I need to make some rails and stiles with black color. I want to stain
and not paint. I've reviewed some of the older links to this sort of
topic and not exactly any sure-fire easy answers.

I'm willing to work with any wood, although I do have lots of oak and
cherry on hand always.

Anyone found a decent off the shelf solution?

Mitch

metal acid dye. Check at Woodcraft if you have one around.

Steve

"MVG" wrote in message
oups.com...
I need to make some rails and stiles with black color. I want to stain
and not paint. I've reviewed some of the older links to this sort of
topic and not exactly any sure-fire easy answers.

I'm willing to work with any wood, although I do have lots of oak and
cherry on hand always.

Anyone found a decent off the shelf solution?

Mitch

Nothing jumped out at the website except this...

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx...&FamilyID=1718

Is this it?

On 8 May 2005 13:37:39 -0700, "MVG" wrote:

I need to make some rails and stiles with black color.

I'm willing to work with any wood, although I do have lots of oak

Oak blackens easily. Painting or dipping with liquid ammonia solution,
about 25% (not gas fuming) will give a dark colour similar to oak that's
a few hundred years old.

The iron acetate / vinegar and wire wool ebonising solution gives an
even darker black on oak. Search this group for details.

--
Cats have nine lives, which is why they rarely post to Usenet.

"MVG" wrote in message
oups.com...
I need to make some rails and stiles with black color. I want to stain
and not paint. I've reviewed some of the older links to this sort of
topic and not exactly any sure-fire easy answers.

I'm willing to work with any wood, although I do have lots of oak and
cherry on hand always.

Anyone found a decent off the shelf solution?

Mitch


Hi Mitch,

I once tried the Vinegar and steel wool technique:

Got some white vinegar, poured some in a jar, shredded some fine steel wool
into it. Let it sit for a coupel days. Shaking occasionally.

Then I dunked a piece of oak into it.

It definitely turned black but not deep dark black. More of a grey. I dont'
know if the ratio of vinegar to steel wool would affect that.

I tried india ink as a dye. Got it nice and black but it came off when I
brushed on some varnish later.

Tried minwax ebony stain. Worked ok. More brown than black.


--
Saville

Replicas of 15th-19th century nautical navigational instruments:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/backstaffhome.html

Restoration of my 82 year old Herreshoff S-Boat sailboat:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/SBOATrestore.htm

Steambending FAQ with photos:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/Steambend.htm

Ba r r y wrote in
:

On Sun, 08 May 2005 20:41:51 GMT, "Steven and Gail Peterson"
wrote:

metal acid dye. Check at Woodcraft if you have one around.

Black Solar Lux also works well. Many Woodcraft stores also carry
Solar Lux.


I've used this, and been pleased. On various maples & sapwood cherry.

The process is pretty painless, with predictable results.

Patriarch

On 8 May 2005 13:37:39 -0700, "MVG" wrote:

I need to make some rails and stiles with black color. I want to stain
and not paint. I've reviewed some of the older links to this sort of
topic and not exactly any sure-fire easy answers.

I'm willing to work with any wood, although I do have lots of oak and
cherry on hand always.

Anyone found a decent off the shelf solution?

India ink works really well for me, and gives a truer black than
ebonizing stain. Just make sure you use an appropriate top coat, or
you could dissolve the ink. (I started with Shellac, and that took
the ink right off, but water-borne poly worked just fine)


Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

I had black solar lux turn a tone of purple on me when applying poly to a
semi-dried surface. Make sure you test application and finish before
application to your final piece.

"Ba r r y" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 08 May 2005 20:41:51 GMT, "Steven and Gail Peterson"
wrote:

metal acid dye. Check at Woodcraft if you have one around.

Black Solar Lux also works well. Many Woodcraft stores also carry
Solar Lux.

Barry

I've ebonized a handrail made from poplar using a water-based Transtint
black dye. I used three or four coats of the dye, lightly sanding
between coats to remove any raised grain. Then finished using a
water-based gloss polyurethane. It turned out jet black and shiny almost
like a black enamel paint job.

In retrospect, I would probably use fewer coats of dye next time since
the handrail shows virtually no grain. It does however show any and all
imperfections in the wood because of the gloss.


MVG wrote:
I need to make some rails and stiles with black color. I want to stain
and not paint. I've reviewed some of the older links to this sort of
topic and not exactly any sure-fire easy answers.

I'm willing to work with any wood, although I do have lots of oak and
cherry on hand always.

Anyone found a decent off the shelf solution?

Mitch

Eric Garcia wrote:
I had black solar lux turn a tone of purple on me when applying poly to a
semi-dried surface.

YUCK!

I've never put poly over it, only nitrocellulose lacquer.

Thanks for the heads up.

Barry

I need to make some rails and stiles with black color. I want to
stain
and not paint. ...

I've gotten good results with black leather dye.