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In Jeff's book Finishing he describes a home made stain called "iron buff". It's made by letting steel wool set in vinegar for a certain length of time, straining and applying to wood.
Has anyone use this?
If so, what was it used on? What were the results? What did you top it with? Etc??
Thanks,
Jim
Jim,
Go search the turners forum. It's done all the time to turn wood black to imitate ebony. The tanin in wood reacts with the solutin causing the wood to be dyed typically black. Thus, woods with more tanin such as white oak IIRC will react more and be effected more.
If in doubt, I would seal it with a sealcoat of dewaxed shellac and then use your choice of top coats over that.
Hmmmm.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Fitzgerald
I did a search in the "Project Finishing" and came up with nothing. Never thought of lookin' over in turning.
Thanks.
Jim,
I just did a search....."Search Forums" at the top of this page.....use "iron vinegar" for a search term....a bunch of threads from all the forums here.
Thanks Ken.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Fitzgerald
I did the "iron buff" search and came up basically empty handed.
I'm old and slow but learnin'.
Jim
I am old and slow too! Us geezers have to stick together.
Here's the link to Brian Boggs' article in Popular Woodworking on ebonizing wood.
http://www.popularwoodworking.com/ar...bonizing_Wood/
Just did this to tiger maple knife handle; absolutely love it. 1st try didnt do anything after several days. You need to wash out the steel wool with dish detergent. Once I did thid I left the steel wool/a few nails and vinegar for a few days. Turns nasty looking but the effect on walnut was a beautiful deep ebony black. The tiger maple got extremely dark; I sanded it hard and the stripes stayed very dark and the background went very light for a very pronounced effect. I used this on a tanto blade and it gave it a very cool effect. I am making the box for the knife out of the same material and finish; will post when complete
Thanks to all for the info.
I appreciate it.
Jim
I've done this a number of times. My son loves it. It's like magic ink. I don't go thru the trouble of washing the wool or using nails. There's no proper formula. 1/2 a roll of wool to a pint of vinegar is a good place to start. The key is letting it sit for a couple days.
The steel wool will start to break down. You should then strain the liquid to remove the metal shards which would subsequently cause rusting in theory.
You paint it on the wood (I've done it with oak, walnut, ash, maple, even cherry), and it'll turn a shade between black and grey within a minute. When it dries, it'll lighten up.
You can apply multiple coats to achieve a darker effect. However, beware that unlike aniline dye, the color is coming from a reaction between the mixture and the tannic acid in the wood, so some woods just may not get much beyond grey (maple). While some can eventually get jet black. Acid content can vary between the same wood too, remember, so a magic recipe for one project may not yield predictable results on the next project even if the same species is used.
In the end, this is a fun (and cheap) experiment. However, for more predictable and uniformly darker results with the same grain clarity, IMHO you should pick up some India ink (the kind to refill fountain pens) or black aniline dye.
I've even used laser printer ink.
If you are topcoating with a waterbased product, then you should seal in whatever colorant you apply.
On small items I have used Permanent Markers like Sharpie and Marksalot. You need two or more coats on hard maple and a sealer coat if it's a pull or handle. works great. Tom
Prashun and Thomas,
Thanks for your experiences.
Jim
Oh, we need PICS of this, Anthony!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony Albano
Frankly, I don't understand the fascination with iron buff. Modern aniline dyes are so much more consistent and easier to control. Or for really black black India ink works pretty well.