staining Bamboo backing

[huntersteve]

I've been working on a Bamboo backed board bow off and on for a few weeks during the holiday's....I took a scrap piece of bamboo and was trying some different stains on it to see what looked best...the bamboo doesn't seem to take the stain very well...it's very light colored and I want to darken it up....anyone have some ideas on what I need to do and/or use....thanks for any help...Steve

[Badger]

Steve, I just finished one where I used a black marking pen to cover the entire back of the bow and then wiped it all of with acetone, gave me a really cool finish and color. Dark, greenish black. Steve

[huntersteve]

thanks Badger....do you have any pics of the bow?...I wonder if heat will darken bamboo without causing problems with the glue between it and the wood....Steve

[mullet]

   I've used Testors model car paint thinned down with mineral spirits. Then lightly rub it with 0000# steel wool.

[Jesse]

Leather dye works great.
                                                Jesse

[mullet]

  huntersteve,one thing I learned about trying to use heat to darken it is, to darken it enough, it tends to crack the boo. And I would worry about the integrity of the glue up then. If you like excitement,Boo blows up really good.  

[Hillbilly]

Did you scrape the rind off before you stained it? The bamboo rind is like a coat of poly and is hard to stain, but if you scrape it off, it usually takes dye or stain quite easily. Fiebing's leather dye or Rit dye mixed with rubbing alchohol is a lot better than stain, IMO.

[Gordon]

Another vote for leather dye. And as others have pointed out, you need to remove the rind first.

[huntersteve]

Thanks for all the info guys....I haven't scraped off the outside layer(rind)....I thought that it was left alone as a natural water(moisture) barrier....I'll have to give some of the dyes mentioned a try.....thanks again...Steve

[Jesse]

Be careful scraping it off you dont want to go too deep and cut through the power fibers. you can feel when the rind is off. use a scrap first. also take care around the nodes as the fibers run very close to the surface. You can leave the rind on if you want but like others have mentioned it wont stain well. A very fine sanding is also a good idea to prevent splinters from rising. I go all the way to 800 grit but thats probably overkill

[adb]

Hi,
Leather dye has worked well for me, also.

[tom sawyer]

Once you see the beautiful warm yellow color under the rind, you might have second thoughts about staining at all.