Ebonized Oak Frame

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Woodworks by John

Woodworks by John

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
Joined
Jul 4, 2000
Posts
342
Loc
North Las Vegas, NV
Business
Retired, work from home shop
Just thought I'd share this frame and the technique I used to create it. It's not my own technique but it turned out pretty cool so I thought I'd pass it on for your enjoyment! This frame was for a contemporary painting of a dog and they wanted a simple profile, it's about 4" wide. I created the Oak profile and after joining and sanding the piece proceeded to ebonize it. You can fume Oak too but that's kind of a nasty process, working with ammonia. What I did was make a solution of white vinegar (6-7 ounces) and dissolve about 5" of oil free steel wool in it (Liberon). Do this in a glass or plastic container. It'll take about 2-3 days to dissolve and then strain it to remove any particles from the mix. I always pre-raise the grain on Oak with distilled water and final sand with 240 when it's dry. Use a foam brush to apply the solution, thoroughly wetting the frame. The magic will start in a couple of minutes!! Once the frame has dried for a couple of days I use paste wax applied with 4/0 synthetic steel wool. This gives a final, smooth luster to the frame. I'm sure you can use any raw Oak molding if you don't want to create your own profile. I've experimented with Poplar and it turns a rich, chocolate brown and still shows the grain. Other woods rich in tannin, like Walnut or Mahogany, should work well too. In any case, like they always tell us, it's wise to experiment on scrap to see what will happen.
Have fun!! John
 

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John, what you have stumbled on is called "parching" or "rotting" or "weathering", depending on who you're talking to. In pines that are then exposed to sunlight the tone will rapidly take on a grey to silver tinge. To keep more of the brown tones, apple cider vinager can be used but the de-comp time in a sunny window will be closer to a week or more.

"Ebonizing" is a process that results in a warm brown black.... but definitely black. If you take what you have here and rub it out with coal oil, you will have a very nice proximate of the ebonized oak produced by Gustov Stickley in his Hudson River line which is extremely rare and almost considered uncollectable.

As there is no true "Black" in black & white prints, the warm tone is the perfect fit for older photos, or ones that look old. A little detailing with drawn gold lines and geometric patterns and you have a great Eastlake look.

Nice to see another woodworker kicking holes in the day-to-day box. Always a pleasure to read you posts. Keep up the good work and picking the sawdust out of your nose. We may be nose-pickers, but we are knothead nose-pickers. :D
 
Ebonized Oak

Glad you'd like to try this technique -- I enjoy going "out of the Box", always have marched to my own drummer! Thanks for the additional info Baer, now I've got to find the coal oil! By the way,how'd you see me picking that sawdust out of my nose anyway? When it comes to woodworking I find the process as interesting or even more so, than the final results.
 
No Jer, that would be the one that has that slimy slippery feel on the white wood. But it tastes like budda. :D

John, Coal Oil is also Lamp Black, try an arts supply or larger paint store. Look around and see if there is a sign makers supply. Those places are an absolute candy store..... it's were I get my eatable gold leaf 23.75kt.
 
Jerome, you're entirely correct. During the day, large rooms were carefully stacked with the wood parts of furniture and then through trap doors, trays of 29% ammonia hydroxide were inserted into the sealed rooms/chambers.

How much ammonia was in the trays determined the length the wood remained in the chamber. The longer the darker.

At the desired time, the venting windows at the top of the chamber were opened along with the lower venting on the bottom. The chamber was allowed to air out for a day or two before opening the doors and removing the furniture; and for good reason.

The writer of that article is one lucky SOB. Or he didn't use 29% industrial grade. A semi decent (if you can call it that) whiff will knock you on your can and probably scar your sinuses and trachea for life. Bronchial problems will persistent. A strong full breath of the fumes will kill you instantly.

Ammonia 29% was one of the first chemicals used to tent a house for pests.... until the neighbors caught wind of it. So to speak.

I've use ammonia twice. Neither one was an experience I wanted to repeat. But there is no other way to get "that look".

Anyone who bought some of that Nurre "Translucents" or Arquati's multi colored laminate moulding in the late 1980s can explain why the writer was an idiot for using analine dye instead of a pigmented stain. But then hey, he got paid for his article and he has a fumed clock on his mantle. :D

Hyper thinned lamp black will give you the same color he got, and it won't fade either. :D
 
I remember getting a good whiff of ammonia from the old blue printing machines where you had to actually push a knob to inject the ammonia into the machine. It had a leak somewhere and every once in a while it would puff back at me.
As it was the New Jersey DOT office, they never did do anything to fix it. Nasty stuff!!:faintthud:


Really nice looking frame!!
 
Yeah, and blueprint stuff was only about 12%. Any way you cut it.. nasty stuff... unless you follow Jerry Baker's recipe

1C Ammonia
1C Sugar
1C Beer
1/4C perfume free dish soap

Mix well and put in hose end sprayer, set for 1:20 and liberally spray everything in the garden, in the spring and once a month through the summer.

Warning... you will be mowing your lawn twice a week.... but it will look Maaarrrrvilous.

Ammonia is pre-digested nitrogen that the plants can intake through the leaves. Beer and sugar = good bacteria and the picnic. Soap cleans the city shmutz off the leaves and increases photosynthesis.
 
Got it Started!

I feel pretty good about getting another exchange going between Jeremy and Baer! I have a woodworker friend here that offered some of the nasty ammonia -- think she's trying to do me in. I too remember the ammonia process in drafting, if that was only 12% I can imagine what the industrial strength would have been like. Any bets that it was the apprentices that took the oak out of Stickly's fuming rooms. Just for the sake of an experiment I just put a sample of the ebonized Oak out in the sun and taped a paper over part of it to see how it reacts to intense light. I'll let you know what happens --- John
 
You shouldn't see any difference even after a few weeks. Fuming oxidizes the tannins in the oak ("rust" for lack of a better explaination word) so unlike stain or dye, it is not fugitive or reactive to UV per se. If you leave it out without a finish of any sort what you will see is the uncovered becoming darker. But that is a case of the oxidizing of the capillary cells themselves which causes the darkening of wood over time.... sunlight just enhances that reaction.

Who's Jeramy?

Jerome, do you know any Jeramy? :D
 
Whoops!

Jerome, Jeramy, Jerimiah, Jumpin'Johosafats !!!! First mistake I made since lunch, sorry about that JEROME. That being said I am glad I got the discussion between the two of you, always learn more that way -- John
 
Baer Charlton; We may be nose-pickers said:
Beautiful moulding John.

Baer I remember the old days when I worked with a ton of Paduka and Wenge. Working with Paduka, every time you blew your nose you thought you were experiencing a major brain hemorage. The Wenge came out like chunks of coal.
Click to expand...
 
Jeff Rodier said:
Beautiful moulding John.

Baer I remember the old days when I worked with a ton of Paduka and Wenge. Working with Paduka, every time you blew your nose you thought you were experiencing a major brain hemorage. The Wenge came out like chunks of coal.
Click to expand...

???? I thought it smells like vanilla.
 
Try turning 450 pen & pencil set out of King Mahogany. After I delivered the first 200, I went down and bought my Air Shield . . . but then that was after the "hog snot" had plugged up the shower drain and the plumber said "man, I think there is a board stuck in there....". Little did he know.
 
Baer Charlton said:
Try turning 450 pen & pencil set out of King Mahogany. After I delivered the first 200, I went down and bought my Air Shield . . . but then that was after the "hog snot" had plugged up the shower drain and the plumber said "man, I think there is a board stuck in there....". Little did he know.
Click to expand...

That would make a great wood filler. Once it hardens it won't wipe off on the sofa while they're putting the hook in the wall.
 
Baer Charlton said:
Try turning 450 pen & pencil set out of King Mahogany. After I delivered the first 200, I went down and bought my Air Shield . . . but then that was after the "hog snot" had plugged up the shower drain and the plumber said "man, I think there is a board stuck in there....". Little did he know.
Click to expand...
Oh man I`ve just about done that with glitter,No don`t ask..........But ya sneeze tinsel,so that`s kinda neat! L.
 
OH! What a cool way to trim the tree....... I'm just sayin'. :D

Ooo! Just think if as you're sanding the mahogany you occasionally snort some glitter......
you get the Copa Cabana in the roaring 50s. :D
 
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