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So I've never done this before and was practicing on staining a bridge. It's a Cocobolo bridge that I wanted to stain black. I had some old stain, dark walnut color, and I added a whole lot of black mixol to make it black. The bridge stained but it's sticky and the stickyness won't go away. It's been curing for a couple days and still sticky. Is there another way of doing this?

Stain shouldn't be sticky at all, especially after a couple days. Was the original stain a poly finish with stain? Or was there a finish on the bridge material first? It sounds like there is some kind of finish involved and it didn't like the addition of the black dye.

Perhaps the old stain is oil based and the the Coco is preventing it drying. I'd be tempted to remove what you've put on and go with a water based stain, either Indian ink or you could try some of your Mixol in water. Seal the stain with a finish once dried.

Ok so it's a staining sealer. And it's oil based. Sorry guys total noob in the whole staining thing. The Mixol is supposed to work with the stain, but because its a sealer (finish?) at the same time it doesn't really want to work?

I don't know how to work with the materials you have so I can't tell you what's wrong. I have used Feibing's leather dye, sold by Stew-Mac and others, for dying ebony and other woods. It's OK, bluish. An alcohol-based stain, I wonder if it fades.

You know what really works well? Hair dye. I don't mess with the Feibings any more. I have dyed a several headplates and one fretboard. Got this idea from Mario. What I do is go to the dollar store and buy the cheapest black dye they have. About a buck is all. I would suggest you clean off the gunk that's on your bridge (or a test piece if you have one), raise the grain with water, dry it, and sand it down. Then mix up some hair dye and go for it. You can touch up your roots while you're at it...

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Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

I tried lacquer and poly on Cocobolo. Ended up with a sticky mess.
I'd try a dye, and perhaps a solvent to clean the Cocobolo first.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Alcohol based dye is the only way to go. You want to apply this to a bridge that is almost ready with only fine sanding to do as any sanding will remove the dye. Dye on hardwoods like cocobolo wont penetrate very deep into the wood....

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

The Mixol was a mistake. That type of pigment is no good for stains or dyes, only works for solid colored finishes.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Thanks a lot for all the replies guys. I'll be doing some looking around and some more practice on scrap wood.