Neat Stain...

[Derek Arita]

I love the driftwood gray look but never knew how to achieve it. I've seen some pretty complicated processes that pros use, but it all seemed like too much trouble for me. I recently began working with pallet wood and it's been fun, but again, unless I got lucky and got a weathered pallet, I was back to natural wood colors.
About a week ago I ran across a simple "stain" that looked promising, so I tried it. It's iust vinegar and steel wool, soaked for 8 to 24 hours, than applied to the wood. Although it takes some experimentation, it really did achieve the look I was going for. I'll post a finished project, but for now, here's a sample. I'm sure a lot of you already know about this, but was new t me.
300650

[Dave Zellers]

I am totally interested but is there any chance you could put up a before and after pic? Those are two different pieces of wood.

These kinds of treatments are very interesting however.

[Derek Arita]

Actually, these two pieces came from the same board and were the same color before the stain was applied. Funny this is, the concoction is a clear yellowy color in the jar. When applied and until dry, it looks like you just brushed water onto your board. It's pretty amazing stuff.
When I tried it on a piece of redwood, the turned a dark gray color. I read that this is how they "ebonize" white oak. The iron compound that forms in the mixture reacts with the tannins in the wood, so the more tannins, the more the reaction. Pretty cool stuff. I'll be using this a lot to that driftwood look.

[Scott Cenicola]

Maybe I'm not understanding, the two pieces of wood next to each other are a comparison of with and without the
"stain" ? Thanks

[Max Neu]

Derek,
That is pretty cool!What kind of ratio did you use of steel wool/vinegar?Does the amount of steel wool used affect the color?I have been experimenting with gray/weathered finishes for a decorator using stains,I just can't seem to get it right,this looks really promising!

[Prashun Patel]

I've used this mixture to ebonize wood. Just know that your mileage may vary from project to project or wood to wood. Sometimes it produces a weathered look; sometimes it turns the wood jet black. The price is appealing. However, the unpredictability makes it a non-starter if you're aiming for a particular degree of darkening and you don't roll all cherries with this.

I agree, it's very cool!

[Scott E Carter]

For unusual stain colors, I've played around with WD Lockwood dyes. They certainly have a number of gray dyes for a driftwood look as well other colors that aren't normal stain colors like vibrant oranges and greens. You can even dye the wood, sand it leaving the dye only in the grain and re dye with a different color or the same color for a more pronounced difference of the grain pattern. There are 2 tips that I can give...less fastness to light than traditional pigmented stains if hit by sunlight, and it needs to be sealed before any finish is put on top.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

It was my understanding that steel wool and vinegar mixtures react chemically with the tannin in the wood and that is why you get a varied effect from one piece of wood to another or one species to another. I have a friend who uses it to ebonize wood.

[Derek Arita]

Maybe I'm not understanding, the two pieces of wood next to each other are a comparison of with and without the
"stain" ? Thanks

Scott, yes that's right. Same wood, just from different sections. One with stain and one bare.
I used about 1 pint of vinegar and two rolls of 00 steel wool. Make sure to fully submerge the steel wool. My first batch, the steel wool peeked out the top of the liquid and ended up rusting, which created a rust colored liquid. Second batch, I made sure to fully submerge the steel wool and had no rust form. I let it cook about 8 hours and sampled every couple of hours. The longer it sat, the darker the stain. Again, you really can't tell the finished color until the wood is completely dry.
Yes, results do vary from piece to piece and species to species, but kinda the beauty of this stuff. I just compared it to some of my real weather-grayed wood and I can't tell the difference.
To be honest, I really don't know the species of wood I got from my pallet. Looked the color of pine, but others here will be able to ID the species better than I. Help please.

[Dave Zellers]

So how do you apply the stain? Brush it on and let it sit or wipe it off?

If you were doing volume, could you roll it on or spray it on?

This is cool and requires some experimentation.

But the more you can tell me, the less I have to do. :cool:

[Bill White]

Strain it through a coffee filter to get all the junk out of the mixture.
Bill

[Myk Rian]

That's called ebonizing. The vinegar/steel wool reacts with the tanin in the wood.
To get it black, treat the wood with wine tanin disolved in water. Brush it on and let it dry.
When you brush on the vin/steel, it turns black.

[Bill Orbine]

I've used this mixture to ebonize wood. Just know that your mileage may vary from project to project or wood to wood. Sometimes it produces a weathered look; sometimes it turns the wood jet black. The price is appealing. However, the unpredictability makes it a non-starter if you're aiming for a particular degree of darkening and you don't roll all cherries with this.

I agree, it's very cool!

Yes! Unpredictable. Been there, done that! It's fun but also a hair ripper!

[Derek Arita]

Dave, when I made up my mixture, I made sure not to agitate it too much. When I determined that it had cooked long enough, I carefully removed the steel wool so as not to break it up. No staining was necessary for me. Again, careful not to let the steel wool float to the top and get exposed, because once exposed, it rusts and leaves that rust color behind, unless that's what you want.
I brushed and rolled it on and both gave the same results. Just be sure that the entire surface is saturated, as it is hard to see, especially with the rough surface I was using. Rolling it really made quick work of a large surface.
Yes this is ebonizing and really creates a dark color on high tannin woods like oak. All I can say is, experiment with mix time and test pieces and be sure to let it dry well. My samples took hours to come to color and actually darkened some overnight. It really is fun stuff to work with.

[Dave Zellers]

Sorry if I'm beating this to death-

I assume no wiping. Which means you brush, roll, it on and let it dry, which would explain your comment that it even darkened over night.

But that also assumes some serious grain raising. So if you let the wood dry and then sand it smooth are the high spots going to sand off to the original color? Maybe this isn't intended for fine finishes but rather rougher rustic finishes?

Still sounds interesting especially the part about suppressing / controlling the rusting aspect to the mixture.

I'm just going to have to jump into the pool to answer all my questions.

[Derek Arita]

No wiping. This is a driftwood look, so I didn't care about grain raising. If you want a finer finish, use water to raise the grain first, then sand, then apply the mixture and let it dry. But I'm no expert. Experitment and see what you can come up with, but I'd go for color first.

[Dave Zellers]

Got it- Thanks!

[Derek Arita]

Oh... Also, if you want an even darker look, you can put on a first coat of tea. This adds tannin to the surface to make more of a reaction.