Best Ways To Ebonise Wood?
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- Опубліковано 18 сер 2024
- In an ideal world, you would be able to get your hands on whatever wood you want, in unlimited supply and for the same price as pine, and with no real environmental impact.
We don't live in that world.
There are some woods that are downright difficult to get, expensive, and have a huge environmental impact... and ebony is one of those.
But if you really want something that looks like Ebony, the best solution is to ebonise an available wood - and this can be done in a variety of ways - inks, dyes, stains and other solutions... but... which one is best?
Like with anything woodworking, ask five different woodworkers and you’ll get 8 different answers on the best way to do it.
In this video, I'm going to look at 5 different ebony options to figure which one is best.
#woodworking #ebony #dye
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Excellent video, Paul. You've done a great job in showing the different options. I'm a fan of the India ink, myself.
I used India Ink and it came out completely matte black without any hint of the woods natural color showing through which is exactly what I wanted. There are no streaks or lines like you'd find using black paint or a stain. It's Ink with the consistency of water. It dries fast and goes on well with a foam or synthetic bristle brush. I don't recommend using a stain pad or any type of cotton cloth. You'll waste a lot of ink due to it's eagerness to saturate the cloth before it will release any ink. I dipped a microfiber towel in the ink and it quickly wicked into the cloth and almost nothing wiped off onto the wood. I experimented diluting the ink with about 10% water but I found myself just needing to apply more to get it completely black so I recommend applying full strength and you will only need one coat. Not all manufacturers produce India ink with the same consistency. I've read reviews on Higgins brand being watery and not as dark as other brands but I haven't tried it so take that with a grain of salt. I used *Black Velvet Waterproof India Ink* _by_ *Handy Art* and it was $4.99 for a 4oz bottle at Hobby Lobby. This was the perfect amount of ink for a 60" x 36" wood desktop and its edges with a little bit left in the bottle. Take your time and don't try and stretch it or you'll just have to go back over all the spots where it didn't penetrate into the deeper crevices of the grain.
Thanks brother. I needed this for my next projects. Much appreciated and very well explained
Great video . I try the indian ink and MINWAX Semi -transparet .True Black 274 on Pine wood. I have to said that the Indian ink is like magic in pine , real pitch Black even color . Minwax wax ok but in some areas wasn’t completely Black . Thank you for the video !
Just tried staining with India ink and I’m so glad I found this video. Thanks for sharing!
Wondering how the ink holds with a sealer, particularly a water-based one?? any one know?
Awesome comparison video. Best I've seen for ebonizing wood.
Thanks for that! Those results were not what I expected, so your video was very informative.
Please produce more videos regarding different stains for achieving the look of different wood species. Perhaps purple heart, or mahogany, etc.
If I could find aniline dyes and the like in Australia for less than $30/colour, I'd consider it, but it's looking like its just too expensive unfortunately.
You mean like... pink ivory?!
Great info Paul. I've only used India ink, but that was because it was what was available when I needed to dye a piece. Glad to know I fell into possibly the best option. I was afraid it would run when I finished it, so I sprayed a light coat of lacquer before the finish. Now that I think of it, it probably had more of a chance to run with the solvent based lacquer than the water based poly I finished the piece with.
Your videos are so interesting and informative. I have always wanted to get into woodworking, maybe it's time I start.
I had to hand carve two replacement horse heads (one black, one white) to fit onto the original turned bases on a 150 year old chess set that's been in the family for four generations. The heads were not there when I learnt to play using this set fifty years ago! I am now handing it onto my grandson, Otis, as a Christmas present and I wanted it to be 'complete'. I have no carving skills, but borrowed a set of tools from a friend and bought a boxwood pen blank and eventually ended up with two presentable heads. The white one just needed taking down a tone or two to match the colour of the rest of the set and some Fiddes wax polish did the job. But I was wondering how to colour the black piece. That's how I came across your video. We had some India ink in the house already that I use to fill my Rotring pens. I applied it to the second head and it turned out brilliantly. It is a perfect match. Thank you so much!
Iron paste, thinned with a little bit of paint thinner is also good for doing this, once dried and buffed with a clean rag you get a really nice black satin finish
Great video. I’ve been using India ink for a while and I’m glad to see its benefits being shared. So easy to apply.
awesome video. thank you!
How did the India ink hold up to handling? Will it rub off?
Thanks for this video. I want to make a homemade instrument and color it black, but I didn't want to have to use paint. I've seen all these methods floating around, and this does a really good job of breaking them down and comparing them all. I was already leaning towards using india ink, but it was nice to see how the color can turn out in comparison to the other methods.
I love the way you think and explain things. Excellent. Keep it up n
You have to stir the minwax before applying. A lot of the black color falls down to the bottom of the can. I tried it on pine and it came out super black.
Very informative video my friend. I have learned some new things. Thanks
Thanks Paul, really enjoyed watching your video.
Thank you!
Really well done, love the heading links, thank you!
Very useful, thanks!
Have you tried an oak shavings tee as a booster? Richard Maguire uses this to good effect in one project. Another option for considerable darkening is Van-Dyck Crystals, i.e. walnut husks. It's not true dark black, but can be a nice stain nevertheless.
Very interesting. Thanks for your info. I didn't know the Rit dye product yet.
Thanks Paul 😊that was very educational.
Great video, haven't heard of most of these tricks. I build a lot of guitar bodies. I use black leather dye the most and I have also found black printer ink (refill kits) works extremely well.
Great job Paul. Enjoyed the video and passed on to a couple of friends who would be interested too.
I’d like to see how the ink goes if the wood was sanded to 220. And also how the stain holds up after 6-12 months. Perhaps something to revisit next year?
As usual, another great video.
A method that I'm sure someone else has come up with but I found thru experimentation is to apply a (natural, like walnut or raw linseed) oil finish, let it soak in a bit, repeat, and then throw the piece into the oven at the same temp you use to bake on the seasoning of a cast iron pan. This is roughly 400-450F (205-232C) for several hours.
The length of time baked affects how brown-to-black the finish gets. It doesn't dust up the surface like a torch does but is noticeably more of a browner-black than a soot-black.
On the downsides... the finish can be uneven depending on the shape, size, oven hot spots and defects of the wood like knots. This also induces a large amount of distortion and a lot of shrinkage as the wood dries out considerably, even for well-aged hardwoods. And it's limited to whatever size oven you have. This means that it's most useful for adding the darker color to smaller objects and parts like pulls, knobs, tool handles, and kitchen utensils.
This is also a useful finish on metal in general, not just cast iron cookware. In that case you could use a torch to apply it and it adds a "different" sort of sheen which may be desirable on hinges or other hardware.
PS: I'd like to see the pink ivory tests. Maybe you can do some sort of long-term (once a month or bimonthly or something )series of different wood colors if you have the time. It'd make an interesting playlist.
The main issue with trying different dyes/stains/etc is cost. I had the black dyes because I was trying to get the ebonised effect, but it's pretty hard to justify spending it for other looks I'm not going to use unfortunately :(
No charring? Fire/Extreme Heat has always worked for me.
Nice comparison, thanks for the info Paul! 😃👍🏻👊🏻
I find the fest and Watson prooftint stain works well
Thanks!
Thanks mate, great info.
wonder what top coat for pine India ink?
would it work for fretboards on a guitar? :-)
This was a great review of products, thanks! I've always struggled with ebonising turned work that is sanded much higher than the product recommendation (usually to 400 or 600) and I was wondering if you could tell me what the Fiddes was like with regards to raising the grain (would it require sanding back prior to finishing)? I keep hoping to find an ebonising solution that can be applied without requiring further sanding .
Fiddes will raise the grain a little (its water based after all), but weirdly the india ink doesn't raise the grain, even when diluted with ~10% water (any more than that and it will). Thats probably your best best above 400 grit too, since it'll sit a bit more on the surface rather than soaking in like the others
@@TheWoodKnight Thanks!
This test is limited because of only using two wood types. Iron Acetate is horrible on pine and fir because of the low tannin content in those woods, however on Cherry or especially Walnut I have found it to produce consistent results that are better than any stain on other woods. Obviously if cost is a factor India Ink on Pine may be the way to go.
This test is limited to materials and solutions available to me.
I'm not using exotics like cherry and walnut for testing when I don't use them for my regular projects!
Honest and fair comparison review, mate 👍
Thanks for the video mate! Could you do one for American Walnut too?
I'd love to do a series on something like this, but unfortunately it's just a matter of cost. $10-20 just for *each* sample really adds up in cost quickly
why do you change for a more expansive brush for the last product ?. Do you think that subconcienciusly we tend to value results acording to initial Expectatitions. Surprisingly chinesse ink did a good Job!.
India/Sumi ink goes on just fine with any quality brush, rag, or probably just finger painting it on. The Fiddes stain doesn't seem to work well with regular synthetic brushes, but golden taklon is fine. I didn't have a natural bristle brush to compare with.
What would you reccomand to ebonize a guitar fretboard?
You're just going to have to watch the video to find out. lol
How about torching the wood?
Can regular white vinegar be used for the iron acetate? If not where can you buy distilled white vinegar in Australia?
Yes, it can.
So where do you get the one that was super black?
India/Sumi ink can be bought from any art store, Officeworks or Amazon
Fiddes Australia have the fiddes water based stain.
Wolverine is also a great wood worker. Who knew?
Where can I buy indier ink?
Would love to see how to simulate grey maple birds eye.
Hey, thanks. Is that a Russian "indian ink"?
I got 300 meters of 2 meter high fence to stain! Tea is just not gonna cut it.
I really want to see you spray a fence with a lipton backpack 😂
Gel stain???
None available in my country less than 50USD at the time of making the video.
White Vinegar and Steel Wool better than all of these options!
Hi Paul and thanks for the test. Also, try Fiebing's Leather Dye (www.tandyleather.com/en/product/fiebing-s-leather-dye). Available from Tandy Leather in 4 oz. or 128 oz. size containers.
Enjoy - Michael
Unfortunately Tandy isn't an option "Cannot ship Fiebing's Leather Dye 4 fl. oz. (118 ml) to Australia". There may be other distributors or other leather dyes more accessible - are leather dyes between brands usually pretty similar (in composition)?
Sorry your pronouncement is not very clear articulated.
Great video! Thanks