: About to start with a new S&G kayak, and looking for a suitable wood dye in
: either grey or silver. Have looked around for such an animal, with no
: success. Ideas? TIA.

It is not a dye, but more a slow process. If you leave unprotected cedar in the sun for a couple of years the outer layer of cells fade to a really nice silver-gray.

You might cut your strips and leave them outside to weather for a long while before building with them, or, find some faded cedar and carefully rip and resaw the boards so you have the aged face exposed.

Deep sanding will remove this, so you'll probably want to build the boat and they let it sit outside for a couple of years before a light touch-up sanding before glassing.

Generally I see such weathered cedar on houses. I'm not sure this is a practical option for most people's boats-- but it CAN be done.

Chemicals such as ammonia, oxalic acid or chlorine bleach will change the color of your wood, and perhaps lighten it. At that point you might look for a gray penetrating stain. If you start with a very light wood, say poplar, aspen, basswood, birch or even white pine, or white maple then a grey penetrating stain might give you the result you want.

Otherwise, you can lighten the color of the wood with a light mist of white paint from a spray held too far away to give decent coverage. It is really an
optical illusion, like the halftone dots in a printed photo. You get tiny dots of white in a very light random pattern (thanks to the misting) over the entire surface. Without a microscope you can't see the dots themselves, but the cumulative effect is to make the wood look lighter.

Sounds like you will want to check a few catalogs of stain companies first, though.

PGJ
Hope this helps.