Coloring Wood Glue

[Nhgrants]

Is it possible to color Tite Bond III? I need glue a sliver to fix an inletting.
Error next to the barrel.  The stock is cherry and I'm concerned that I would end up with a visible
Glue line. I dot see that is waterproof glue is available in a dark version.
Thanks

[rich pierce]

Usually if you stain the wood before gluing and it’s a good fit the line does not show much or is dark.

[SingleMalt]

Elmer's has a stainable wood glue that works well.

[Frank]

Always best to apply stain first and use a clear wood glue or epoxy. Repair will be almost invisible and only will know where it is.

[G_T]

Take a scrap of similar wood and darken it up to match. Sand darkness into powder. Mix with glue. Test to see what color it dries, and to make sure it doesn't have any compatibility issues. Then do the real one. Don't leave ANY glue on the surface where it will alter the texture. Best to not let any contact the surface. Anyway that's what I'd do. YMMV, and others may give better options.

Cherry darkens with time, so, I'd use cherry dust in the glue. Preferrably from the same piece of cherry, with the same finish.

Or, get a perfect fit so the glue line is vanishingly small...

Gerald

[Dave A]

Hide glue is better for these type of repairs

[Goo]

If it's water based glue maybe water color paint ground up and added to the glue would do the trick.

[JTR]

Hide glue is better for these type of repairs

I'm curious. Why do you think its better?

[BJH]

I’ve been known to dye epoxy with browenells powdered dyes when fitting slivers to inletting goofs. Be sure it is a shade darker than the finished wood will be. If your joint is tight enough the glue joint will be invisible when finished. At worst a fine dark line. BJH

[Dave A]

Hide glue is better for these type of repairs

I'm curious. Why do you think its better?


---------

Hide glue doesn't effect stain, thinner glue line, sands well, and it also has a high tack rate, which is advantageous when trying to glue in an often hard to clamp "sliver".


Some have mentioned mixing sawdust dust into wood glue. This really doesn't work very well. If you have access to some real nitro lacquer, you can mix with sanding dust and make a very good repair- shellac works also- best for unstained wood though.

If you have cherry that has mineral streaks in it- typical of West Virginia cherry (as opposed to Pennsylvania cherry) you can use readily available colored shellac sticks. You can just melt them with a lighter. By using a darker color that matches the mineral coloring, you can make an undetectable contrasting  repair which almost always looks better than trying to blend- especially since cherry will darken.

There are also clear and amber colored shellac sticks which have a lot of uses too.

I know it may sound hokey- but you can also use Pantone Markers to blend just about anything in.


Not that anyone is asking me- but every time I see a BP gun stocked in cherry, it always gets stained and ends up looking bland and muddy, or worse they stain it "cherry red". Why not just let it age on its own? It's going to turn brown anyway. Let it have some dignity in it's afterlife!

[T*O*F]

I'm curious. Why do you think its better?

Some of these later generation glues do not dry hard.  I just used Gorilla wood glue on a project and it has a somewhat rubbery consistency.  I suspect Titebond III might be the same.  The glue line is not clean and sharp.

[Scota4570]

No glue will stain like wood. 

For an uneven gap or around an inlay I might use epoxy with sawdust from the parent wood.  I make the wawdust on the belt sander and make it land in the epoxy on the mixing board.  IF it was on maple I would use epoxy+wood dust+ black iron oxide or copier toner.  If  a hunk was chipped out I would flat off the stock in the milling machine.  I make a patch of the same type of wood with the same grain orientation and grain pattern.  Split it off the patch material before you flat it off.  Staining the glue is a non issue because I slab off dead flat and make the patch dead flat then slightly relieve the middle.  No gap, no issue.

Sounds like for the slight gap in the barrel channel you might use spoke shave or plane curls.  Put release agent on the barrel or use baker's parchment paper.   Pack the curls tight into the gap.  Apply super glue.  No gap, no stain needed.  If you have a thin white  spot draw over it with brown or black sharpie marker before you apply finish. 

[little joe]

The dye-tint I use comes from Woodcraft and is Trans tint in several shades.

[JTR]

Scota4570 is right; the secret to a invisible glue repair is to have zero gap on the visible edges.

Over the years, I've glued in no doubt hundreds of pieces of wood into/on to old antique stocks, and besides having the grain correct, the angle of the wood repair piece the same as the angle of the wood in the stock, the most critical thing is to have no gap on the visible areas. 

[thecapgunkid]

I've had some luck with a drop of leather dye in the glue, mixed before applying.  Works pretty good with Epoxy.

[smokinbuck]

I agree with the Cap Gun Kid. I use Fieblings leather dye, alchohol based, in both epoxy and wood glue. Also stain the repair area before applying patch.
Mark

[G_T]

Alcohol added into epoxy greatly weakens/destroys the mechanical properties. Even as little as 5% alcohol can cost around 40% of the resulting strength. That is likely still fine for this application, but it will end up one of the weaker options IMHO.

Gerald

[thecapgunkid]

G-T...Even as little as 5% alcohol can cost around 40% of the resulting strength

Dunno about that because I don't use the alcohol based dyes.  Even so, I am talking a que-tip worth just to get some color.  I'd give the alcohol based dyes a wide berth just on the info by G_T.

[sdilts]

Brownell's has a dye that works real well for coloring epoxy. It's a crème. A little bit goes a loooong way.

https://www.brownells.com/search/index.htm?k=acras+glas+dye&ksubmit=y

[Roger B]

Use clear epoxy & stain the wood before putting in the patch. Works like charm.
Roger B.