I need a little help ebonizing

[Jon Cooper]

so here's the question folks; I am making a tiger maple sofa table with black walnut trim around the drawers, black walnut inlay on the top and black walnut trim around the aprons. Is there a sure fire way that i can ebonize the walnut and not color the maple? I was thinking about planing all of the trim to within a hair to size and coloring it before i inlay it, but that poses the question: how far will the dye seep into the walnut (seeing as i will have to sand it flush about 1/64th-1/32nd of an inch. I have thought about masking the maple with tape, but thats an accident waiting to happen as the maple might get thirsty and drink of some of the dye. any thoughts? and what kind of ebonization technique do you think will be the most black, and soak the deepest into the walnut so i can do it this way without sanding through? Thanks fellas http://www.sawmillcreek.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowyes.gif

[Sam Yerardi]

You could seal the maple with shellac or other sealer, but it probably won't prevent dye or stain from entering the maple from the sides adjacent to the walnut. If you seal between the maple and the walnut, that might work as far as keeping the two separated.

As far as ebonizing the walnut, there are several methods you can use. One of the classic methods is to put steel wool into a jar of vinegar (typically white) and let it set over night. Don't close the lid tightly or you will have a mess. Strain the resulting liquid through a coffee filter. Brush this liquid onto the walnut. It will change the coloring to look like ebony, and the darker the walnut, the darker the coloring. Another method is to use Black India Ink.

[Eric DeSilva]

Recently saw a Woodworks episode where DM ebonized a large base. He was advocating the use of metal acid dyes for ebonizing. I believe the transtint dyes you can get at Rockler & WC are metal acid.

[Jon Cooper]

Ive seen that episode too. I have black walnut and would be open to any of these dying techniques but i'm not thinking its possible to dye them and inlay them, although i swear i have seen some furniture in galleries with ebonized inlays (wish i new the specific artist :( ). I am a bit of an environmentalist and only like to use exotics when i can get then second hand, scrap, burn pile, recycled etc, and nobody ever throws out ebony. I may have to bite the deforestation bullet and see if i can find some pre milled ebony veneer strips. I have seen decorative inlay veneer strips at woodcraft and rockler, but usually aztec maquetry style stuff; never straight up ebony. Any one have an ide where to find some long inlay strips of ebony? or even better, how to solve this ebonization debaukle?

[Sam Yerardi]

One source of ebony is obviously places like Rockler, etc. Another source that I have made use of is buy figurines and small sculptures from Africa that I can obtain not inexpensively but not with major cost. And only objects that are production-type carvings. You find them at zoos, theme parks, etc. I have a small statue made of black ebony I bought many years ago just. I use it now just for the purpose of inlay. Another source of long pieces of ebony is fingerboards from luthier suppliers such as Stewart-MacDonald and Luthier's Mercantile.

[David DeCristoforo]

Have you considered using ebony for the inlay? This would circumvent all of the issues and you would not need so much ebony that it would be that much extra cost.

YM