with oil...then something popped into my brain..."did you use oil on the ruby?" He did. That stone has never seen oil. Only dry or water. He assumed oil since it was sitting next to the stones. The mistake was there is also a spray bottle of water on the table we use to chase the cat off the couch (he carved our last one up pretty good and claws are not covered by the warranty). I was using that bottle to wet the stone. I never actually told him to not use oil with that stone, so I couldn't really be mad with him. Sigh...well lets cover the stone with some dish soap and see what happens. So like Cudarunner posted about a while ago, I may have a sudsy stone for awhile. Maybe we could start a foamy stone club?

Ok, rambling whine fest over. If I bored you I apologize, hopefully you found some humor in this. I'm starting to see the funny side.

Oh, rinsed the stone off tonight and I think the patient will survive. Now I'm off to practice my pinning some more.

Make no mistake, we all go through periods where we would have been further ahead to have done nothing at all.
Currently that is what I am getting done. Also when doing nothing or little that’s often what I’m learning too.
Keep at it as you can, we often learn the most from the project in the garbage can.

Originally Posted by JellyJar

I'm working on getting Murphy to leave me alone, man he's been all over me this week. I'm beginning to think he was an optimist.

Warning: this may ramble a bit and have little actual value (hopefully a bit of humor?).

I posted about sanding through a peen on my Packwood a couple of days ago, banished it to the workbench and started sharpening knives with my newly flatted ark. Well I decided it had been banished long enough. Last night I came home with the plan to re-pin it after dinner when I noticed one of my stones sitting next to the sink. My son has been learning to sharpen on some junk knives I got for free and he has free access to my sharpening equipment. I also noticed he hadn't rinsed it off, so I gave him some minor grief, he apologized, rinsed the stone and all was good. Pinned the pivot of the Packwood and came in to finish the job. Couldn't remember where I'd left off so I started with a lower grit and hit the wedge pins again. Got to the last pin with the last grit and...yep went through the peen on the wedge end. I know this was my fault, but the timing was remarkable. So back to the workbench it went, and I decided to relax my mind by customizing my peening hammer (strip ugly paint, refinish wood is the plan). My son came out to watch the new Forged in Fire episode and I asked him what stones he used to finish the knife he worked on (He had left out a synthetic ruby I've had for a couple of decades. I've no idea what the grit of the stone is, but it cuts fairly fast and gives a nice edge when followed by a medium then black ark). He told me the arks with oil...then something popped into my brain..."did you use oil on the ruby?" He did. That stone has never seen oil. Only dry or water. He assumed oil since it was sitting next to the stones. The mistake was there is also a spray bottle of water on the table we use to chase the cat off the couch (he carved our last one up pretty good and claws are not covered by the warranty). I was using that bottle to wet the stone. I never actually told him to not use oil with that stone, so I couldn't really be mad with him. Sigh...well lets cover the stone with some dish soap and see what happens. So like Cudarunner posted about a while ago, I may have a sudsy stone for awhile. Maybe we could start a foamy stone club?

Ok, rambling whine fest over. If I bored you I apologize, hopefully you found some humor in this. I'm starting to see the funny side.

Oh, rinsed the stone off tonight and I think the patient will survive. Now I'm off to practice my pinning some more.

JellyJar-I'm glad you were able to save the stone. Your household actually sounds like a more sane and organized place than mine. I think we all have run into these "brick walls" on our workbench where we can't seem to do anything right. In my favorite book of all time, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig writes about getting stuck in what he calls "gumption traps" like this that just seem to suck the spirit out of us, and then we end up "stuck."

What usually works for me when I hit a wall (a razor that won't hone, another wedge I've screwed up, etc. lol) is to just put it down, walk away, go watch tv, hell-even forget about it for a few weeks if I can.

When I come back, without even thinking about it, my subconscious brain has often already processed a straightforward fix that then seems easy to do. I discovered this back when I played a lot of guitar, when I would get stuck at a certain skill level (say working on a difficult series of licks or a problematic picking pattern), I would just put it down, again for weeks at a time. Come back when the mood strikes and bam!-nailed the run and playing better than before, almost like magic!

The brain is an amazing thing when we step away from things and let it work on them.

I've had to do that many times. Just walk away & sometimes sleep on it. I actually had a dream about an issue I had at work once & I think it was a wiring short. The next day I fixed it!