Thread: Ebonising circa 1922

An interesting read. Thanks for posting this.

Can understand why the pro would hate this.

These days fine steel wool and vinegar will produce a home-grown version.

Thanks for the post.

Rather than gas black - if you want to make your own - use a candle and hold a cork over it in the flame, with the soot accumulating on the bottom of a bright tin held above the cork...

You'll get all the black soot you need in double quick time... cork makes the most wonderful black soot.

This is the method good gunsmiths use to soot up a barreled action - to fit to a dry stock to look for where the metal binds on the in letting and remove the sooted wood by hand with a fine chisel, until the action drops in without binding, then its properly bedded. WW 1 & 2 snipers would use this method to bed their lee enfields.

The "modern way" is to remove more wood that necessary for a friction free fit - & put release agent on the barreled action, and fit it into a bed of wet epoxy resin - allow to kick off and remove the barreled action & clean any residual epoxy from it. When fully cured the barreled action will go back in with almost zero tolerance... well n truly bedded.

The black soot is handy for coloring clear epoxy resin, when filling larger sap voids in timber - that you wish to make a feature of - and if not the soot - then black leather dye lot powder.

You can use fine crushed charcoal (to color epoxy) but it doesnt sand to a smooth polished finish as well IMHO.

Good read.. Thank you. In that day and time, it was a chore to get some color other than the natural wood grain.
As carcinogenic as thay are known to be, the bright colors of the aniline/coal tar dyes were just on the horizon.

Vinegar has been around for as long as wine. The vinegar/iron stain (iron acetate) is ancient. Historically, I read that the process is called "ebonizing. I did not know that there were/are so many variations.
The compound reacts with the tannins in the wood. Woods with little tannin content, like many of the conifers, can be 'jacked up' with a good scrub with soggy tea bags.

I carve kitchen sticks, simple utility kitchen tools, stirring spoons and forks. They sell well.
Did a meal in a plain iron wok, as I have done for 40 years. Left a "stick" in the wok overnight.
Tip quite black with iron stain, kind of neat to see. Need experiments.
I'd rather work with some modern stain which had more predictable results.

Is that from The Woodworker?

Indeed it is, Jim. What gave it away?

Cheers,
Chris.

Originally Posted by chrrris

Indeed it is, Jim. What gave it away?
Cheers,
Chris.

The layout. I have quite a few of the annuals including the following year 1923. They make great birthday presents if you can find one for the year of the person's birth. Hard luck on the young ones though.
It's fascinating how much skill they take for granted.

Originally Posted by jimbur

The layout. I have quite a few of the annuals including the following year 1923. They make great birthday presents if you can find one for the year of the person's birth. Hard luck on the young ones though.
It's fascinating how much skill they take for granted.

Hi Jim,
nice to see another admirer of these annuals. So you must be the person who's cleared out all the Melbourne book sellers. I spent a couple of days going around as many as I could and came away empty handed.

I'm missing the following, if you have any doubles you want to sell or if you see any in your travels:
earlier than 1922
1923 - 1925
1929 - 1933
1939
1941 - 1954
later than 1961 (although I do have 2 later volumes that I can't remember offhand)

I prefer the older volumes to the later, and would love the war years.



Cheers,
Chris.

Originally Posted by Robson Valley

As carcinogenic as thay are known to be, the bright colors of the aniline/coal tar dyes were just on the horizon.

Just for the trivia comp: aniline dyes were developed in the 1800s as far as I know.

Chris, no doubles I'm afraid. I have a 1944 - birth year - and it's incredibly thin compared with the pre-war. Of course the emphasis was on repair of bomb damaged furniture, doors, windows etc. Get the lot and you have a whole social history of England as well as of hand tools and wood.

Originally Posted by rsser

Just for the trivia comp: aniline dyes were developed in the 1800s as far as I know.

Remember being told in chemistry that the Germans were the developers of aniline colours. Just checked on the net and you're right with the 1800s Ern. Not that I didn't believe you.

Originally Posted by jimbur

Chris, no doubles I'm afraid. I have a 1944 - birth year - and it's incredibly thin compared with the pre-war. Of course the emphasis was on repair of bomb damaged furniture, doors, windows etc. Get the lot and you have a whole social history of England as well as of hand tools and wood.

Indeed, I'm very much into history in general and the history of woodwork is a nice merging of two interests. I have heard the issues during the wars are not only thinner (paper supplies were restricted) but that they dealt with repairs from scarce resources and even feature plans for bomb shelters.

Cheers,
Chris.

Most of mine came through Abebooks Chris.

For the trivia buffs Those dyes were developed in the 1800's. Check out B.A.S.F
(and the A stands for aniline)

Cheers

Geoff