I had a huge bottle of wood stain made up years ago. It was alcohol 91% and I believe india ink or shoe dye but lost formula. I used this dye for everything and I am sure I got the basic formula off the web and may have comented on it on here some place but can't find a thing. Just would like a starting place as I still have plenty of dye and alcohol. Who knew I would run out of such a large bottle and lose the orig formula.
I no longer work with wood for model projects, but do play with formulae for paint colours.My process is to start with a small amount of the colour that's close to what I want, then add "brushloads" of a colour that I think might adjust it to the colur that's desired. I keep an ongoing record of the colours and amounts used, until I get it right. I then copy that formula into a book for future use.
You should be able to do a similar process with a small measured amount of alcohol, then add a measured amount India ink or shoe polish. Continue to adjust (either up or down) the amounts of each component you're using, until the finished sample looks correct to your eye. Keep a record of those amounts as you work.All that's then required is to translate those small amounts into larger useable ratios (make sure to keep a record so that you can refer to it in the future, too).Back in the early '80s, I mixed a formula for painting models of some prototype diesels, and when I finally got it right, painted a dab of it on a coloured photo of one of the real locomotives. Unless the photo was turned at an angle oblique to the light, the dab of paint (a dead-on match) was impossible to see as such, only because it was a matte paint on a slightly gloss surface.
At that time, properly-coloured models of those locomotives were not commercially-available, but a couple years later, they were. (I was glad of that, as I'd done over 70 of them for fans of that particular railroad, and was getting tired of the work.)Forty-odd years later, I got several requests for that paint-mixing recipe, luckily saved and readily at-hand.
Wayne
Hello All,
There are two (2) ways to go...
Depending on how "dark" you want the stain or wash.
The first is, as has been posted, is to begin with a quantity of alcohol (solvent) and add the coloring agent; India ink or liquid shoe polish. This could be considered a wash.
Another method would be to begin with a quantity of coloring agent and dilute to the strength you desire. More inline with a stain.
No matter which method you use, documentation is key.
Label your final "solution" (pun intended) and include the ratio of solvent to coloring agent.
I prefer documenting the ratio over the volumes used. 1:8 can be reproduced with an ounce or gallon.
Noting drops per ounce is great for smaller quantities but for larger amounts you have to extrapolate how many drops are in an ounce or milliliter.
Ratios can be used with standard and metric measurements- -pretty much universal.
Personally, I prefer metric measurements over the less accurate standard measurements.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
It was documented but lost in the move I guess and it was not in the notebook either. Have all the really complex formulas for painting but not this for staining, proubly not in note book because I did that at a later time.
Rusty Stumps website had a fairly comprehensive set of instructions and recipes for weathering and staining strip wood that I used and saved. I like Laurie Green's basic mix of 125ml of alcohol, 8ml brown and 4ml black india ink. Tried the Rusty Stumps website but won't open for me, maybe kaput?
Regards, Peter
I tried to copy the details posted years ago, but I don't have the requisite permissions to copy the pdf....as most would not. Anyway, the formula runs between 1 and 1.5 tsp of whatever black India ink you can find, composition doesn't seem to matter to the author, as he states in his article. The bulk is 1 pint of 70% isopropyl alcohol. If you find the stain too light with a single tsp, keep adding a couple of drops at a time and trying it on strips of basswood or whatever, milled scale lumber.
The article also has formulae for wood graining and staining that would make decking that was not aged, which the above formula would leave. These were brown stains.
Thanks, that is a start. I tried the rusty stump but got nowhere.
HO-Velofairly comprehensive set of instructions and recipes for weathering and staining strip wood
Found this link to the inking part of the Rusty Stumps Mike Chambers article. Inking_Stripwood.pdf
Be careful following some of the formulas given.
For metric equivalents a 'teaspoon' is almost exactly 5ml, and a United States pint is close to 475ml. Note that Laurie Green's formulae use twice the volume of stain to less than half the solvent.
The gist is to dilute to about 1/100 and then inch up dropwise to get the strength you want.
And do not mix your colors together in the stock solution: keep the browns, blacks, etc. separate so you can 'blend them to taste' at staining time.
While the alcohol stain is very forgiving in allowing considerable evaporation and reconstitution, do NOT allow it to dry completely out. Some drawing inks will not properly redissolve from dry.
Kinda miss ol' Floquil's 'Driftwood' stain. I base coated the wooden dowels for the piling seawall with Doctor Ben's 'Aged Driftwood' stain. After drying overnight applied Laurie Green's basic mix. Doctor Ben's Weathering Stains are iso alcohol based with a good color choice.
Driftwood wasvgreat, still have some. I did a mix in 1/2 pt and eye droped in shoe stain, ended up being a 50/50 brown to black and a lot more stain than I remember, in fact I lost count but it was like 450 drops of each, so 1 1/2 tablespoons of each. Ended up testing by putting a puddle of the old and new on a peice of styrene, the wood had too many natural variations to be a valid test once things got close and whit card stock all but worthless.
The ratio is not that critical. Most items will soak for awhile to get a nice dark color. Start with a large amount of alcohol and add some color to it.
India Ink gives a slight blue cast to the stained wood, Kiwi shoe dye is more charcoal black, Lincoln dye is nasty but is very potent and gives a very dark jet black.
Some modeler’s prefer premixed products such as driftwood stain or Silverwood stain. Micro mark’s sells a premixed shoe dye solution and another option is a product called "weather it". Hunterline now sells a line of mixed wood dyes as well.
This building is weathered with kiwi shoe dye and alcohol.
The bridge timbers are weathered with Lincoln shoe dye and alcohol mix.
Have fun,
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
Rusty Stumps FB page says they are retired and out of business. Looks like it was as of end of 2021
HO-Velo Rusty Stumps website had a fairly comprehensive set of instructions and recipes for weathering and staining strip wood that I used and saved. I like Laurie Green's basic mix of 125ml of alcohol, 8ml brown and 4ml black india ink. Tried the Rusty Stumps website but won't open for me, maybe kaput? Regards, Peter