Has anyone used the “Finisher’s Color Wheel”?
I used the Finisher’s Color Wheel with the hopes of developing a stain blend for an upcoming project. I lined up the “Cordovan” segment on the outer wheel with Raw Umber on the inner wheel, I mixed the appropriate TransTint dyes in the appropriate 3 to 1 ratio. The resulting color (on maple) is lovely, but bears no resemblance to the shade in the little window on the color wheel. Is there somwhere a treasure trove of TransTint recipes that I can leverage to save what would certainly be endless experimentation?
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Are there some tricks I should employ when using TransTint dyes with the color wheel?
By the way, the color I’m trying to mimick (on maple) is shown in the circled area in the 
attached photo. The lower part of the photo is washed out by the flash.
Replies
color theory - in practice
I do a lot of repair/refinish and use the Transtint dyes extensively as well as several other transparent and opaque pigments. The color wheel can be helpful in getting you headed towards a desired shade but there is no substitute for lots of good old practice. I suggest doing the sample grids as Jeff Jewitt indicates in his writings on several different species as the excercise will get you better acquainted with how the pigments handle and relative to how they react to different kinds of wood.
there is no easy answer that takes the place of trying colors on a similar wood. I would first try to see if you need a dye or pigment like stain or both - finishers can ususally tell that with a glance - does the finish have color in it ? luster makes a difference in color - how much color is in the raw wood -
Maple is hard to stain the color of your sample - it could be a glaze brushed on over a light golden dye - can't tell you more by the photo alone - Jeff is the master at this - I think he could get you going in the right direction - go to the site - get his phone and call him - he is always willing to help folks - he has helped me a few times -
SA
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