Replies

1. 
   nikkiwood | Oct 09, 2004 05:20pm | #1

   There are a number of ways to ebonize wood, but I would like to add to your question for those who will respond:

   Is there a way to ebonize wood inlay strips so that the dye penetrates beyond the surface -- thus allowing you to plane/sand the inlay flush with the work piece (and the inlay will still remain a black color)?

1. 
   Jamie_Buxton | Oct 09, 2004 06:14pm | #4

   Have you tried black anyline dye and a pressure-cooker?

2. 
   BArnold | Oct 09, 2004 05:29pm | #2

   Burt,

   If you're doing an inlay border -- 1/8" wide, for instance -- I gotta tell you a true story about a cheap alternative to ebony.

   After spending all my life behind a desk and doing a little woodworking on the weekends, I worked in cabinet shops for a couple of years.  At the first shop, I was assigned to work with a couple of other guys on some decorative screens for a motor yacht.  The engineering prints for the screens had originally specified 'ebony' inlay as a border; then the wording changed to 'black inlay'.  The width is 1/8".  Screens had four sides, mitered.

   The solution was, of all things, Masonite.  Not the garbage called 'tempered hardboard' that you get at the big box stores, but the brand 'Masonite'.  It is darker and harder than the other stuff.  We used the 1/8" thick sheets and cut it into strips about 5/32" wide.  The screen frames got a dado cut in them using a 1/8" router bit at a depth of 1/8".  Yellow glue in the dado and stick the Masonite strips in them.  The inlay was placed before assembling the screen frames.  The inlay was then sanded flush with the frame parts.  The inlay looked fine before finishing; when the finish hit it, it truly turned as black as ebony.

   Let me know if you try this.

   Regards,

   Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting

   Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

   ---

   
   

   ---

   Edited 10/9/2004 10:31 am ET by BArnold

3. 
   BArnold | Oct 09, 2004 05:38pm | #3

   Here's a photo of one of the screens I discussed in my first post.  This is unfinished.

   Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting

   Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

   ---

   
4. 
   DANL | Oct 09, 2004 06:16pm | #5

   Use wood dye--comes in just about every color, including black. Sometimes called "aniline dyes", though I think their formulation is no longer strictly aniline. I like "Solar-Lux" available through lots of woodworking catalogs. Come in water, alcohol (both can raise the grain) and oil-based. One thing I've found that works well is just black India ink. (It raises grain though, being water-based. But I know ink penetrates pretty deeply.) One thing I like, but doubt that it is color fast, is gentian violet (sold in drug stores, usually used to treat fungal infections)--gives a beautiful purple color, almost black on some woods, and can have a golden cast to it. I've also dyed wood with iodine, and have even mixed gentian violet and iodine (applying one after the other) to get some interesting effects that approach black.

5. 
   BarryR | Oct 09, 2004 07:38pm | #6

   India ink, availablel in large bottles at most art supply stores works very well as a black wood dye.