Can anyone share any insights on fuming oak and cherry with ammonia. I have read about it somewhere recently, but have no idea where I saw it, or even if it was in an a magazine or a finishing book. I plan to do some test pieces in an old drywall mud bucket. If anyone can help me cut my learning curve, I will appreciate it.
I know i have to loosely seal the top of the bucket at a minimum and that I must take precautions and use a mask. Do you coat with linseed oil beofre or after you fume the wood? How long do before you check the progress? How much ammonia to use? Can it be done outside if the temperature is above 40? 50 degrees?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Forgot the most important question. Do you use regualr household ammonia?
Edited 1/25/2007 1:03 pm ET by jjohn83
Replies
We fume timbers for houses. White oak with tannin fumes. Other woods fume little or nothing with low or no tannin. Household ammonia wil work but you should leave it in for at least 24 hours or longer. We use anhydrous in a hundred lb tank and a full face mask with ammonia rated cartridges. Household ammonia and let the fumes die down and it should be ok. There are dtains and dyes that are easier to use to get color in your wood. You can oil first and still have the ammonia work but it's better to fume then oil.
A word of caution about fuming, the ammonia is quite strong so a full face mask should do the trick with the proper cartridges for ammonia, long sleeves and rubber gloves. Household ammonia is about 5% but the ammonia that is used to fume is about 28% and you can purchase some at a blueprint supply house. If you can find another way to get the same effect I would go that route. Only wood with tannic acid it it will be affected by the fuming process and not all wood of the same species will absorb it the same amount. If using white oak try to get all of the boards from the same tree, this way the color will be uniform. Hope this helps.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled