Black & White

[Bruce Pratt]

Haven't posted in a while. These vases are from a red oak which came down in Hurricane Irene earlier this year. Generally, I am not fond of oak, but I turned these green to final, and it wasn't too bad. The starting pieces of wood were about 4 1/2" in diameter, so each piece displays the growth rings which intersect the curved outer surfaces. On the tall vase, the curve of the top half is just a bit flatter than I would have liked.

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Dimensions: Left & Right 3 1/2 x 6; Center 3 1/2 x 11. Wall thickness 1/4" on the center one, and 1/8" on the other two. All three cored with a Forstner bit and free-hand hollowing. Finish: Several coats of Transfast Black, followed by one coat of spray shellac to stabilize the black. Next was liming wax followed by two coats of spray shellac and several coats of WOP. I originally tried Fe-Acetate ebonizing, but could not achieve a sufficiently dark color, hence the use of the Transfast dye. C&C welcome.
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Bruce Pratt

[Marty Eargle]

Very interesting how that grain popped with the black. I'm glad that after paining your way through those pieces of oak, you had something very nice to show for it. And I'm sure they look even better in person. I'm not huge on the form of the first piece, not quite as clean and sleek as the others. None the less...great work. Thanks for sharing!

[Bruce Pratt]

Marty,

The grain is highlighted by the liming wax which becomes embedded in the open pores of the oak.

Bruce

[Jim Burr]

Bruce...post more! These are really cool!

[Donny Lawson]

That is a great and interesting work.

[John Keeton]

Bruce, everyone will have their favorite of these, and for me, it is the one on the far right. I differ with Marty, in that I like the one on the left, as well. The one in the center doesn't do as much for me, but you did an excellent job on all of them. Neat finish!

[Scott Hackler]

That liming wax is the cats meow with the black background. I like that look a lot.

[Baxter Smith]

They look great Bruce! The liming wax looks sharp. I have been turning thin some red oak hf's over the last week for future dying. Although the tree was dead, the wood was still prettty wet so bagged them. What did you do for drying?

[Bruce Pratt]

Baxter,

Mine also were pretty wet, as the tree was live before being blown down. After turning, I put the pieces opening down on a screen shelf and put a brown paper bag over each one. Figured the bag would slow down drying from the outside, and the open neck would facilitate drying from the inside out. Don't know if the logic was correct, but did not get any cracking. As I recall, it took a couple of weeks for the weight of the pieces to stabilize. At that point, I misted each piece with water to raise the grain, let them dry and then did a final sanding at 400 before applying the dye. Had to put on 4 or 5 applications of the dye to get the surfaces fully black.

[Baxter Smith]

Thanks Bruce. I shall give that drying method a try for the next ones I do. Can't argue with success!

[Greg Just]

I think you did a great job with the oak. Like John, my favorite it the one on the right, but I do like them all, especially the highlighting from the liming wax. I was at a Molly Winton class recently and she uses black leather dye when she is coloring an entire piece black. Thanks for sharing.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Those are cool and the finish is interesting.

[charlie knighton]

Bruce, well done, i like them as a group, do not break them up, i like the finish you gave them

[Michelle Rich]

very cool look. I have never like liming wax on furniture, but here it really enhances the pieces. Very interesting pieces!

[Bill Bolen]

Wonderful finish and thanks for the how-to. These are really attractive!