Fuming Sapele

[Jim Becker]

I'm a little confused as all the sapele I have in my rack is much darker than that "natively".

[John TenEyck]

Yes, that looks more like it. IMO, fuming is a hit or miss prospect. Dyes are much easier, will give you any color you want, and are safer and faster.

John

[Christian Hawkshaw]

I'm a little confused as all the sapele I have in my rack is much darker than that "natively".

Can you specify the pronoun "that"? First picture? Second picture? Also note, the piece has been sanded down to 180, so it will look lighter than a piece off the plane.

[Christian Hawkshaw]

Yes, that looks more like it. IMO, fuming is a hit or miss prospect. Dyes are much easier, will give you any color you want, and are safer and faster.

John

I agree with you...Color would be more consistent with dyes. For fuming you would want the piece constructed from similar pieces ( same tree/ boards, etc.). I plan on doing this on a blanket chest where the box is made from one board. The top ( the piece in the picture) is made up from another board. But I do expect some variation and you can see it with the top piece even before fuming. This is just a learning experience.

[Jim Becker]

Can you specify the pronoun "that"? First picture? Second picture? Also note, the piece has been sanded down to 180, so it will look lighter than a piece off the plane.

Clarifying...the second, darker version seems lighter than I was expecting you to show. But yes, some sanding could cause that...wipe some DNA on it to see something closer to what the "finished" result will be. (some folks use mineral spirits for this, but I stay away from that because there can be some slight residue and I use waterborne finishes)

[Christian Hawkshaw]

Here are the results after 2 more days of fuming (4 total):

fumingAfter4Days1.jpg

And with a couple more pieces…The vertical cutoff piece on the left is from a different board. The wider vertical cutoff on the right is from the same board in the background that is not fumed.

fumingAfter4Days2.jpg

Next, I will put a little finish on these to see how they look.

[Christian Hawkshaw]

A couple coats of matte varnish.

withFinish1.jpg

withFinish2.jpg

[Christian Hawkshaw]

Here is fuming an actual project....



Before I sealed up the chest, there is plastic underneath which is hard to see:

fumingBeforeLid.jpg

After I sealed up the chamber, you can see the color is changing already:

fumingAfterSeal.jpg

After 4 hours:

fuming4hours.jpg

After 4 days:

fuming4days.jpg

After 24 hours, it was really just as dark as 4 days. However, I left in for four days to increase penetration. Unfortunately, the color change in sapele does not penetrate far at all. With white oak, the penetration will be 1/8 just after two days.

Here is the chest completely finished in the project showcase: https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....-blanket-chest