Dye storage?

larry merlau

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Delton, Michigan
Well i got some drawers sprayed and decided it was time to clean up the finish room some.. well that was revealing.. had jars of left over sealer that was toned with dye and some jars with just dye mixes, and others with no name but i saved the left overs???? so for those of you that use dyes and tone sealers or top coats or just dye separatly, how do you keep track or store your recipes and left overs? i have pitched the ones that i dont have a clue on and some that are marked clearly i saved but i still dont know the mix i used to get there:( so i should pitch those too..
 
I've not mixed any with sealer, but I would think the 90 day rule would be a good one to follow. But for reguklar dyes, I usually mis them in a small amount of hot water when I get them, that gets stored in pint wide mouth glass canning jars with those plastic storage lids you can get for them. I've had some for 6-7 years stored that way, but you should keep them in a dark place (dark as in no light:doh:). I also tape the label from the dye pack on the jar so I can see what it is.
 
I keep all of my finishes and dyes in my shop all year long. It doesn't get below about 40°F in there. I usually mix dyes with alcohol or water as I go, so I don't have enough left over to count.

I'm all over the place about recipes! In rare cases, I actually document the ratios in the design drawing. In a few instances, I make a sample board and write the ratio on it.
 
Sealers, Shellacs, and Waterborne lacquer dye mixes I either use up fairly quickly, or else I discard them - maybe 2~3 months one the shelf.

Water or alcohol dye mixes I make up about a pint at a time, and keep them in plastic squirt bottles (like ketchup/mustard bottles) that I get at GFS. I probably have about a dozen of those mixes stashed in a drawer right now. The squirt bottles are pretty cheap, and they store easily. Label everything, of course.
 
Joe Woodworker has an excellent tutorial on transtint dyes, that he claims he got from Jeff Jewitt (inventor of the dyes), although I have never seen the tutorial on Jeff's web site.

See http://www.joewoodworker.com/transtints.htm

One error - Shelf life of the original dyes, it says "Unmixed liquid concentrates have no shelf life." I am quite sure it means no limit to the shelf life.
 
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