Thanks Tim!

I've though about buying but I have a ton of smaller veneer sections so I'd like to see if I can use that effectively.
I buy (hoard) the low price "mystery box" veneers from veneersupplies and there always is some steel grey maple (dyed) and generally a good selection of heavily fumed woods. From what I understand, the places that do this use a heck of a lot more pressure.
Paul (Shipwright) uses fabric dye at hot temperatures but that'll have to wait a while for me to adopt, I only need a tiny amount! 😬

Dave, the vacuum pot was originally bought for Cactus Juice. Next time I try that I'm going to find/make a jar that can hold the parts and minimize the juice requirements