Ebonizing with Iron Acetate

[TongueTied]

Hi All,
I've made up a solution of vinegar and steel wool. I used the double strength vinegar you can get from Coles and regular 0000 steel wool. From what I have read and seen on Youtube, the steel wool should dissolve in the vinegar over a 24 to 48 hour period and the solution ends up a rusty colour. Well, mine has stayed really clear and the steel wool hasn't dissolved at all. In fact,it looks like nothing has happened to it at all. I've tested it on a few pieces of wood and it works. I was just wondering if I should be waiting for the steel wool to dissolve or if this is normal. What has been your experience with this stuff? Thanks
Philip

[jack620]

Apparently iron acetate can nearly colourless or dark brown depending on the form (II or III).
This might help: Simplifier - Wood Stain

[TongueTied]

Thanks Jack. The link appears to be trying to make a stain for darkening wood rather than ebonizing and he is concerned about consistency which I can understand when that is your objective. Not sure which type I've ended up with but it certainly is interesting. After about 72 hours, the steel wool looked brand new and the vinegar was clear. I pulled the steel wool out and within about a minute, it turned completely a rusty brown. The solution is still clear. I put a few drops onto a couple pieces of scrap wood and most of them turned jet black within a few seconds. A few just went grey. As I'm after a solution to ebonize wood, this solution should do the trick nicely. I've used India Ink to ebonize before and that worked but when I sanded up to some fairly high grits, I found the wood wouldn't absorb the ink well and the results were patchy. Similarly, if you use sanding sealer before applying the ink, it doesn't absorb. The iron acetate may be no different. I now want to try combining the iron acetate technique and the india ink to see if that will create a consistent deep black. I'm not keen on using fire as 1, I'm concerned with bit of dust smouldering and ultimately burning down the shed and 2, it seems really messy.

[dai sensei]

What steel wool did you use? If using course steel wool you may not be able to see the steel dissolving. I use the ultra fine steel wool, XXXX or 0000 (depending on brand)

Your ebonising solution will greatly depend on the tannins in the timber. To assist with this, in addition to steel wool and vinegar, use an old tea bag in the mix to add tannins.

[ED65]

Did you degrease the steel wool beforehand? Many modern steel wools are apparently oily and need degreasing for best results; not that the vinegar can't get through a thin film of oil, it just takes longer.

From what I have read and seen on Youtube, the steel wool should dissolve in the vinegar over a 24 to 48 hour period and the solution ends up a rusty colour.

IME although you get noticeable activity early on in the first day it often takes a lot longer than two days for the steel wool to fully dissolve (or dissolve as much as it's going to).

What has been your experience with this stuff?

Highly varied! This is to be expected of course because wood varies, but even working with the textbook high-tannin wood, oaks, the results are much more variable than I expected (hoped for). I've regularly had to resort to increasing the tannins available to get a dark enough colour.

From what I've seen in use and from articles, it's best not to expect that this will ebonise any wood without help. So either make up as strong a tannin solution as you can with tea bags, or oak bark and esp. galls, or just go the whole hog and buy some tannic acid powder. But once you go that far it seems to me that you might as well just go with black aniline dye, or Indian ink, since you get the colour so much faster and more directly. And possibly cheaper.

[ED65]

If you're adding tannins don't put it in the vinegar solution! This will just form iron tannate in the jar.

You want the reaction to take place in the wood, so the tannin has to be added to the wood, and it has to be left to dry before the vinegar solution is applied.

[ED65]

From what I've seen in use and from articles, it's best not to expect that this will ebonise any wood without help. So either make up as strong a tannin solution as you can with tea bags, or oak bark and esp. galls, or just go the whole hog and buy some tannic acid powder.

Only a week later, The Mountain Top Joiner's Shop posted the following on the process using tannic acid 'tea':



As you'll see even on American black walnut, a species known for its tannin content, and with the addition of a concentrated tannic acid solution, it still took more than one round for the wood to become jet black. So if a solid black is your goal be patient with the process and go in expecting this to be a multi-stage operation.

[aarggh]

I've been using the iron acetate solution to ebonise wood, mainly Tas Oak, Vic Ash, and American White Oak but it has always been a little hit and miss getting very uniform colouring and depth.

I recently bought some Querbracho, a natural tannin rich powder derived from a tree, and the results are fantastic. Link to where I got it:

Querbracho Natural Dye Powder
– Fabric of Humanity

Applying a couple of thin coats of querbracho, and then when dry using a clean filtered iron acetate solution results in a rich jet black.

Note that if you shake the solution the iron filing remnants will mix through the solution and you will likely end up with a more brown end result, not jet black.

[aarggh]

In the pics below, you can see some iron acetate solution that has been applied to some Vic Ash but has bugger all penetration of depth of colour, pretty crap result really. The piece above it in the same pic is the same timber but a coat of querbracho has been brushed on before the iron acetate. The difference is astounding and the effect was instantaneous.

The pic of the two pieces of Tas Oak that have been brushed qith querbracho and then the iron acetate ended up with a black that was so dark it almost had a blue sheen to it. Once dried and coated with some clear varnish the finish was a uniform super rich and deep jet black as seen in the very first pic earlier.