Ebonizing wood

[Mike Minto]

i have been wanting to experiment with ebonizing wood. initially to color a turning or two, i've tried to dye a piece or two, with mixed to lousy results. the prob there could be my inexperience with dyes (in this case, mixol) and improper application, i don't really know - time and experience will tell. anyways, i had some steel wool soaking in vinegar for months - almost forgot about it. this weekend past, i put some of the solution on a scrap of white oak i had on hand, and boy, did it turn black - and you could see the quarter sawn grain thru the color - it worked very well. can you all tell me, how deep does the color penetrate (what danger will further sanding pose?), how much solution is usually needed, and what other woods work well with this vinegar/steel wool 'ebonization'? thanks, mike

[Harvey Mushman]

Fiebings leather dye is what I use when I need to ebonize something. This is the product that luthiers use to make ebony fretboards totally black.

http://www.fiebing.com/Dyes.aspx

[Bob Hallowell]

Mike,
I just used the vineger/steel wool on a table I just posted on the Projects forum "Ipe hall table". As far as I know it works with wood with high tanin content which would be oak and walnut. I sanded the grain down with no problem how much you can sand I don't know, Maybe try it on your scrap.

Bob

[Mike Wilkins]

For a small project I once used India Ink, a disposable brush, and gloves.
The latest issue of Popular Woodworking magazine has an article on ebonizing wood that you may find useful.

[George Clark]

Mike,

I have seen, in person, a chair that Brian Boggs ebonized using the method he described in his article in the current issue of Popular Woodworking. The chair was made of mixed woods and the finish was, in my opinion, beautiful. It was consistent in color and I had no idea it was made of mixed woods until he told us.

George

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I've done some ebonizing with iron suspended in Vinegar, wash out the oil to get clean steelwool, submerge in vinegar and you will see the bubbling reaction of the acid with the iron, when that stops (like overnight) that's all the iron that will get dissolved in the vinegar, you can wipe that over your project (my usual way) or submerge if you like.
The penetration is quite shallow, especially in the sidegrain, so you better have the piece finished and all your sanding done, a very fine sanding can be done but be carefull.
The other thing I found is that the wood will lighten up a bit and not stay as dark as what you have at first, the same thing if you use ammonia for ebonizing,
All woods that have tannin in them will get ebonized by this method, how much depends on the amount of tannin, which you can improve upon by wiping some strong thee onto it or buying some tannin and adding that, with adding those you can even ebonize wood that does not contain tannin naturally, like Ash for instance, HTH, have fun and take care.

[Roger Wilson]

You should take a look at the Rit clothing dyes, and vegetable dyes as well. They are cheap and get good reviews.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Use Minwax Ebony stain. Works pretty well.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Here's a picture of a bowl I ebonized many moons ago and still have (LOML has ;-))

[Mike Minto]

i have recently tried to ebonize a pot i turned of cherry, and didn't like the way it came out; i found that the 'ebonization', in this case, was pretty thin - it came out easily thru sanding. i'll post a pic when i do get it better finished.

[Ryan Baker]

Steve posted some pics a few days ago of a hollowform with an ebonized cherry lid/finial, and that looked great. I don't remember which method he used.

[Burt Alcantara]

Leo,
That is a stunning bowl.

[Brian Millspaw]

I've had good luck with the steel and vinegar with: oak, walnut, mahogany, sycamore, maple, and ash. One time the ash turned green, another time it went black. The two photos are both ash

-Brian
www.finewoodcarver.com (http://www.finewoodcarver.com)

[Greg Crawford]

Harvey,

Which of the Fiebing dyes do you use?