Post by MrEMonkey on Nov 1, 2014 16:29:58 GMT
After wandering around the internet like a toddler at Walmart, I found a few threads over at Arfcom that talked about using Rit dye to color Magpul furniture and mags. The idea is that instead of adding paint to the surface that can get scratched off, the dye soaks into the surface. There are a few folks that use electrical tape to do multiple dips and get some pretty nice camo and other designs. If you're interested, it's worth taking a look.
Anyway, I decided "hey, I can do that!" and rounded up some supplies.
I picked up a cheap stainless stock pot from Walmart (12 quart--which was waaay bigger than I needed) for about $8. Grabbed some cheap tongs for $1, so I wouldn't risk messing up any of my wife's nice kitchen stuff.
Rit dye, obviously. I was going for a purple color for some magazines for the munchkin's AR, since purple is her favorite color (for now, at least). The store didn't have purple, but I figured red and blue should be fine (plus giving me more options for dying more stuff later). About $2.50 each.
I had a pair of FDE Magpul 30 round mags ready to go already.
I had looked online for different color "recipes," and the color I was looking for recommended a tablespoon of blue and a teaspoon of red (well, it was actually calling for taupe, but I figured between the red and FDE, I would be in the ballpark) per cup of water.
NOTE: If you use a tablespoon of dye per cup of water, your product will turn out MUCH DARKER than you planned. I used 5 tablespoons of blue and 1 tablespoon of red in 10 cups of water, and you can see how dark the mags turned out below.
Several of the write-ups I had read said to heat the water/dye mixture. Most said that you don't need to boil--some said to heat the water to 170*, others said it just needed to be steaming. I got it up to about 130* and figured that was good enough, and it's warm enough that the Magpul polymer will really soak up the color.
I let everything soak for about 3 minutes before pulling it all out, letting it drain over some paper shop towels, and rinsing it in cool water in the sink to make sure I didn't have any wet dye left on anything.
The flash makes the magazines look a bit lighter than they do in natural light. They turned out almost a midnight blue--not at all what I was going for, but the kiddo likes them anyway, so I'm happy.
Next time, I'm going to try maybe 1/4 the amount of dye, and see how it turns out. Hey, good excuse to buy more magazines anyway, right?
Anyway, I decided "hey, I can do that!" and rounded up some supplies.
I picked up a cheap stainless stock pot from Walmart (12 quart--which was waaay bigger than I needed) for about $8. Grabbed some cheap tongs for $1, so I wouldn't risk messing up any of my wife's nice kitchen stuff.
Rit dye, obviously. I was going for a purple color for some magazines for the munchkin's AR, since purple is her favorite color (for now, at least). The store didn't have purple, but I figured red and blue should be fine (plus giving me more options for dying more stuff later). About $2.50 each.
I had a pair of FDE Magpul 30 round mags ready to go already.
I had looked online for different color "recipes," and the color I was looking for recommended a tablespoon of blue and a teaspoon of red (well, it was actually calling for taupe, but I figured between the red and FDE, I would be in the ballpark) per cup of water.
NOTE: If you use a tablespoon of dye per cup of water, your product will turn out MUCH DARKER than you planned. I used 5 tablespoons of blue and 1 tablespoon of red in 10 cups of water, and you can see how dark the mags turned out below.
Several of the write-ups I had read said to heat the water/dye mixture. Most said that you don't need to boil--some said to heat the water to 170*, others said it just needed to be steaming. I got it up to about 130* and figured that was good enough, and it's warm enough that the Magpul polymer will really soak up the color.
I let everything soak for about 3 minutes before pulling it all out, letting it drain over some paper shop towels, and rinsing it in cool water in the sink to make sure I didn't have any wet dye left on anything.
The flash makes the magazines look a bit lighter than they do in natural light. They turned out almost a midnight blue--not at all what I was going for, but the kiddo likes them anyway, so I'm happy.
Next time, I'm going to try maybe 1/4 the amount of dye, and see how it turns out. Hey, good excuse to buy more magazines anyway, right?
