General Finishes Water Based Dye, 1 Pint, Orange

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.]

The product works like it supposed to.It did the reducing of color as expected. I’ve use this product before. It’s just hard to get, and Amazon had it.

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.

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 personally liove this Merlot dye stain color. I've used it alone, as well as combined with the Reducer and also in custom combinations mixed with the Ebony or Blue dye stains. I used the product on old mahogany veneer, on some solid wooda wood and as a glaze over chalk paint. It worked well for me.I will say if one is at a beginner or maybe intermediate experience level like me t can be possible to get lap marks but this is possibly due to user error with penetrating dye stains in general.I would say for beginners like me to do some research and use some test pieces of wood. But overall I did find the product lovely to use and love the desk and chairs I used this product on.It does by its nature stain things, so I would recommend using gloves and protecting the work area with some kind of paper or dropcloth, including surfaces below and and walls or vertical surfaces nearby where you might accidentally get splatter.. I was able to clean brushes with water and some Masters brush cleaner. It does wash/wear from skin after a bit so it's not the end of the world if you get some on your hands. :)

i wanted a vivid blue and this was recommended; i bought a small can of "Blue" locally, then a quart can from Amazon when i realized i needed more; while waiting for the Amazon can i stained a 4x8 sheet of maple plywood with the small can — it came out a sort of "sea green"but i was committed so cut some pieces from the sheet … then i stained another sheet with the 2nd can and this time i got exactly the blue i wanted (see pic); i couldn't afford the time and money for a redo, so i have a project that mixes two very different colors; really surprising for a company with a reputation for qualityother than this the product went on easily and consistently with careful prep and materials; it doesn't smell much and there is no lasting odor (contrary to other reviews); i would advise to test before committing, and if you need multiple cans, test all cans before committingthe serial number on the small (greenish result) can was 110034; on the quart can it was 113978

I like how easy it covers. A little goes a long well. Water base dyes also clean up easily. I've never had an issue with General Finishes products. Worth the money.

Easy to apply

This goes on more like a poly, and dries FAST. You don't have to wipe it off, and it levels out really well with little or no pooling as long as you brush it out. It levels about like a thin polyurethane. You can recoat with more stain within 10 or 15 minutes. It puts down a lot of color quick, and you could get 3 coats down in 20 to 30 minutes. It makes Minwax stain stain seem like stone age technology by comparison. It will feel dry to the touch in 5 to 10 minutes (or less) under normal temps and humidity, but you'll want to wait an hour or so before clear-coating it, or you'll be pulling stain off with your topcoat brush. You will pull some up anyway, but about an hour seems to be a good balance. You definitely don't want to be double dipping in your topcoat can or you may taint it with trace amounts of this stain. Also, this stain will cover over everything. I used light green bondo to fill some holes, and this covered it the same as the wood, and I quickly had it a cherry color to match everything else. I'm going to experiment with mixing in a bit of topcoat to see if I can keep the stain from bleeding onto my brush with the first topcoat, but I'd be more than happy to just use it as it is. This product is a home run, and well worth the almost 3X cost compared to oil based stains. It will last forever, and save SO many hours waiting. You'll finish projects the same day. I hate waiting.

to save money and time I bought common wood stock (white pine) from a big box home improvement store when I was making interior door and window trim (had been working with reclaimed wood which is a pain for many reasons but especially to make square/straight). Alot of times with this common wood the stain you use will leave/reveal blotches and variations but this stain went on very easily (w/ a foam brush) and gave a nice color with only one heavy application. I followed that up with some light walnut danish oil and was able to achieve the look I was going for. Highly recommend

It's very watery so care is needed not to drip everywhere. Definitely use a plastic drop cloth. I think it would also be hard to give a light color without diluting with water. I needed to apply a heavy coat to get an even color coverage. I used a sponge brush and it was easy to apply once I quickly got the hang of it. Clean up was very easy. I used the orange color and am very pleased with the rich, mellow result. It looks expensive. Yes, it's orange but mellowed and not glaring at all. Certainly doesn't look like orange paint. I stained and polyurethaned two large Ikea bedroom chests of drawers. Took me three quarts each of stain and polyurethane. A wonderful alternative to the gray-washed furniture that's pervasive now.

I order 40 cases of prefinished red oak T & G flooring. They don't always match up as you might think they should. And unfortunately the ends don't always butt up as expected. With that in mind, this water based stain works well to cover the exposed end easily wiping off with a damp cloth or sponge. Then with a wet mop like a swifter, you can get the residual off without damaging the finish leaving the stain where it is most needed. This made my 2000 square foot floor install look professionally done after I used this stain to cover the minor ends that I had to cut to fin and so on. I highly recommend this stain for a finish without damaging the factory finish of your wood flooring.

If you've used the big name, big box store, consumer stains in the past, you know that they don't work all that great on certain types of wood. On a recent project I wanted to stain/dye a piece of birch plywood to match the very dark factory finish of a purchased display case. Having worked with birch in the past I knew that the stuff from my local Lowes, Home Depot, etc, wouldn't give me the results that I was looking for. Doing a bit of research on some wood working forums lead me to this product. I ordered the ebony and was very pleased how dark it turned the plywood. I'm not sure about how different application techniques or desired finishes work with this type of stain/dye, but if you're looking for more penetration on difficult to stain woods like birch, I'd recommend skipping the common store stains, and trying this out instead.The first photo is of the raw materials and the second shows it all assembled. The plywood was dyed using this product and is used as a custom holder base inside display case. The blue masking tape was later replaced with an engraved brass plate.

They did what they said they would do. When I found out this was not what I needed, they refunded me quickly.

Easy to apply and creates a really rich amber color. Used as an undercoat and paired with a the General Finishes Java gel stain and you get the most amazingly rich, deep color that's hard to describe.