Ebonizing poplar

[lostlugnut]

I received notice from the Domestic Goddess that I need to make a project that will hang from a door, be fairly large, contain jewelry(which she will provide, for now), and be black. I drew up plans and she has blessed it and told me to move forward.

I am wanting to use poplar to try to save some weight and was thinking about ebonizing it. Has anyone here tried this yet? I dont think it has the tannin content anywhere near oak, but does it have enough? I wanted to ask the brain trust here before I try to reinvent the wheel and try to make it square.

I have some vinegar and steel wool brewing right now, which will take a few days. I have read where you can use tea as a wash on the wood to impart more tannin to activate the vinegar mix. Having never tried any of this I was wanting to know your input.

Thanks in advance.

[jteneyck]

You would likely get more responses if you posted this in the Finishing forum. Anyway, India Ink works great to ebonize many woods, including poplar.

John

[rectangle618]

I used Brian Boggs' method to ebonize cherry with excellent results - flat black.

[JR1]

I've never had really satisfactory results from the steel wool method even on oak. I'd just get some bladk shellac and apply 4 or more 1# coats. If you want you can apply transtint #6023 or #6005 (it gets very dark very quickly). If you apply shellac you are done, if you mess with the steel wool, even if it is satisfactory, you still need to apply a finish.

[Alan S]

India ink makes a very black surface. I've used it on maple, and poplar should work as well.

If you want to use the cheaper iron method on a wood that's low in tannin itself, you can add tannin with tea, as described here by Brian Boggs.

Edit: I guess this was sitting open for a long time. I agree with those who already posted both things.

[Grayman]

I've had reasonable results using regular black tea (liptons or whatever) as a substitute for the Quebracho tea in the Boggs article, although I've never tried Quebracho - it's probably better than regular black tea, but I had never heard of it until I read this article so couldn't say. Black tea might be a bit cheaper though.

I brew the tea mixture very strong and follow pretty much the same methods as in the Boggs article. It's been mostly successful with poplar, but I'd recommend practice and testing on scrap material first to be sure it's what you want.

Good luck with it, when it works it's pretty fun.

Jeff

[JR1]

It's available ~$13–$100/100g on Amazon. I suspect that for ebonizing that the cheaper grade will do fine.

[rectangle618]

I used the least expensive Quebracho bark powder - no problem.

And some bonus information having nothing at all to do with the original poster's question: The quebracho tree grows in the Amazon basin and has extremely hard wood. The name is a combination of the Spanish (and/or maybe Portuguese) words for "ax breaker".

[andrewb]

no experience with Poplar and it's been too long to remember the formula I used off the top of my head but I recall dissolving steel wool in vinegar and then a mixture of crushed acorns and oak calls mixed in something (i.e. tannic acid source). In my case I was ebonizing hickory (old shovel handle I was turning into chisel handles). It certainly darkened but in my case was more towards purple than black. I liked my results but wouldn't have called it black, whatever it ended up. Whatever formula, would repeat what others have said and try some test pieces first.

Andrew

[Paul K. Murphy]

I'm currently doing a bit of experimentation myself with steel wool/vinegar concoction.
I don't like cute, I don't do it well. I'm very mercinary in my approach to manufacturing problems. Dissolving steel wool in vinegar just seems a little (a lot) too cute for me. What I really want is a water soluble iron salt in solution.
I keep asking myself if this stuff would work: link