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Want to permanently change wood to black. Have used India Ink and steel wool and vinegar. Any recommended way to achieve better results? Appreciate input!
Semper Fi
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What were your issues with India Ink and the other treatment: not black enough, not deep enough, too difficult?
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It doesn’t get much blacker than India ink. What went wrong there? Also what kind of wood?
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Wood is a varied word, but in your case the type will respond differently. Whatchausing?
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya
GW
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start with a wood thats already black,like ebony????
or black paint?
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(10-17-2017, 10:31 AM)Blackberry Wrote: Want to permanently change wood to black. Have used India Ink and steel wool and vinegar. Any recommended way to achieve better results? Appreciate input!
India ink is the best thing I have found and my go to.
Once Favre hangs it up though, it years of cellar dwelling for the Pack. (Geoff 12-18-07)
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I was always successful with one or more washes of water based black aniline dies . . . with a couple drops of dish washing detergent to break down surface tension.
???
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(10-17-2017, 10:31 AM)Blackberry Wrote: Want to permanently change wood to black. Have used India Ink and steel wool and vinegar. Any recommended way to achieve better results? Appreciate input!
Here's some maple that I blackened with several applications of a very stiff tea, followed by the steel wool/vinegar mixture. It's about as black as you can get, and it's held the color for about a year laying around the shop.
![[Image: 37056953714_b3f71c6903_z.jpg]](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4498/37056953714_b3f71c6903_z.jpg)
True power makes no noise - Albert Schweitzer. It's obvious he was referring to hand tools
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(10-17-2017, 10:31 AM)Blackberry Wrote: Want to permanently change wood to black. Have used India Ink and steel wool and vinegar. Any recommended way to achieve better results? Appreciate input!
Trying to see if there was a more suitable method of giving my wood a more permanent black color. What I have been doing works but always looking for other proven techniques. I use black Walnut wood. Looks like what I have been doing is a good choice. Appreciate the input!
Semper Fi
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10-18-2017, 07:12 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-18-2017, 07:15 AM by Cooler.)
The Japanese technique, shou-sugi-ban uses flames to both darken the wood and to make it resistant to weather and insect damage. I have not seen samples up close but have seen images of a house clad in shou-sugi-ban treated siding and it looked very black. No top finish however.
Perhaps a combination of shou-sugi-ban and dye or stain.
![[Image: 36f82712f0cea74da7009712e0504398--house-...stairs.jpg]](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/36/f8/27/36f82712f0cea74da7009712e0504398--house-stairs-wood-stairs.jpg)
No animals were injured or killed in the production of this post.
