Tom Cancelleri Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 I'm looking to do some table legs in a dark wood to go with a cherry table top. Pricing out Ebony is entirely too expensive to do it with. Wenge is kind of an option if I go pick it up, however ebonizing might be an option depending on which finishes I can use. My plan is to finish with Watco danish oil. I have read the way to ebonize wood is to use iron acetate on a wood with lots of tanic acid. White oak being the best option. Once the wood is sanded to 220ish, then I would ebonize it, followed by applying the finish coat. can you apply danish oil on top of ebonized wood, or do I have to sand again, or spray some sort of film finish on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradpotts Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 I have ebonized wood before. I sprayed shellac as a finish. I would not sand it after ebonizing it and before putting finish on it. I also bought the bark tea. Here is the article that I followed. http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/ebonizing_wood. I will warn you that if you glue two boards together, they both ebonize a little differently. It makes it obvious that the two boards are different. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwalter5110 Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 I have ebonized a coffee table using india ink. I haven't had much success with iron acetate. I wanted the table to be BLACK. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 Alcohol or acetone based dye ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 ==>Alcohol or acetone based dye ! and unless you like purple, an ounce or two of India ink... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 I have to say that although I like the iron acetate approach, it produces HIGHLY variable results. If that is a risk you aren't willing to take, for sure use dye or ink. On the other hand, the variability makes the wood more natural, at least in my eyes. Your call! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 Get some scrap and try various methods to see what you like... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatworks Today Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 I think ebonizing is a bit of a misnomer; I've never seen it turn a piece "black" but it definitely makes it dark. Depending on the species of wood it may vary from dark purple to somewhat of a blue-ish tint. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely dark, but being someone that mixes color by eye I may be splitting hair's Something to look into might be to do the ebonizing and follow up with a very dark glaze to even things out prior to finishing. No need to sand after the iron treatment; or after the glaze.. Depending on the finish used, follow their recommendations for sanding Hope this helps! Absolutely, make sure to to some test pieces! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPCV_Woodworker Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 +1 on iron acetate being variable. My last table came out BLUE. Granted I used red oak instead of white oak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 I forgot to mention dyes do best for me when I spray them. I use HVLP and thin coats. I had the liquid flow very small and varied the fan to suit what I was spraying. You can really vary the results by thinning out the dye. I tried a water based dye and it was not as easy to work with as the solvent based in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weithman5 Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 I have ebonized a coffee table using india ink. I haven't had much success with iron acetate. I wanted the table to be BLACK. very nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 i dont like using oak for ebonizing instead i use cherry or wallnut oak looks more grey then it does black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Black dye on red oak and red oak ply with satin water bourne finish as a top coat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CessnaPilotBarry Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 I usually use India Ink, but has anyone tried General Finishes new black stain? I'm planning to try it soon... It looks promising! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Black dye on red oak and red oak ply with satin water bourne finish as a top coat.image.jpg Steve off topic, but were you part of the mounting of the shelves and if so what did you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Staehling Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Not sure what the iron acetate method is or if that is what I have used. I put 0000 steel wool in vinegar and let it mostly disolve. I treat the wood with this, sometimes with several applications. I typically have not done any fine sanding at that point and even if I have it would need to be done again as the grain gets raised by the treatment. I have had pretty uniform results with red oak and ash and have done quite a few projects using red oak and some other wood together. For woods without much tannic acid a strong tea solution pre treatment helps. Everything I read says it needs to be a pre treatment, but I have also had success applying it after or even mixed with the iron solution. Different woods treat differently and some will never get super dark, but most can be darkened to a pleasing color. It will typically go fairly deep so some sanding after treatment is ok. Also if you want a lighter color with variation in the grain color, some sanding until it is lighter can yeild some very pretty results. I do find that the process can be really messy if you don't take pains to avoid the mess. I have sometimes made benches, hands, clothing, and tool handles pretty durably splotched with the staining. I have since started taking greater care. If you want it really black, india ink may be better, but I like the almost black color of ebonized oak better for many of my projects where I want very dark wood. BTW, roasted poplar is pretty dark to start with and becomes almost black with this treatment (using tea solution pre-treatment). I have found that it is harder and more moisture stable than regular untreated poplar, but if used in thin pieces or veneers you need to guard against splitting or cracking along the grain. I have used it as tonewood in musical instruments and it works well as long as it is used in a way where thin sheets will not be stressed in a way that will initiate cracking along the grain. When I used it for fret boards I did need to also use a little care to not set the frets with too much pressure if using a press or else there would be breaking of the end grain at the edges of the fret slots. That was the only use where there seemed to be an issue with cracking across the grain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Shelves were torsion boxes. We screwed 1 3/4 square solid oak strips to the wall before the bricks went up. They used 1/4" wonder board and thin paver bricks which left about 7/8 exposed for us to mount the torsion boxes on. We screwed the boxes top and bottom with 1 5/8 trim screws. Total shelf was 2 3/4 thick x 11" deep , 1/2" oak ply top and bottom., solid oak front edge . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPCV_Woodworker Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 i dont like using oak for ebonizing instead i use cherry or wallnut oak looks more grey then it does black. I hear you on that, i spilled some of my solution on a cherry board, stunning how dark it turned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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