Comments

1. 
   OmarAngelPerez | Aug 28, 2011 03:17am | #1

   Beautiful and elegant!

2. 
   TravMan | Aug 29, 2011 07:42pm | #2

   Really cool looking. Is this ebonized ash or just dyed? If its ebonized did you use the steel wool and vinegar trick or something else?

3. 
   Castlewerks | Aug 31, 2011 08:13pm | #3

   TravMan,

   For a while I was ebonizing some of my pieces with a tea bark rinse followed by steel wool and vinegar, but I've given up on it. It was messy, time consuming, unpredictable, and in the end I've found that better results can be achieved by far easier methods.

   These days, I begin with a coat of black Transtint (mixed in alcohol & lacquer thinner) so that some color will soak into the pores and I finish it with a few coats of black tinted satin WB poly -- which I spray. The poly is tinted by the manufacturer, I don't tint it with Transtint.

   I really like the tinted poly because it provides both a deep black color and durable top coat, but it's not a heavy finish like paint -- the grain remains very visible.

   Cheers,

   -Michael