A simple color change to stag

[sunknife]

I decided to try a little dye experiment to better match the color of the stag scales on this knife. The scales on the pile side came with a nice reddish brown color to them but the mark side was pretty washed out looking and not a great match.

I wiped the mark side stag with some alcohol, warmed it a bit with a heat gun and applied some leather dye with an artist brush. I then lightly heated the stag again to dry the dye. I allowed it all to cool and then applied wax as I do on all my antler, bone and wood handled knives. I think the warming of the stag prior to applying the dye allows it to penetrate a bit better and therefore make it less likely to transfer off when handled. Even prior to applying the wax I rubbed it vigorously with my thumb and no dye came off. Here's a look at the results, pretty decent match IMO.

[americanedgetech]

Lovely job!
It looks like a perfect match to me.

[dcgm4]

Great job! If you hadn't said you dyed it, I would've thought the color was natural.

[Quick Steel]

An impressive result sunknife. Congrats!

[sunknife]

Thanks fellas.
I've used this dye many times before on bone, antler, wood and leather craft projects with good results. Just never tried it on knives until now.

[jmh58]

Very NICE!!! Well done!! John

[Steve Warden]

I like it

[rea1eye]

Very nice job. Great improvement.

Bob

[#goldpan]

nice job! Looks professional