Ebonizing curly maple, sort of?

[Aaron Wingert]

I saw a picture of a small turning that was made from some nicely figured curly maple online. The maker used steel wool and vinegar to somehow lightly ebonize the wood and it really made the curl pop, and significantly darkened the maple which was a cool effect. I've done a little reading and searching but I'm not having much luck figuring out the actual process.

Can anyone give me a little description of how this is done on a bowl or a pen, for instance? Is it a soaking solution, a wipe-on stain of sorts, or some other process?

[John Keeton]

Aaron, I don't know if you saw my follow up post, but Brian Boggs has a good article on this process, modified a bit. Check here (http://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/Ebonizing_Wood).