Metallic Dyes

[partialdoctor]

Hey guys,
I'm planning my third build and was wondering if anyone has ever used a metallic dye in finishing? Specifically I thought it might be cool to stain a flame maple top silver metallic and then sand back, leaving the metallic stuff in the striped an then dye over that with a shade of black. Any thoughts?

 

[Tonar8352]

I do not see that working because metallic finishes have actual metallic particles in them so they cannot be sanded.  When they are sanded they burnish because the metallic particle gets knocked over so it reflects light incorrectly. That is one of the reasons metallic finishes are very difficult to do, they cannot be touched in any way before the particles are protected by a clear top coat.

One thing to think about is to stain it with the black and sand it back then shoot a very heavily mixed metallic over that, almost like a dusting before you shoot the clears and then you will be able to see it under stage lighting.  By heavily mixed I mean very little metallic powder to a large ratio of clear. For instance if the normal mix would be a tablespoon of powder to a quart of clear try using a couple of pinches of powder. It will be heavily dispersed and very subtle.

 

[Cagey]

Larn a new thang ever' day!​

 

[dmraco]

you can also put the flake in a candy of clear.  I have shot that several times too.  Flake comes in various sizes too.  From HUGE...Think of a BASS BOAT.  To small very fine powder.  This would work well.  House of Kolor sells very nice flake.  I agree with tonar...1 tbs to quart MAX.  I alway cut this in 1/2 and layer the coats if I want more.  HEre is a tank I did, gold flake over black.  The flame is gold leaf.  This is using the smallest flake made...you can see how it catches the light.  Putting the flake in a burst would be a cool option....