gray wood - is there such a thing?

[DogwoodTales]

Is there a species of hardwood that is naturally gray without aging it?

If not, then what have you found to be the best way to make, say, hard maple a nice, dark gray?
Would buring the wood surface and then scuffing it down make it gray?

Thanks for your input on this.

Ray

[Gary G™]

Harewood.
I've seen Ambrosia maple in a silvery gray.
Untreated Cypress turns silver gray in the weather.
Teak turns silver gray and is beautiful albeit expensive.
What's it for?

[Paul K. Murphy]

Harewood is English Sycamore exposed to iron.
One of the more common means to achieve this is washing the wood (or immersing it) in a solution made with steel wool and vinegar. Woods with tannic acid will turn black when exposed to iron. With weaker concentrations, gray can be achieved. Woods low in tannic acid can have their tannins enhanced by washing them in tea.

[jcousins2]

look at blue mahoe - a lot of the "blue" is really more gray.
jerry

[MichaelMouse]

Harewood is English Sycamore exposed to iron.
One of the more common means to achieve this is washing the wood (or immersing it) in a solution made with steel wool and vinegar. Woods with tannic acid will turn black when exposed to iron. With weaker concentrations, gray can be achieved. Woods low in tannic acid can have their tannins enhanced by washing them in tea.

You mean "English sycamore" as maple, the way they call it, not "Plane", which is a sycamore.

Soft maples like Acer rubrum have broad, blue-gray heartwood, but it would take some truly creative cut-and-piece to make something of it alone.

[DogwoodTales]

My son wants to make a body for an electric guitar and wants it gray.

[Steve N]

My son wants to make a body for an electric guitar and wants it gray.

WD Lockwood dye maybe

[DogwoodTales]

Yes, dying the wood is probably the best/easiest way to go.
I was just wondering if there would be a natural gray option out there, or perhaps another approach to graying the wood.
Thanks!

Ray

[Steve N]

Pretty much any wood will go to gray if left outdoors. Time and color consistency will vary though. Unless there is a species left unspoken I think dye will allow you the greatest control, with the least chance of the possible ravages that leaving wood outdoors could bring you. Sometimes "natural" is really
it's been my finding you usually happen upon the wood that has naturally aged to a color you like. Most of the time it's hard to reproduce Mother Nature. If I had to find something big enough for a guitar blank, and it had to be naturally aged, I'd start my search along river banks. But even then if you cut into it, it's got several possibilities, worst is rot, but I think the inside is seldom gonna look like the outside.

[Paul K. Murphy]

Yes MichaelMouse, that's what I mean.