Creative Woodworks & crafts 2002-11, страница 32

EBONIZING WOOD

by Robert J. Hlavacek, Sr. of Wildlife Intarsia Designs www. wildlifeintarsicidesign. com

After making the Striped Bass project in the September 2002 issue of Creative Woodworks & Crafts, T decided to further experiment with ebonizing wood.

In case you missed thai issue, ebonizing solution is made by combining two common products: white vinegar and steel wool. To combine these two materials, it is best to use ajar with a plastic lid so the lid won't rust (see Fig. 1).

When I initially heard of this technique, it was used for ebonizing walnut. 1 chose extra line steel wool, sincc that's all 1 had at the time, and left it in the vinegar for several days. This resulted in a vile-looking concoction becausc the steel wool began deteriorating, leaving bits of metal in the vinegar. Straining this solution through an old sock helped to clean it up and the solution worked fine.

New and improved

I recently began using coarse steel wool and shortened the soaking time to 24 hours. With the shorter soaking time the solution stayed clear and worked just the same.

To make ebonizing solution, place a steel wool pad in a jar and add enough vinegar to cover the pad. Place the lid on the jar. If the pad is not totally submersed, rust will quickly form on the portion exposed to air. After approximately 24 hours, pour the vinegar in another jar. Mote: do not squeeze the vinegar out of the pad or you may get bits of metal which will rust in the liquid.

Initially, the solution looks like plain vinegar, but as you can sec in Fig. 2, it will darken with time. The jar on the left is one day old, while the jar on the right is five days old. A month later they both looked like red wine and still worked fine. However, before using new or old solutions, J suggest trying it on some of the scrap wood left from your project to be sure it will produce the result you desire, especially on the lighter-colored wood species.

1 don't know if this solution is toxic, but it certainly cannot be a good thing to ingest so be sure to label the jar and keep it out of the reach of children.

Interesting effects

Besides ebonizing walnut, you can get interesting results on other species of wood (see Fig. 3). It surprised me how many kinds of wood turned black, and the open grain of oak had a nice two-tone effect.

Diluting the solution with water creates a lighter shade of gray on maple (see Fig. 4). On the top of the curly maple block shown, 1 mixed (wo parts water to one part solution, while the bottom was treated with full-strength solution. You may want to experiment further with this.

Finishing

After applying ebonizing solution with a brush, I let it dry overnight. Tf the grain is raised, lightly go over it with extra fine steel wool or a non-woven abrasive pad. The only finishes I've used over ebonized wood is Delia or Krylon spray, and they both worked fine. If you prefer using another type of finish, try it out on ebonized scrap wood first.

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Creative Woodworks S. Crafts November 2002 • 29

Combine white vinegar and steel wool in a plastic-lid jar.

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The coloring of the solution will darken as the days progress.

Compare effects of the ebonizing solution applied to various wood species.

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Diluting the solution with water creates a lighter-shade gray as shown on top of the wood block.