I recently saw a desk and part of the desk was black. It mostly looked dyed.
I saw mostly because the effect was a very pronounced grain, the most I’ve ever seen on ash.
It was very interesting and looked like the earlywood had taken on a deep black velvety color while the latewood had a dark grey look.
Does anyone know how this was done? I’ve never worked with ash, I’m pretty new to woodworking, but I’ve seen black ash furniture and this didn’t look like any I’ve seen before. It might just be that the wood was simply dyed black and the pores not sealed at all? The label said it was “grained ash” but names for such things are notoriously unhelpful so often.
Unless the label was incorrect the wood used was ash.
Thanks for any help.
Replies
Ash Finish
I've often used a procedure on ash to emphasize the grain. Otherwise ash can be very bland. The procedure involves mixing lamp black into plaster of Paris. I rub this mixture into the grain pores, let it dry, and lightly sand off the next day with 320. The pores and grain are now filled-in black.
Before doing this procedure, I usually color ash by application of tannic acid, then potassium dichromate. But the graining work as explained above causes the grain and pores of the wood to pop out.
Tim
If Tim's procedure doesn't give the desired look you might experiment with various combinations of black penetrating dye, sealer, black stain, sealer, pore filling. An article I read yesterday said I think pore filling over unsealed dyed wood left uneen ghosting on tight grained areas, sealing before filling prevented the ghosting.
You might start with sample board with black dye applied to all but one end. Seal lengthwise olne half the width of the board. (Keep sketches to show what was applied where.) Apply black stain to all but the last few inches of the end with black dye applied. Seal the middle half the board, then apply Tim's black filler to the board. After well cured, apply at least one coat of finish, and evaluate the overall board. Use the results to develop additional tests.
As a further complication, the results may depend in part on the final sanding grit used. Beyond 150 or 220 grit, or hand planing, the stain may not color anything but open pores. Dye results should be relatively unaffected. The coarser pigment particles in stains need some surface roughness to trap the particles.
Thanks for the suggestions.
I have a opportunity to acquire a bit of ash at no cost so I'll try some of these ideas and hopefully get the results I'm interested in.
John T.
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