Replies

1. 
   jonsherryl | Jul 24, 2002 02:46am | #1

   Grant, I doubt if it was a shoe polish, but rather black leather dye. It's used for touching up scuff marks on shoes, so it's usually stocked in the shoe polish section at retail outlets. I think it's pretty generic stuff, so the brand shouldn't be a major consideration. You want a pure dye and not some proprietary concoction that might contain wax, so check the label. Another option used by some woodworkers is old fashioned, indelible India ink, or you might consider black aniline dye, available through woodworking supply outlets and most good paint stores.

1. 
   hoodaguy | Jul 25, 2002 01:54am | #2

   thank you very much, I sorta suspected as much.

   grant

2. 
   dhpascoe | Jul 25, 2002 04:51pm | #3

   There is a method of using vinegar  and steel wool, believe it or not and there is an article in an older FWW about how to do it. You place the steel wool in the vinegar and the acid dissolves it and the resulting oxide is black. Very permanent.

   DaVE

1. 
   TerryH13 | Jul 26, 2002 01:38am | #4

   Also be carefull leaving the jug closed with vineger and rusty nail concoction, I read an article where the guy left it closed to tight and the chemical reaction blew the bottle up. Don't remember which woodworking magazine it was in but he was sure suprised when it blew. I've tried and it does work but takes a couple of days to week for all the rust to turn.

   Terry

3. 
   Seth_Frankel | Jul 26, 2002 02:31pm | #5

   Grant,

   John Arno is most likely right about Gary not using shoe polish but leather dye instead. I would go to Tandy Leather, a saddlery or other leather working shop and buy their leather dye (I've used Fiebings Dye in the past). I used to work for a furniture maker, Peter Pierobon, who ebonizes everything. We used black leather dye all the time with outstanding results.

   Here's a link to some pieces that Peter built (long after I was gone) that will show you the kind of results that can be achieved:

   http://www.johnelder.com/johnstest/Artists/PP-198.htm

   Good luck.

   Seth

   "Nothing is a

   mistake. There is no win

   and there is no fail . . . there is only

   make."

   John Cage