Tannin + Iron

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In my recent posts re swamp kauri there was a brief discussion comparing big oak and swamp kauri colouring and how the lack of,or low level of tannin in kauri prevented it blackening in the swamp after thousands of years. Oak on the other hand is high in tannin and iron is a very commonly occurring element in the environment.
Attached are some items artificially darkened with iron acetate. A locally grown evergreen beech species is the blackened wood andalso combined with yew and sycamore.
 

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jrista

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Those look great!

This is called Ebonizing, as far as I am aware. A wood turner who is both a prolific blogger and video maker who shares tips and techniques from his own woodworking, Kent Weakley, has a few articles on the subject of ebonizing wood. He has shared some tips on how to make ebonizing solutions from different readily available home chemicals and the like (i.e. iron acetate, IIRC, is steel wool and vinegar?)

Not every wood will go strait black, as I understand it, but one of the benefits of ebonizing woods is that you can say ebonize only the inside of a bowl, or only the outside, or even only the rim, and the rest will maintain its natural color. So you can get those nice hard contrasts, like your second photo.
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2021
Messages
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Location
NZ
Those look great!

This is called Ebonizing, as far as I am aware. A wood turner who is both a prolific blogger and video maker who shares tips and techniques from his own woodworking, Kent Weakley, has a few articles on the subject of ebonizing wood. He has shared some tips on how to make ebonizing solutions from different readily available home chemicals and the like (i.e. iron acetate, IIRC, is steel wool and vinegar?)

Not every wood will go strait black, as I understand it, but one of the benefits of ebonizing woods is that you can say ebonize only the inside of a bowl, or only the outside, or even only the rim, and the rest will maintain its natural color. So you can get those nice hard contrasts, like your second photo.
Yes,that's correct.
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2021
Messages
85
Location
NZ
Those look great!

This is called Ebonizing, as far as I am aware. A wood turner who is both a prolific blogger and video maker who shares tips and techniques from his own woodworking, Kent Weakley, has a few articles on the subject of ebonizing wood. He has shared some tips on how to make ebonizing solutions from different readily available home chemicals and the like (i.e. iron acetate, IIRC, is steel wool and vinegar?)

Not every wood will go strait black, as I understand it, but one of the benefits of ebonizing woods is that you can say ebonize only the inside of a bowl, or only the outside, or even only the rim, and the rest will maintain its natural color. So you can get those nice hard contrasts, like your second photo.
I didn't want to call it ebonizing in the context of a natural process of soil or water borne iron reacting with tannin.Peat may also be high in tannin.But I don't know.
Ebonizing is arguably a contrived blackening of wood achieved by a number of means,iron acetate + tannin being one of them.
 

jrista

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I'm pretty sure the proper term for artificially blackened wood (i.e. your last sentence and the example photos) is "ebonize" as there are many articles on the subject:


 
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I'm pretty sure the proper term for artificially blackened wood (i.e. your last sentence and the example photos) is "ebonize" as there are many articles on the subject:


That's exactly what I said. I'm not disagreeing or trying to invent another wheel.
Perhaps I should have referred to natural ebonizing as opposed to intentional blackening (aka ebonizing) which is where the thread began.
 
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I'm pretty sure the proper term for artificially blackened wood (i.e. your last sentence and the example photos) is "ebonize" as there are many articles on the subject:


Thanks for the other links by the way
 
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