I've decided I want to dye some scales with some sort of fabric dye. If the canvas micarta is made with real cotton canvas(I assume it is), the cotton should bind dyes fairly well. It should be easy to apply since they absorb water so readily.

I also think you can force a pattern using an oil to keep the dye out of certain areas.

I'm not certain how many "rinse cycles" it would take to get the unbound dye out or if the oil would hold long enough to get the excess dye rinsed out without it bleeding into the whole scale.

Has anybody ever heard of doing anything like this with mounted scales? I dont think it would hurt the steel any and might be a fun easy way to customize a blade.

Right now I'm thinking about a tan/green pattern on my tan BAD.

Any advice, thoughts, or warnings?

I don't know about fabric dyes, but I had an accident with my ASH-1 with some brown leather dye and just went ahead and dyed the whole side. I like the way it turned out.




Sounds like you've got some interesting Ideas, definately worth a shot IMHO, I can't wait to see how it turns out. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I like it! I was actually thinking about chocolate and green. I have too many tan handles. Did the leather dye work at the surface or in the internal cotton fibers?

It soaked into the fibers. That's one reason I just went ahead and dyed the whole side, the alcohol based leather dyes penetrate pretty good, so I knew it would be almost impossible to remove once it got in there... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

What's interesting is I decided to leave the other side along, so it's got two totally different color handles. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

are you afraid at all that it could come back out on your clothes and stuff?

I suppose like it is there could be a little transfer under extreme conditions, but the brown leather dye doesn't do as bad as say the black would. I could always add some water resistant protectant to it like I do the leather after a sheath is finished. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> That would probably be a good idea to preserve the colors a little more permanently too. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

One of the guys over on Blade Forums treats his handles with a shoe polishing brush loaded with a little brown shoe polish. The color looked great and it actually shined. Do a search over in the Busse forum for Bigfattyt. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />