Looking for help on ebonizing wood

[jim_mex]

Hi - I'm looking for a way to produce a very dark, preferable black finish for some segmentation/intarsia work. Its been suggested that I try ebonizing wood.
I've done a quick google search and I'm pretty confused as to which way to go.

Can anyone familiar with this technique provide me with a tried and tested idiot proof formula please and also suggest which is the best 'normal' wood to use for this. By normal read 'easily available' which in my case means pine, poplar, mahogany, oak etc.

Thanks in advance

[lucky788scroller]

Oak works perfectly.
searching on here should turn up a few great threads on ebonizing.I have an ebonized labrador in the gallery of red oak, and it turned out great. Mac's Finishing Notebook has some great finishing tricks to read about as well.
put a gob of steel wool and a few uncoated nails into a jar of vinegar, and stir it daily for a few days.Then on some scrap of the same wood as your project, wipe some of the solution on, and it should blacken the wood .If not, give your solution a couple more days, and try again. Type in ebonize in the message board search Jim, it'll turn up many discussions. It really is a pretty simple thing, and the results can be amazing!
ebonized lab - Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts Photo Gallery

[Bruce-P]

For wood, you need to either use something with a natural high tannin content, e.g. oak, or you can presoak low tannin woods in highly concentrated tea to add tannins to the wood.

The easiest method I have found is to put some white vinegar in a clear plastic or glass jar, and add some 0000 or finer steel wool to the vinegar (be sure to wash the steel wool with soap, to remove any residual oil, and then rinse the steel wool well before adding to the vinegar). Cover the jar loosely with plastic wrap to confine the odors. DO NOT USE A TIGHT LID ON THE JAR - the reaction between the iron (steel wool) and the acetic acid (vinegar) generates gas which if contained within a sealed jar, could cause the jar to explode. Let the vinegar/steel wool sit for a few days; add more steel wool if the first amount added "disolves" or turns into fine particulates. The clumps of steel wool will tend to float; if you are the impatient sort, you can (using a non-metallic implement) knock the bubbles off the steel wool and submerge the clumps to make the reaction go a little faster. The color of the final solution doesn't seem to matter; I have used it when it is clear or very dark; the essential issue is that you have enough iron in solution to react with the tannins in the wood.

To use: if the pieces are small, just place them into the solution and leave them until they turn black. As the color reaction only penetrates a short distance into the wood, be sure that your intarsia piece is in it final form before ebonizing. Be aware that the end grain will generally turn darker than face grain face of the wood. If the piece is too large to fit into the liquid, paint the solution onto the wood and let it sit; you may have to use several coats with this method. When the desired color is reached (with either method of application) just rinse the wood off in water, and let it dry. The acetic acid (in the ebonizing solution) is volatile and will evaporate out of the wood in a few days. Alternatively, you can soak the ebonized piece in a water bath to dilute out the acetic acid and then let it dry.

What ever process you decide to use, try it first of some small test pieces of the wood to make sure you will acheive the desired effect.
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Bruce P.

[miniwoodworker]

This reminds me of a related question. Has anyone used India ink for this purpose?

[jim_mex]

Thanks Guys - I've got my witches brew of steel wool and vinegar brewing - smells great! - and eagerly waiting to try it in the next few days and see the results

I'm going to try it on oak as suggested and will also try it with the tea enhancement.

Thanks again for the help

BTW - I was talking to a local carpenter today and he told me that his father used to make guitars and he would colour the neck of the guitar black by rubbing soot into the wood before varnishing it. He got the soot from the exhaust stack of his smoky old boiler. I reckon I'll also be trying this later just for fun and to see what happens

[miniwoodworker]

Jim, I think you're on to something with the soot. I know I have to be careful when I take the ashes out of my stove. Ashes, themselves aren't a problem if they spill on the floor. Soot's a different story. I'm going to try it, too.

If you don't have an easy way to get some soot, just light a candle and hold something metal (like an enameled pan) in the flame. It'll be slow, but it'll give you enough to experiment on a scrap of wood.

And, this has brought up something else to try -- Stove Black, the product that I use from time to time on my wood stove. As bad as that stuff stains my hands, I'm sure it'll put an interesting finish on wood, especially after it's buffed out.

[jim_mex]

Hi Lee - I've heard of Stove Black but will probably have a hard time finding it here in Mexico but it sounds interesting.

Just for interest, a similar take I've tried previously but one which I'm sure won't suit my intarsia/segmentation project is to use black shoe wax/polish. I made a mask for my sister-in-law last Christmas as a rush request and had no time to go through the normal finishing process so much as you mentioned with Stove Black I applied a load of black shoe polish and then buffed it up the following day. The result actually came out pretty good! See below

Although more of a carving project I did at least cut the fish outline on the scrollsaw



PS - forgot to mention - the base wood for this shoe polish treatment was fairly whitish alder

[Janette]

I'm not sure, but I think you'll want to filter out the steel wool before you use it so you don't get metal particles in your wood. Those masks are cool Jim!

[jim_mex]

Thanks Janette - I plan to steal a panty hose from Norma to filter the magic elixir - same trick i use when filtering paint and varnishes - but rest assured I always make sure she's not wearing them at the time - LOL!

This is pretty exciting stuff - the scientist in me can't wait to try this ebonizing technique out - LOL!

Thanks for comment on the mask. This was my first attempt at wood carving after buying my Foredom powertool and it was good fun. I keep promising myself to have another go at carving but other stuff keeps getting in the way. One day maybe .....

[Bruce-P]

If you are going to filter the solution, I would recomment a coffee filter rather than pantyhose. The remaining particulates are very small and would likely go through the mesh of pantyhose. Alternatively, you can let the particulates settle and decant off the solution, kind of like an old bottle of fine wine...
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Bruce P