I’m working on an experiment. In my latest project, a cherry hutch, I’m using cherry. While discussing the project, someone suggested fuming the cherry with amonia to in the words of my friend add 15 years of patina. Well I conducted a test yesterday. I took two pieces of cherry and sanded each equally, and put one in a bag and raised the piece off the bottom and put a bowl of 10% amonia and left it for 24 hours and left the control piece out. Well I removed tonight and the fumed piece was very dark, but to the point of appearing greenish in color. I wiped down with mineral spirits and it still had a dark look but not very cherry looking. Anyway I’m wondering if the color will modify after exposure to air, or is greenish looking normal. If so, I’m not a fan of fuming cherry. Anybody here fumed cherry?
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Replies
bones
The typical fumigation of wood with ammonia is done with a commercial grade of ammonia. If you used regular household ammonia, you will not receive the same satisfactory results.
On a side note, there is no reason, in my silly little worthless opinion, to mess with chemicals on such a beautiful wood as cherry. If you need patina, give it a suntan. Otherwise, you can use an amber shellac to achieve the 'orange-brown' of cherry without messing with an abusive and toxic grade of ammonia. Or, even a dye stain from Transtint.
This advice is free, and should be considered as valuable as its cost.
Jeff
Give it a day or two to "air out," then assess the color. Fumed oak also looks unpleasantly pea-greenish when you first take it out of the fuming chamber.
-Steve
Thanks. I planned on doing that hoping it would calm down. The aroma is still heavy on the wood. I'd hope that will fade as well. The ACE ammonia even at 10% was powerful and even with the mask on, burnt the eyes a tad. Nasty stuff. I'm going to finish both the test board and the control board and compare. I'll post a pic after I'm done.
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Edited 3/4/2008 9:59 am by bones
I agree with Jeff in that it's not really needed. I tried it a while back turned out alright. I used commercial grade ammonia I got from a printing shop, and I fumed the cherry for about 4 hours if memory serves. Read this article by Kevin Rodel, he shows the results of fuming a few different types of wood. Cheers.
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=2485Russ.
http://www.jensenfinefurniture.com
Add me to the list of "Why?!" speakers. Sunlight, even artificial, will do wonders.
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