Dye for bone handles

[Curtis Wilson]

I was told how to dye bone by one of the oldest Custom : folder makers that I know, Mr. J. B. Moore.
Basically here it is in the short version: use alcohol base leather dye heat it in a small pan until it starts to simmer (not a full boil), take off of the heat put the bone in the mix and let it cool. leave it in the solution for 24 hours. then pull it out and let it dry. Once it has dried use wood lemmon oil to set the dye into the bone, let it set for another 24 hours and your ready for use.
Curtis Wilson
Wilson's Custom Knives, Engraving, and Engraving
cwilsonknives.com

[muskrat man]

Been playing with jigging and dying in my fee time. Here is my attempt to replicate the old "true" (as I call it) peachseed bone schrade used in the 60's

[orvet]

That looks good Kaleb.
Have you hafted any and put it on a knife yet?
I am curious to see what it looks like then.

Dale

[muskrat man]

I'm working on rehandling an old german whittler in a set of bone I just jiggewd and dyed, using the same process as the peachseed, only ths jigging is different and looks like some of the older pre WWII jigged bone, I'm hoping to finish it up today, if so i'll post pictures. I got 100% penetration with the dye from all sides so once hafted it should not be much lighter in color than what you see here, we'll see. I havent stepped outside yet to check the teperature but if it's warmed up any I hope to try dying som bone that should turn out a lavender color.

[Legend]

OK , Im coming in on this one 16 1/2 years late but I think its worth sharing this simple method of dying bone knife scales / covers ( especially simple if you are dying white bone slipjoints with stainless blades or just dying the scales themselves before attaching .
First of all make sure the scales are cleaned of and rubbed down with Isopropyl alchohol or ladies nail polish remover to strip away any grease deposits . Buy yourself any colour of your choice Gel food colouring ( its extremely cheap ) , fill a container with hot water and squeeze as much of the colouring in as you think you will need and stir to dissolve and simply place your whole knife or the knife scales into the container and leave , but do check every 5 minutes or so to check how much of the colouring your white scales have taken ( the depth of colour is up to you ) . You may need to heat the liquid up in a microwave every so often to ensure the colour penetrates the bone more . Once you are satisfied , rinse off with cold water , dry and it is ready to polish up by whatever method you prefer ! Believe me this very cheap method does work and the colour is retained , you can also use coffee granules ( not powdered ) by the same method to give a really nice caramel colour to white bone .