All About Pocket Knives

I have been wondering about dyeing some bone or elk dog chews.

Is there a tried and true (or just TRIED) method for getting the dye down deep inside the bone?... hot or cold soak?

Will boiling bone or antler cause it to warp?

I was thinking if "thinner the better" rule would get the dye to soak down into the bone for useful color.
Most bone you use for the smaller folders is 1/8" or less..... Would a piece that thin tend to warp while treating it?

I am thinking out loud here but what if you put slabs in a pressure cooker to force the dye into the bone?

I just wanted to see if there was any ideas out there or if anyone has had any success dyeing bone.
What say ye gentlemen?

Here is one persons attempt;
viewtopic.php?f=37&t=39182&hilit=Dying+bone

SO... I guess negative pressure is better than positive pressure?


IS heating the liquid dye a bad thing?

Meridian_Mike wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2019 1:41 pm SO... I guess negative pressure is better than positive pressure?


IS heating the liquid dye a bad thing?

I'd be more concerned about heating the material too much. The vacuum chamber seems to yield the best results, from what I have seen/read, but I haven't tried many/any of these methods.

In the above referenced thread, the scales were shaped to the final shape before the dyeing attempt. I can see where this would give a more constant shade of color. The final thickness is already there and there would be no thinning to get the bone to fit.
Very good.

At the Case factory they dye large amounts of bone slabs at one time in a big vat, no vacuum. They dye blank slabs, not finished scales. They say it takes weeks for the dye to sink all the way in and they make it a lot darker than one might think. The blanks for red come out almost black they are so dark but when finished, cut to size, hafted and polished they look like a normal Case red bone. You gotta soak those bones a long time. They also use bleached and kiln dried bone. If you use fresh bone as from a dog chew from the butcher there will still be too much oil in the bone for the dye to penetrate.

OK.... so here is another consideration.

I was wondering if you could just dump a bunch of bone in a bucket and cover them with dye liquid and wait for a couple of months before you pull them out.

OK, so if you dry the bone in the oven (as a slab) will this be OK or is there a warpage factor?

I have seen dog chews at the pet store that still had a bit of meat on them
BUT there is also the blocks of Elk antler. Will antler take stain like bone?

You can use a solution of potassium permanganate in water to dye bone after it is shaped. Why do you want it dyed all the way through?
Bone is dyed to look like antler.
Antler can be dyed the same way, but antler is naturally white inside.
You can send bone to Culpepper Co. and they will dye it for you. Or, you can just buy dyed bone from them.

Bill DeShivs wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2019 7:12 pm You can use a solution of potassium permanganate in water to dye bone after it is shaped. Why do you want it dyed all the way through?
Bone is dyed to look like antler.
Antler can be dyed the same way, but antler is naturally white inside.
You can send bone to Culpepper Co. and they will dye it for you. Or, you can just buy dyed bone from them.

I don't necessarily want it dyed all the way through. I just want deep penetration if I have a slab.

Yes, bone is dyed to look like antler unless you want red, or blue or another color.

I don't want to have Culpepper do it for me... I want to do it myself (hence the purpose of my questions).
Yes, I do buy it from Culpepper sometimes. I don't want to dye my own all the time. Just occasionally.

Thanks for the potassium permanganate suggestion.

My only attempt at dying bone. It turned out OK, but would have been more to my liking if it had been darker. I used leather dye, others had some good tips.
viewtopic.php?f=37&t=55980&hilit=Valley ... 30e7b80926

OLDE CUTLER wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2019 10:37 pm My only attempt at dying bone. It turned out OK, but would have been more to my liking if it had been darker. I used leather dye, others had some good tips.

Leather dye sounds good.
I was wondering if Rit cloth dye would work.... (That would be for other colors)

Meridian_Mike wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2019 10:42 pm

OLDE CUTLER wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2019 10:37 pm My only attempt at dying bone. It turned out OK, but would have been more to my liking if it had been darker. I used leather dye, others had some good tips.

Leather dye sounds good.
I was wondering if Rit cloth dye would work.... (That would be for other colors)

Here are a couple of topics where I have discussed some of the bone dying techniques I have used. I hope you find them helpful.

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=61121&hilit=Derlam

viewtopic.php?f=37&t=60601&p=705239&hil ... ne#p705239

I have used Rit dye and it doesn’t penetrate to deeply nor does it leave a dark color.
In the first link I used shoe dye and the second link I used potassium permanganate.
Hopefully those will give you some ideas of how I did the dying.

Thanks for those links Dale!

I have not tried it myself, but I have a friend who is an old knife mechanic who dyes his in a Crock Pot. He said that he would turn it on & let it all heat together for a few hours, then turn it off for the day, and repeat that process for "several days"
Of course, he preferred to buy from Culpeppers instead.

I may experiment with that someday, but I really need to master more of the basics first.

Thanks for adding that about the crock pot Reverand.....
I was wondering about the use of heat and whether it would warp the bone.

I've never had any luck with a topically applied dye carrying very far into bone. The dyed surface is easily removed in my experience. Boiling the bone in a very low viscosity oil used as a carrying agent for an oil based dye is the only way I've seen good results at getting a deep penetration of dye in bone.