Now that is very cool. Never thought about a black/ebony dyed base. Much better than paint as you can still see the wood grain. Not like with a lighter finish where you see the grain through it but a very different look with the black and worth if for the "cool" factor. I like it. Did you do the bluing with one of the home gun bluing kits or have it done?
Dye is a bit tricky as it must be applied in a flood and wiped off quickly to avoid streaks, overlaps, etc but the base is so small that it wasn't a problem. I recently moved to an apartment and gave up my wood shop, so a water based dye worked better than a petroleum based satin - no odor at all. You just need to be neat as dye is, well, dye and will color just about anything it come in contact with. Latex gloves are a must.
The photos don't have the best color temperature accuracy but it did come out looking very much like real ebony, with the grain and color variations showing through - black with subtle brown/red highlights. I mean to give it a coat or two of wood wax once I take it apart to to the Speedball. Right now I'm using it too much to want to take it apart.
I used a gun blue at home (Birchwood/Casey). A good workout of steel wool on the bell and a few treatments of the blue came out very even. I forgot to do the bolt heads before assembly but some judicious steel wooling and a q-tip application matched up with the bell pretty well.
Bob
