General Finishes Water Based Dye, 1 Pint, Empire Red

I needed a uniform stain for hard-to-stain hard maple. Hard maple is notoriously difficult to stain. So, I tried this and this relates my experience. Prior to staining, I did a test on some maple scrap planks. I had 5 pieces and 3 of them were shellacked. I tested the light brown and medium brown stains on the non-shellacked boards first. The light brown stained piece looked a yellowish brown, very plain. The medium brown looked black and sooty. The next day, the shellacked boards were tested and their colors were similar although a bit lighter and the dye-stain could be wiped off with a Bounty. I mixed together the light brown and the medium brown and tested it on a shellacked board and it still looked the same as if only using the medium brown dye-stain, that is sooty-looking.The actual work pieces were large spinning wheel bobbins turned and sanded on my lathe. They were up to 3" in diameter made from multiple sheets of 4/4 maple glued up. Surface preparation was sanding up to 400 grit. They looked very smooth and polished. I applied the light brown dye-stain with a foam brush after vigorously shaking the closed can. The dye-stain dried in a minute or so. They looked terribly blotchy with accentuation of sanding marks and the interfaces between the glued-up pieces. The color was a dark brown. They did not at all appear anything like the test samples. My initial impression was severe disappointment. But wait:The next morning, they were fully dry, so I could handle them without gloves (and the dye-stain is a bit rough on nitrile gloves). They felt very rough. Since this is a water-based dye-stain, which would be expected to raise the grain, I sanded them with 220 paper. The color became a lighter brown, quite uniform, smooth and there was about an 80% improvement to their appearance. Because of the much lighter brown color, I restained them. This stuff dries in 2 hours and then they were rough again, but not as rough as after the first application. I sanded them lightly again with a resultant darker brown appearance that was not very uniform. Then I sprayed them with clear Zinsser shellac. The immediate result was that they looked suddenly and surprisingly almost awesome (I don't want to exaggerate). Since then, I applied so-called water-based polyurethane (actually it's acrylic) and then oil-based polyurethane and the pieces still look gorgeous.Compared to the Varathane Classic oil-based stains that I usually use, this dye-stain was more difficult and unpredictable. The results from test pieces didn't duplicate my results. Sometimes I can reuse nitrile gloves but although the dye washed off of them, they developed small holes or were sticky the next day. Foam brushes are hard to clean and I'm not sure they'll be able to be reused. But, I have never experienced such phenomenally excellent staining results on hard maple before and I plan to use this dye-stain again.[I also bought some orange and the thinner but have not opened them. Relative to the easily available oil-stains, these are much more expensive.]

I love refinishing old furniture pieces that need some love. This is my go to color and I’ve used it on 4 pieces now including refinishing a wooden TV from 1953 and turning it into a cat bed. The color is rich, dark, consistent, and it gives my pieces the old school look and color I’m after. Usually takes two coats.

I love using the dye instead of a stain. Goes on easy and penetrates the wood so well. Plus, this blue is absolutely gorgeous. Looking forward to trying new colors in my woodworking with this product. Definitely will be purchasing this many more times in the future.

Not nearly as thick as some have stated. I stained (4) 36" cabinets and still have 3/4 of a can

I am using this on ash hardwood, which has a lot of mix of grain densities depending on where in the tree the board was, and also a lot of color constrast between heart and sapwood. This color is almost driftwood-grayish in some places, almost a kind of aged (graying) walnut in others. Really satisfying.Two warnings: first, as with any water based dye, this will raise the grain on your wood. Strongly advisable to pre-sand to your usual preference (I wouldn't go much beyond 220-300 grit), brush some water only onto the board to swell the grain some, and then re-sand, before applying this. You will want to apply by brushing on a fairly lot of it and then wiping down after a min or two to penetrate, to get good color. If you don't do the after-wetting pre-sand, expect to want to sand after first application and then apply again.Second: DO NOT use any sort of linseed oil soak to try and 'pop' the grain after this. I don't know why but doing that, even after waiting a long time for this finish to dry, and then waiting a week or more for the thinned BLO to cure, resulted in a lot of orange peel and "fisheye" of the final top finish (polyurethane oil based). I tend not to like the water-based poly finishes as much but it is much safer atop this. Some of the alkyd resin varnishes might work as well but I have not attempted. But even a simple wiping oil-based poly (thinned with mineral spirits or naptha) WITHOUT any BLO seems to be fine, after my first uh-oh attempts.EDIT I have used a 'spar varnish' (alkyd resin, not polyurethane) atop this now. Diluted the first 3 coats about 50% with mineral spirits and rubbed on with a rag, very lightly sanding with 400 grit if necessary to remove dust nibs. Final coat less diluted and brushed on, maybe 30% to build a good layer and gloss. Came out beautifully, even on the boards I didn't pre-water-swell and sand before applying the color finish.Remain very pleased with this dye. In some places where the boards have some curl and figure you get almost iridescent colors, almost a hint of greenish tones. I see why they call this Pewter it really does give an almost 'metallic' feel.

I love this stain color! I love the way it is easy to apply. It dries pretty quick and you can sand it off and try again... if you don't like what your workin on. Try it!

It is a water-based dye. It soaks into your wood project. Keep the loaded brush moving while applying. Be intentional about your application strokes. Stay with the grain. Foam brush or bristle brush - keep moving throughout the stroke. There is NO spreading out a heavy spot. Happy news: The color becomes more intense and has depth the more applications. Stop and check how deep do you want the color intensity. I used a flashlight on my project when it was indoors and made changes as desired. The pictured dresser ended up with about 5 coats (could be 6 or 7 because I don't remember) I used a NON YELLOWING spar urethane clear satin topcoat. By the way, the picture of the top of the dresser was not yet sanded for the picture, so you are seeing raised wood grain which was lightly sanded and wiped before each additional dye application. This is my 2nd project using this blue dye.

Went on good with a foam brush

This is one of the few products that actually penetrate hardwoods such as maple. All their products create beautiful colours as represented.

Excellent backing color

This is a great base stain. The price is a little as you can buy for $25 from a dealers