Thanks for the tips. I figured out how to make wood solid black

[Michael Costa]

On top is hard maple.
Bottom left is Baltic Birch plywood
Bottom right is regular plywood.

Came out pretty good I think.

403739

[John TenEyck]

Care to share how you did it?

John

[Jim Becker]

Yes, "do tell" what you settled on. Things look very nice in the photo.

[Frederick Skelly]

I'd love to know your secret. I always use India Ink. How'd you do it?

[Michael Costa]

The left sides were hand sanded with the grain with 120 grit, the right sides sanded to 220 grit. I didn't notice a difference between the two when finished.

I used 8oz each of lacquer thinner and denatured alcohol with half bottle (1oz) black transtint. A little of this goes a long way. I put a coat of the dye on and let it sit for about 10 minutes. I wiped off any excess then applied a second coat wiping off excess after another 10 minutes.

The next day I used one coat of ebony gel stain. And that was the result after the stain dried. There is no top coat.

[John TenEyck]

They definitely are black, but it's an expensive solution.

John

[Michael Costa]

I didnt realize there was such a thing as a cheap option in wood working. Lol

[John TenEyck]

A bottle of Transtint dye costs about $25. You used half a bottle in 8 oz of lacquer thinner, so that's $50 for a quart plus the cost of the lacquer thinner. You can buy a quart of Speedball India Ink for $17 on Amazon Prime and that stuff will color any absorbent wood coal black, and generally with no need for any additional stain.

You're right; nothing about woodworking is cheap, but there are often ways to save a little along the way.

John

[Stan Calow]

I am curious as to what the function of the lacquer thinner is in your mix. Slower drying of the dye?