Home Made Stain

[Jim Koepke]

I have heard of the black walnuts in ammonia way of making stain, but this is different.

Left over coffee... something seldom found in my home, balsamic vinegar and teriyaki sauce?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej5IWC0EhzQ

jtk

[steven c newman]

Is it better than Vinegor & steel wool?

[David Posey]

I'm not where I can watch it now, but I'll check it out. I have used really strong tea + steel wool disolved in vinegar to ebionize wood. I used it on Borg SPF (I think it was spruce), but I imagine it would have worked better on oak or something with a lot of tannins. Still, the two together worked pretty well. I'll post pictures when I get the chance. The steel wool/vinegar by itself left the wood a medium brown.

[Jim Rimmer]

They really never give you a good look at the wood but from what little I could see it didn't do much staining. And the formula was pretty vague, too - some coffee, a little balsamic vinegar ans some teriyaki sauce. What proportions of each? Sounds like something good for a sound bite but not very practical.

[george wilson]

You'd best be careful of "vegetable dyes". They might fade out soon.
When I made the spinet harpsichord in my movie,I used a old formula of powdered oak galls,steel chips and vinegar. This was in 1974. The dye was an intense jet black. The sharps were pearwood on the original we were copying,and so was the repro. Over the years,the black has become a bit brownish,which is o.k.,since the original is that way too,and such is the nature of early stains. 18th.C. furniture was a lot more colorful than we see it today. The mahogany furniture was made redder than we see it today. Many times,the mahogany is so faded that it is hard to tell from walnut today.

[Prashun Patel]

I've experimented with just about everything for ebonizing. The best for me is buying dye concentrate. It's cheap in the end, and lasts forever, so I'm rarely out of stock. It gives the most consistent, clearest results. Steel wool and vinegar has a high 'neato cool' factor, but it has been unpredictable on anything but oak and walnut (for me).

I have also found it invaluable for controlled darkening of other colors .

[Rob Fisher]

I've experimented with just about everything for ebonizing. The best for me is buying dye concentrate. It's cheap in the end, and lasts forever, so I'm rarely out of stock. It gives the most consistent, clearest results. Steel wool and vinegar has a high 'neato cool' factor, but it has been unpredictable on anything but oak and walnut (for me).

I have also found it invaluable for controlled darkening of other colors .What brand? What color? What mix ratio? And finally where do you get it? TIA

[Prashun Patel]

Transtint (liquid) and Transfast (powder) are both available from Woodcraft & Rockler. The Transfast is cheaper, but personally, I find it a pain to mix and strain. Failure to strain has led to spotting for me. The Transtint is just so darn easy - and comes with it's own dropper cap, so it's fairly clean to use. If yr a hobbyist like me, a single 2oz bottle will last a long time.


The only caveat is that some people find the Transtint/Transfast blacks a little 'blueblack' for their taste.

The 'truest' black was found here by someone to be India Ink. I'm fine with the TT's.