Homemade Wood Dye: The Disaster Diaries, Failures and Success!

When I started my adventures in homemade wood dye, I figured it would be a big — but not hard — project.

Boy. Was I wrong — and then some.

You’ll notice I used the word “disaster” in the title. And, well, that about sums it up. I didn’t permanently dye something the wrong color. And I didn’t ruin anything. But, well, now I know why I’ll be sticking with commercial wood dyes forever.

A Plan Is Hatched

I’m fascinated with the idea of homemade wood dye. Actually, I’m fascinated with the idea of DIYing a lot of things and hacking stuff and doing it myself. I’m kind of independent like that. 

I tried to make homemade wood dye before, and it didn’t go well. It’s a long story about a nick in a chair and my attempt to fix the marred wood with coffee. It totally didn’t work, and I have no idea why. Probably because the chair is a quality chair with quality finishes, and so on.

So, as I started this dollhouse adventure, I’ve stuck with the commercially available stains, dyes, and paints. They are fine, get the job done, and are almost always available. Plus, they come in an array of colors and finishes, so I have a lot to choose from.

>>MORE: Wood Stain or Wood Dye? What’s the Difference and Why?

That said, there are problems with commercial stuff, like, you know, chemicals. I’m in no way against them, but they have a “reputation.”

Hence the thought of homemade wood dye. More specifically, homemade wood dye that’s made out of non-chemical stuff. Since I’m trying to avoid purchasing things right now (except the essentials which is really just food), I figured I could give it a shot and make my own wood dye.

So, I researched homemade wood dyes, found some fabulous ideas, and, as always, jumped on it. 

And then, well, read on, friends. Read on.

How to Make Homemade Wood Dye

I found a ton — a ton, I tell you — of homemade wood dye recipes. Some of them involved food coloring. I skipped those because I’m not interested in making “fun” colors (not yet anyway). And I skipped the ones that call for Kool-Aid or cake icing as the pigment. All I could see in my head were ants crawling all over the dollhouse.

Reading over the instructions made making homemade wood dye sound easy. Like, do step one, then step two and then, ta-da! Homemade wood dye! It’s cheap, it’s eco-friendly, and you can make it any time you want — as long as you have some time and the supplies on hand.

Yeah. No. That’s not remotely what happened. 

I have to admit, a lot of this was my own fault, so I’m not blaming the “chefs.” And, I learned a lot about why store-bought is sometimes better (and easier) than DIYing things.

There’s a reason why you call a plumber when the upstairs tub overflows, drips into your ceiling, and creates a problem right before Thanksgiving. True story. I don’t want to talk about it.

Homemade Wood Dye Disaster Number One: Steel Wool and Vinegar

Recipe number one seemed easy enough. Take one steel wool pad and stick it in a glass jar. Cover with enough white vinegar to cover the steel wood pad. Put the lid on the jar slightly askew, so air can get in and out, let the concoction sit for 24 hours, and voila! Homemade wood dye.

Before I jump into this, I apologize that some of these pictures are super-blurry. Apparently, I did not clean off my camera lens (also a newbie mistake).

I grabbed a steel wool pad.

and decided I didn’t want to sacrifice the whole thing to this experiment. Instead, I got scissors and cut it apart.

Fun fact: those scissors went right through that steel wool pad. No joke! And, bonus, supposedly cutting steel wool helps sharpen the blades.

Then, I followed the rest of the instructions. I popped the steel wool in the jar, covered it with white vinegar, partly covered the jar and let it sit.

Because I didn’t want this brew to stink up the house, I put it in the garage overnight.

Steel Wool and Vinegar: The Next Day

Here’s what my concoction looked like the next day:

As you can see, it’s still some steel wool sitting in vinegar. There’s no color whatsoever. I thought maybe the cold temperature in the garage slowed the reaction down. So, I brought the jar in the house and let it sit in the warm air for another 12 hours. But, no change:

I let the steel wool and vinegar concoction sit for another 12 hours, and still, no change. I didn’t take another picture, so I’ll just recycle the first one because I swear it’s the same.

I had no idea what was wrong.

Steel Wool Isn’t Stainless Steel Wool

It was killing me trying to figure out what was going on. Steel wool plus liquid should equal rust (or homemade wood dye). But, nothing, zero, zip, zilch. What did I do wrong?

>>MORE: Can You Use RIT Dye on Wood?

Let’s see if you can figure it out. Here’s the kind of steel wool pad I was using:

Any guesses?

Yeah. Took me a minute, too.

That’s a stainless steel wool pad. And stainless steel is known for its anti-rusting properties.

Ah. OK then. 

This also explains why the recipe variation of steel wool plus balsamic vinegar didn’t work either. Just for the laughs, here’s what that looks like.

I’m classifying this as a newbie mistake, even though it’s so much more than that. I just don’t know what to call it.

Homemade Wood Dye Using Vinegar and Real Steel Wool (Kind of)

Once I recognized my mistake, I realized the only way to make this work was to pick up some real steel wool.

If you’ve been out shopping lately, you know that the pickings are kind of slim. And the same is true if you’re having groceries delivered. You take what they’ve got!

I’m fine with that. No sense in being picky.

That’s how I ended up with this:

First problem: they are filled with soap. Second problem: they have anti-rust protection.

Oh, brother.

Well, that’s what the store had, so let’s give it a whirl.

Here’s the steel wool pad:

I decided not to cut it. I figure I might as well sacrifice the whole thing.

Here it is in the jar

It’s hard to tell, but that pad fills up the whole jar. That’s fine, but I was a little concerned that there wouldn’t be enough extra room for the air to get in and out of the jar to create the rust. 

I poured in the vinegar, and this is what happened:

Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble, no doubt!

Here’s what it looked like when the bubbling stopped:

I think that blue stuff is the soap. I have no idea at this point. Also, the whole thing didn’t smell very lemony, but that’s probably due to the vinegar.

This time, I started with the jar in the house. And 12 hours later, I was rewarded with this:

24 hours later, I had this:

It’s not a very deep color, but, as I’ve learned, looks can be deceiving.

I let it sit for another 12 hours just to see what would happen, but there was really no change to the color. 

Testing the Steel Wool and Vinegar Wood Dye

Once I was satisfied I wasn’t getting anything else out of the steel wool, I took it out of the jar and tossed the pad in the trash.

I feel compelled to mention that until the garbage went out a few days later, every time someone lifted the lid to throw something out, there was the distinct odor of rusted metal coming from the garbage can. Maybe the reaction was still happening or something. I don’t know, but I figured I should warn you.

Here’s what I was left with:

It kind of looks like soapy water. 

But, I didn’t have much of a choice and, hey, you never know! The dye in the bottle (or jar) isn’t always the same as the final product.

I grabbed an old sock, dipped it in the homemade wood dye, and wiped it on the test scrap wood.

Here’s out that looked right out of the gate:

I guess you’d call that “clear.”

Figuring I’d end up saying, “Well, that’s another fail!” I did some other things while I let that test patch dry.

>>MORE: How to Dye Wood With a Foam Brush

I honestly don’t know how long I was gone, but, when I came back, much to my shock, I found this:

It worked! It’s totally not the color I was going, for, but who cares? It worked!

For the record, the stain on the wood smells like neither vinegar nor lemon (not to mention soap). It just smells like wood.

But making homemade wood dye out of steel wool and vinegar does work!

Homemade Wood Dye Disaster Number Two: Coffee

Like I said, I tried to cover a nick using coffee on some finished wood and it didn’t work. I suspect the sealants (or whatever) soaked into the wood, making it darn near impossible to fix the nick with coffee.

This time I’d be using unfinished wood, which always takes stain better than finished wood.  I assumed my luck would be better.

Ha.

Homemade Wood Dye Made With Coffee: Attempt Number One

After breakfast one morning, I grabbed the used coffee grounds from the coffee machine and dumped them in a jar.

I wasn’t not going to waste perfectly good unused coffee grounds on this!

I added some water and got this:

Looks like coffee to me, which likely means it would stain my teeth. But wood? I don’t know. So, I let it sit overnight, kinda like making cold brew only I was brewing homemade wood dye. Side note, if you’re not making cold brew at home, you should. It’s fantastic!

The next morning, I had this:

Looks about the same to me, but what do I know?

I grabbed the sock and dunked it in the coffee dye.

So far, so good. 

Then I did a test swipe on the wood.

Also clear. OK, then.

I let it dry and was left with this:

Mostly, all I see is residual coffee grounds and a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of stain, if you want to call it that.

Still batting zero on homemade coffee wood dyes.

Sigh 

Homemade Wood Dye From Coffee Variation: Add Chocolate!

One of the recipes called for adding cocoa powder to the coffee to get a deeper color. Of course, I have cocoa powder lying around.

I added it to the coffee and mixed it up. It’s well, take a look:

The word you’re looking for is “lumpy.” I mixed the heck out of that stuff with a whisk but you see how well that went.

Well, maybe it looks fine on the wood?

I gave it a shot, and the answer is no, it doesn’t. Here’s the “just applied picture”

It looks the same after. No picture. Just take my word for it. Wet wood is the look.

Yeah. Not working at all.

Sigh again.

If at First You Don’t Succeed (and Then Still Fail)

Disappointed by the results, I figured I’d try again. I know for a fact coffee stains! I’ve got the destroyed white shirts to prove it!

>>MORE: Gel Wood Stain Pros and Cons

As it happens, I reached the bottom of my cold brew batch while I was running these homemade wood dye experiments. I never drink the stuff at the bottom. It’s just like the stuff at the bottom of the pot when you brew hot coffee. Only this stuff is thick and cold and gross.

If I’m not going to drink it, I might as well see if it makes a good homemade wood dye.

Spoiler alert. It does not.

Here’s the before:

Here’s the after:

Man. This is not working.

Homemade Wood Dye From Instant Coffee

The problem, I think, is that I was using diluted coffee. Yes, I know that cold brew is actually concentrated coffee, but it’s still diluted. So, I thought that maybe if I used instant coffee and used a tiny bit of water, I’d get better results.

Fortunately, I have instant coffee lying around, too! I take them with me when I travel since finding decent coffee in a hotel is a bit of a gamble. I decided I could sacrifice one pack for the sake of science.

These really are quite good as a travel, back-up coffee.

Hot water plus coffee equals homemade wood dye. Maybe.

Here’s the before picture:

Not bad. It’s on there, and it looks kinda nice. And yes, that’s the steel wool and vinegar stain next to it.

Of course, first dyes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, so I waited a bit before calling it.

Glad I did.

It worked, too! It’s not the same color as the RIT dye (as you can see in the picture), but it did work. So, yes, you can make homemade wood dye from instant coffee! I have not yet tested different brands, though, so your results may vary. 

Homemade Wood Dye Disaster Number Three: Tea

Like coffee, tea also stains, making it a candidate for homemade wood dye. I already had hot water, so I poured some in a mug and added a tea bag.

I only made a little, I swear, but here’s what the wood looked like just after I applied the tea dye.

Yeah. Clear again!

I’ll save you the suspense. There’s no proof I ever dyed the wood with anything but water. 

Homemade Wood Dye Is Possible (Kind of)

To summarize, it is possible to make homemade wood dye out of steel wool and vinegar or instant coffee. However, you have to use real steel wool, not stainless steel wool, and don’t use brewed coffee. It’s a waste of good coffee.

I’m glad some of these worked. For me, they were some delightful science experiments. For someone with the time and the inclination, they could create a whole rainbow of homemade wood dye out of stuff around the house.

While I have the time, I don’t have the inclination, and here’s why. It’s cool that I can do this, but I don’t see an easy way to control the final color. Yes, with time and practice, I’m sure I could master it. That’s what practice is for. But I don’t have that much time or that much patience really, which is why I’m going to stick with the commercial stuff for now. I’m sure to get the results I want every time. And if something is wrong with the product, I can get a full refund.

Using homemade wood dye, I have no one but me to blame but me if I screw it up. And I hate having those kinds of discussions with myself. They’re so depressing!

So, what about you? Ever DIYed wood dye? Or any kind of dye? What would you suggest as the next level up from “newbie mistake”? Let me know in the comments!

Image by Wolfgang Eckert from Pixabay