Fuming Oak questions again.

Re: Fuming Oak questions again.

Dave Bair

You may be able to speed up the reaction by increasing the temperature. I've used an infrared heat lamp. Also, you may need to refresh the ammonia every 4-8 hours. The household concentration doesn't have a lot of oomph to start with. I've never used anything except household ammonia and have had success; you just have to wait longer. That can be a plus since you're less likely to overshoot your desired shade.

Re: Fuming Oak questions again.

Keith Newton

I’ve only done smaller things like hollow vessels. What I used was upside down plastic garbage drum, with a tunacan over a fondu candle. But there are plenty of other safe ways to heat, like electric hot-plate with a boiler would be quicker.

Thanks....and

Barry Irby

I will add some more ammonia.

When I bought the plastic for the tent, the guy in Lowe's asked what I was doing and I told him. He was surprised that you did not just dump the ammonia directly on the oak. I told it was the fumes. He was amazed.

Then I wondered what would happen if you did dump the ammonia, so I tried a little piece. It turns the wood a nice shade of brown. Why are we not doing that?

Re: Fuming Oak questions again.

Barry Irby

Never thought of applying heat to the ammonia. Hmm.

Re: Fuming Oak questions again.

Dick Coers

Doesn't the ammonia react with the tannin in the white oak? You can buy dried tannic acid at https://www.shellac.net/product650.html and pretreat the oak. Never done it, but it's the way to ebonize with iron oxide.

Re: Fuming Oak questions again.

Barry Irby

Thanks Dick, I may need some of that for the sapwood streaks in the piece. I did not know where to get it.

OK, found a use for the Crock Pots

Barry Irby

I am Aging out. I look around at my once prized possessions and wonder who will haul them to the dump when I am gone. So I make an effort to throw something away every day. Somehow I have two old Crock Pots that my Pack Rat Gene hasn't let me dispose of. I just put them inside the tent with more than a quart of ammonia in each. Now we are cooking. We will see if it's possible to brown some oak with a Crock Pot.

Re: Fuming Oak questions again.

Keith Newton

White oak stains so well, I’ll bet in the end? You’ll be asking yourself why bother with the fuming, other than just saying you did it!

You are exactly correct, Sir.

well now that youve gotten this far,

Keith Newton

Since you mentioned staining the unchanged sapwood with tannin. At this point I just can’t see you ordering it from some online source. Since this is the time of year for acorns to be falling, if you gather up a quart, or whatever quantity you find easy. If you boil them, which makes the shells come off easier, and renders a dark tannin tea. Of course you should have done this before the fuming.

And if you choose a good acorn species like Swamp Chrstnut Oak, which are falling in the yard down at Frogwarts, my cabin, you can go ahead find a receipt that sounds good, and use the nuts for the first meal served on this new table.

Yep, take a bunch of good pics along the way, and you’ll end up on the cover of some fancy magazine, the off to the beginning of your new career. You gotta do it man, just go for it! Ha

Re: well now that youve gotten this far,

Barry Irby

That's funny, right there!

I experimented with tea. Brewed a cup of Lipton tea and squeezed the tea bag onto some sapwood on a scrap and left the tea bag sitting on it overnight, then once dry, put in the bag and fumed it. Came out as a discolored splotch. The splotch part wasn't so bad, because it started as a splotch but the color was off enough so that it would be just as bad as nothing. Different, but not better. Kind of red. Apparently there are tannins and then there are tannins. Maybe black tea rather than Orange pekoe?

I have good news....

Barry Irby

Sent pics of the table top and buggy leg to the DIL, sapwood streaks and all. The Response was "I love it!"

Game ON!

As soon as I'm sure it has off gassed the ammonia and thoroughly dry from being steamed in the tent with two Crock Pots, Amber Shellac and several coats of Varathane floor finish. It's raining here today. Over the weekend....

Re: I have good news....

Philip Duffy

Any chance we could see some pics?? P

Re: I have good news....

Barry Irby

I have lost track of how to post pictures, but I will figure it out and post some. One problem is the table is huge in my tiny shop and I have trouble getting good pictures. May have t be a colage. (anybody know how to spell colage?)

Collage

Mike Farinella