Staining wood BLACK (ebonizing)

[MVG]

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

[Steven and Gail Peterson]

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

Steve

[MVG]

Nothing jumped out at the website except this...

this it?

[Andy Dingley]

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.

[gregg]

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.

[Ba r r y]

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

Barry

[Patriarch]

Ba r r y wrote in news: [e-mail]:

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

The process is pretty painless, with predictable results.

Patriarch

[Prometheus]

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

[Eric Garcia]

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.

[PCProffitt]

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:

[B a r r y]

YUCK!

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

Thanks for the heads up.

Barry

[joeljcarver]

and not paint. ...

I've gotten good results with black leather dye.