If you are using basswood,black liquid shoe dye, found in shoe repair shops,thinned with alcohol and a couple test dips to determine the shade work very well for me and the dry time is in minutes. Caveat,you don't need a lot of dye to alcohol ratio,its actually better to fill a container with alcohol and add dye than to thin the dye with alcohol. very thin will give you a really nice driftwood look and darker from there.