Replies

1. 
   gulfstar | Sep 12, 2021 07:02pm | #1

   Seems like black dyed veneer is what you need such as in this article. https://www.finewoodworking.com/2021/08/18/how-to-make-banding

2. 
   mikaol | Sep 12, 2021 08:13pm | #2

   Info; Gabon (black) ebony isn't all that difficult to find. It's pricey, though. I built a 30" round table for a customer who wanted an ebony top. The wood alone was $900. Even though it's brittle as all hell, and oily as all get out, I love working with it.
   And if it was me, I'd take Gulfstar's advice.
   Mikaol

3. 
   _mj_ | Sep 12, 2021 09:42pm | #3

   White oak, cherry, and ipe all go black through-and-through with heat treatment. Ipe is the finest grained and the blackest. Your parts need to be small enough to fit in an oven though.

4. 
   pantalones868 | Sep 13, 2021 05:48am | #4

   I ran across a 19th century article about getting color to permeate through wood. The gist of the article was "Gee, this is hard! "
   Would need a bigger oven. I could build an oven. It's just heat and a box that won't catch fire right? I'll play with that. What temperature, how long? I have some ipe around, probably not enough.
   All wood black dyed unglued edge banding would work if I can find it. I can specify width of 7/8" and there's no waste or guessing at lengths. Hopefully thin enough or scrape thinner. But back to the question, getting color, in this case black onto or rather into white basswood, to permeate through the wood. Either by ebonizing or some other way.. also, getting the basswood black enough. I almost went for a hike today to look for those little nubbens on oak trees that wasps cause. A friend who dyes wool told me about them to try and introduce tannin into the ebonizing that the basswood seems to lack. Ive gotten good surface ebonizing on walnut but I would wreck a lot of material making 55 )1/16"× 7/8" x48" strips. There are 45 contrasting pieces as well at approximately 3/16" thick. This is for 5 small table tops. 2 maple,1 sapele, 1 cherry , and 1 acacia. Each one will be different but built in the same technique.. Going down to - 1/16 th if there is any blemish in the piece it blows up on me. The basswood makes it almost every time and I can get it down to really thin. The oak does pretty good if I stick to pieces without much figure. Oak I've surface ebonized has a lot of color variation, hard bits and soft bits and that might show - like make a dotted line. Maple was a no go, get it too thin and it just explodes. Walnut I'd like to keep for other things. I don't have that much and what I have is too nice to make into lines. I do know that I can find ebony, you can get anything , even things you shouldn't but again if I had it I wouldn't use it on this project this way. It's too wasteful even though it's exactly the thing that I'm trying to emulate. Besides, one of these tables is going to Greece and I have to worry about CITES rules if I'm going to export.

5. 
   _mj_ | Sep 13, 2021 06:50am | #5

   1" thick ipe 325 degrees for about 4 hours. I seal it airtight in heavy foil. Not sure if a lower temp / longer time would work...have not expiremented much.

6. 
   goodewood | Oct 16, 2021 06:08pm | #6

   Excellent discussion of ebonizing bass wood here:
   http://woodworksbyjohn.com/2020/04/14/frame-talk-3-ebonizing-basswood/

7. 
   rob_ss | Oct 17, 2021 05:19am | #7

   Been thinking about this a while as I have similar requirements for some head-only projects (for now) - has anyone used India Ink? I would think that penetration into veneer would be effective.
   What about dye stain? would that work?

1. 
   goodewood | Oct 18, 2021 12:56pm | #8

   Rob_You might ask John Eugster http://woodworksbyjohn.com
   how his ink experiments went.
   The link I posted before to his site somehow did not have the salient bit of info that I had copied previously. Here is the quote.
   “One trick to ebonizing woods without much tannin is to give the wood a dose of tea ,then sand smooth and hit it with the ebonizing juice.
   I did a deep dive into ebonising wood for my frames including shou sugi bon, indian ink, various stains and dyes. Settled on black spirit based dye on oak, dye shows the grain while stain covers it somewhat like paint. Left just enough of the oak colour to highlight the rings and medulary rays, quite pleased.”

8. 
   chuckvandyck | Oct 18, 2021 01:45pm | #9

   I recently made a bunch of ebonized stools for a prop house. I tried it all. Rust solution on oak, tannic acid and rust on poplar, oak, maple, etc. Alcohol based. aniline dye, speedball india ink, general finishes onyx, black osmo, black rubio, and a few more.

   Rust on oak, cherry, or walnut is the most pleasing, but its gonna have a lot of brown tones, does a nice job giving off the impression of black though, which I've decided is good enough for me.

   If you want jet black, india ink is the way to go. I think at 1/16th its gonna get dyed through and through and one coat should do it. When finishing a open flat surface, I'd say stay away from india ink cause it is gonna get super blotchy. For large open surfaces I had the best luck with black aniline dye topped with a black stain. They both work into different grain types differently.

   People kept telling me, thin coats of black spray paint. I kept saying no way. They might be right....

   Attached is rust vs india ink. Rust will be fun, india ink will likely make you an angry person for a bit.

   
1. 
   john_c2 | Oct 18, 2021 02:57pm | #10

   Thanks for the rundown.