Making wood black

[ElizaLeahy]

Other then painting - what are my options?

[Manuka Jock]

Other then painting - what are my options?

Use a natural fiber dye. A non salt one .

[Houston]

I've had good luck with India Ink on flat woodwork (popular and beech). Readily available at art supply stores.

[hughie]

Eliza, Search on the forum for ebonizing wood or timber this will bring up various recipes.Use the search button on the left hand side, failing that Google is your friend. :U

[Ausworkshop]

Burn it.
What are you making?
If its only a tiny area you can use a black texta, I have used black texta ink for dying wood.

The papermate brand 'Sharpie' permanent marker works well as the oil finish I use does not cause the ink to run. Other brands I tried will run when the oil is applied.

[ElizaLeahy]

I've got someone who wants me to make lots of hairsticks, that she will then decorate and resell. We settled on size, shape and price, but she wants most of them to be black. She doesn't mind if it's black artificially.

Has to be non toxic, so I'm not sure about indian ink?

I tried ebonising with vinigar and rusty nails, I've had the solution sitting for months. Worked pretty well on red cedar - but didn't go as far as making it black, just very dark. Tried it on some gum with mixed results - parts went VERY black, parts hardly darkened.

I'll go search for "ebonizing wood"

Thanks :)

[Ed Reiss]

Eliza, ebonizing does not work with all woods, as you've already found out. The technique works best with woods, like oak, that have a high tannin content.

The best way is to set up a plastic "tent" that will contain the wood and a dish of 28% ammonia.
Make sure the tent is sealed completely. After about 3 days you should see a dramatic difference in the color. Sometimes leaving it for 5 to 7 days produces a nice black patina.

Good luck.

[RufflyRustic]

Hi Eliza,

You might find Feast Watson's Black Proof Tint, applied directly i.e. no mixing with anything, to be helpful.

cheers
Wendy

[Broda]

Ebony?:D:rolleyes:

[jaspr]

i've never tried it but what about van dyck crystals -they may not make the wood dark enough though - probably more a dark brown - it's a natural water based dye made from walnut husks

[thefixer]

You cant get it any blacker than this:rolleyes:
http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=97442

Cheers
Shorty

[ElizaLeahy]

Right, black timber stain. I'll get some next time I'm at Bunnies :)

Thank you!

[dai sensei]

I tried ebonising with vinigar and rusty nails, I've had the solution sitting for months. Worked pretty well on red cedar - but didn't go as far as making it black, just very dark. Tried it on some gum with mixed results...

It depends on the amount of tannins in the timber. I put old gum leaves in the vinegar/steel wool mix which helps the reaction along. Use an old stocking to filter the final mix after a week. It may take a few coats, but it does make it a lot blacker.

[texx]

anyone ever tried boot polish on timber . ? just wonder if it would shine up

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Yep. That's an old trick. :)

It does add a nice lustre... our old bookcase was just pine planks stacked on concrete blocks in the living room. Oxblood boot-polish gave it a beautiful colour & shine, almost like mahogany.

If only it wasn't obviously radiata grain... :rolleyes:

[TTIT]

anyone ever tried boot polish on timber . ? just wonder if it would shine upCarvings I bought in Bali were done in boot polish - looked OK but didn't stop the borers - customs did though!!!! :~


Hi Eliza,

You might find Feast Watson's Black Proof Tint, applied directly i.e. no mixing with anything, to be helpful.

cheers
Wendy:2tsup: That's my dye of choice too - check out the 'eye' on my lamp-clock thread (http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=97954) for the result.

[RufflyRustic]

just make sure you wear a very good pair of gloves, or two on the hand applying the black prooftint. If you do get some on your hands, metho will help to clean it off.

If the glove breaks and you end up with black fingertips & black nails, the good ole pumish stone will take care of most it and dark nail polish for the rest....:whistling::doh:

[Lignum]

Liquid clothes dye from the supermarket is fantastic. Not just the black but all different colors. Just remember to lightly dampen the timber to raise the grain then lightly sand it smooth then apply the dye. :)

[Scribbly Gum]

Here is a link that explains it in some detail.
http://www.wkfinetools.com/cc_how/Receipts/jThompson-EbWood.asp
Hope it helps
SG

[rsser]

Tried liquid black boot polish once with a poor result, but the kind of timber is a big variable.

With a desert ash bowl that you want to 'dekerate' you can char it with a torch and then put on a coat or two of shellac and it'll be very nearly black. (The heat does tend to crack it however at which point it morphs into the rustic bowl you were intending to make but hadn't been conscious of.)

[gtwilkins]

Eliza,

I would try black aniline dye dissolved in an alcohol solution.

I commonly buy powdered fabric dyes and use isopropyl or methanol to dissolve the dye crystals, the alcohol strips out the dye and you are left with a sediment of fillers etc. Its cheaper than commercial aniline dye but then the commercial stuff is so concentrated a little goes a long way. Probably be better for commercial work.

I use the alcohol base as it doesn't raise the grain on small finished pieces, as bad as water based dyes and it dries quickly too.

I make dye pots out of PVC plastic plumbing pipe, cut it to length to fit the sticks then glue a cap on one end and a threaded clean out on the other to load the sticks and the dye. The clean out acts as a seal so the alcohol doesn't evaporate too quickly between batches and you just swish them around in the pot for as long as you want. A zip lock bag works well for a few test items.

Hope this helps, Trevor

[highfieldtonewerks]

We use "ebonizer" - an oil-based pigment stain on our fingerboards to black them out. stewmac.com sells the stuff in the US but can't ship it here to Oz.

Another way of getting this done is to tent your finished pieces with a jar of anhydrous ammonia - available from any blueprint supply house. This was a popular practice about 100 years back in the Craftsman furniture factories - Roycroft, Stickley, etc. - to "pop" the medullary rays in White Oak. I have done this a few times and it works fairly well, but the chemicals are gnarly to work around and the "blacking" does not penetrate too deep.

I recommend against using alkali or metal acid dyes for your particular application.

Good luck with it.

(NOTE: While not a chemical engineer, I am reasonably certain that for the ammonia tenting to work, your stock has to have a fairly high tannic acid content)

[turnerted]

I have been using proof tint for finials lately but it does react slightly with the DO that I put over the top of it so if you use it check that your finish does not have an adverse reaction with it .

Ted

[Ad de Crom]

Eliza, a time ago I tried to ebonize a simply pine bowl (not so a good wood), just for to see the result.
I put some descriptions on each picture.
First I gave it a treatment with strong tea for added tannen.
Used a solution of vinigar with steelwool.
Hope my try out help a bit.
Have fun. Ad

[Sprog]

http://www.ubeaut.com.au/dye.html

[Gil Jones]

Hi Eliza,
I used to use a homemade iron acetate solution (vinegar and steelwool) to blacken wood. For wood that has low tannin content, you can apply (and let dry) a coat or two of very strong black tea first, then apply the iron acetate.
As a convenience (fast and easy) issue, I have lately been using India Ink (from craft stores) to blacken the wood, and it does a fine job, with much less trouble.
Attached is a pic of my first real finial (made two days ago) turned from Lemon tree wood, blackened with India Ink, and coated with 5 coats of gloss lacquer. It looks pretty black....
Cheers,

[imdusty]

I've got someone who wants me to make lots of hairsticks, that she will then decorate and resell. We settled on size, shape and price, but she wants most of them to be black. She doesn't mind if it's black artificially.

Has to be non toxic, so I'm not sure about indian ink?

I tried ebonising with vinigar and rusty nails, I've had the solution sitting for months. Worked pretty well on red cedar - but didn't go as far as making it black, just very dark. Tried it on some gum with mixed results - parts went VERY black, parts hardly darkened.

I'll go search for "ebonizing wood"

Thanks :)
India Ink is used for tatoos, I can't beleive it would be toxic.