How do you to ebonize poplar?

[David Walser]

Do any of you have suggestions about how to ebonize poplar? Here's the background: My wife has made a stained glass lampshade for our daughter. Both daughter and wife want me to turn a base for the shade, but they want to paint it black. Since it was going to be painted, I glued up a blank out of 8/4 poplar. Now that the turning is almost done, they've decided they like the grain of the poplar, but still want the lamp base to be (nearly) black. Any thoughts? I'm not worried about ruining the piece. After all, if I don't like the results, I can always put a good coat of primer on it and paint like I'd planned to begin with.

[Don Robert]

I just used India ink on some desert willow that had no character. It took two coats but seemed to work fine. It has a nice ebony appearance. I just coated it with SealCoat (de-waxed shellac) and will later finish with either water-based lacquer or conversion varnish. I haven't tried any chemicals although I am "brewing up" some vinegar and steel/iron for this purpose.

[Joe Cunningham]

I've used Jacobean stain (from Minwax) on a poplar box I made and it is almost black, but with brownish tones. I think I left it on maybe 10 seconds before I wiped it off, so it might be even darker if you left it on longer.

Not quite ebony though, but cheap enough to experiment with.

[jerry nazard]

I'll second Don's method. Works great on poplar. The greens and browns in the wood take on a slightly different hue. It makes the wood look expensive....

-Jerry

[robert hainstock]

Take a half pint of whie vineger, and dissolve some steel wool, small nails, of other steel particles. wait two weeks, and then brush it on. let it dry and then buff with 4/0 steel wool. It should do the job. :)
Bob

[David Walser]

Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate it.

[Gary Max]

Shoe polish works ---use a couple of coats to control how black you want it.

[Andrew Derhammer]

Black Artisan Dye from CSUSA

[Lorne Steed]

David: Probably the easiest and actually the traditional way to ebonize any wood is to use black NGR ( non grain raising) dye. You won't have any blotching issues with poplar and since you are totally masking the wood that is mostly a non issue anyway. Wear gloves when applying as it is an alcohol type dye and will stain your hands quite well to the point of non removability for many days. You may lacquer the piece after about 30 to 90 mins depending on brand of dye, or even if you choose to varnish it you may. At any rate you will get the truest color and deepest penetration with NGR dyes.

[Richard Madison]

Addition to Robert's method (and mine): Filter part of the resulting solution through a coffee filter into a separate container and use the filtrate for ebonizing. Probably no need to wait two weeks, as the vinegar will react with as much iron as it can (if you use steel wool, which has large surface area) within a few hours.

[Mike Langford]

David,
I use Fiebing's black professional Oil Dye....
93874
It's used a lot by instrument makers (Gibson is one) to even out the ebony they use for fretboards and bridges....It's even used to dye maple boards on less expensive guitars to appear like real ebony!

Here are two pre-slotted fretboards and peghead veneers I used the Fiebings on because they has brown and tan staining on them.....(Macassar ebony)
93875 93876 93877

You can get Fiebings online from Stewart MacDonald:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Colors,_tints,_and_stains/Black_Fingerboard_Stain.html

OR....At any place that sells horse supplies and tack....It's also used to dye saddles and leather.....

....When you use Fiebings be VERY careful....This stuff will get on everything!
Wear gloves and control how much you apply at once....It wicks into wood extremely well but it will also get all over you and wick into every crack....:eek::D (here's a Stewmac "Trades Secrets article on it's use...
http://www.stewmac.com/tradesecrets/promo/ts0046_ebony )

Have Fun....