![]() ![]() The dye is very watery, so as with any shop chemical, use appropriate protective equipment for yourself or surrounding areas that might get splashed.Īfter the dye dried, I had one area that was a bit blotchy, likely caused by epoxy squeezed through a long crack in the board near its end. The instructions are to apply a “liberal amount of stain” to saturate the wood surface on manageable sections, then wipe off the excess before moving to the next area. Wearing latex gloves, I applied the dye with a cloth rag to the perimeter boards and the kingplank, 3′ to 4′ at a time. ![]() I masked the areas that were to be left undyed with plastic sheeting and blue painter’s tape. I epoxied the sample to get some gloss to approach the final appearance, and I really liked it.Īfter a penultimate sanding of the deck, I wiped it down with a wet rag to raise the grain and then sanded the bare wood for the last time with 220-grit. Their Medium Brown was too dark and subdued, but the dye in Vintage Cherry was just dark enough to provide the contrast I was looking for and had a pleasing ruby-red hue. There are several brands available I chose to use dyes from General Finishes. I used some cutoffs to test a few water-based dyes. The Vintage Cherry dye transformed the very light mahogany-a cut-off is shown here- into a rich, dark color that enhances the grain. With the dye plan in mind, I resawed the mahogany to book-match the planks, and after cutting them to shape, I epoxied them to the deck’s plywood substrate, taking care with the epoxy so as not to contaminate areas to be dyed. Water-based dyes, once dry, are compatible with epoxy and varnish. After doing a bit of research, I decided to get the darker color using dye it would provide the contrast I wanted for the perimeter and kingplank while creating a clearer grain appearance. I was reluctant to use stain, as it tends to muddy variations in color and mute the wood grain. While I did find a couple of boards wide enough and long enough to do the perimeter covering boards, they were especially light in color, the opposite of what I wanted. The deck planking is African mahogany, and I was hoping to find some dark pieces for the perimeter covering boards and kingplank, and lighter boards for the rest. No one has guessed that much of the wood under the varnish has been dyed. My outboard runabout, WORK OF ART, often stops people in their tracks when they see the deck with its beautiful, natural-looking wood color with sparkling grain highlights. The kingplank and covering boards were cut from stock that was the lightest in color, and dye made them the darkest pieces. All of the wood on the deck of the author’s boat is African mahogany. ![]()
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