Ammonia - Fumed Oak

[Neil Farrer]

has anyone got a before and after photograph of this here "fumed oak" so i can have a clue what your talking about haha...please??

Here's a before and after, these are two pen blanks from the same piece of flamed European oak. The ammonia was £1.99 (500ml) from the local hardware store but doesnt say what strength it was. The mix recommendations were 1:50 for cleaning purposes so that might give a clue to the original strength.

The "fuming" took about four hours only, and these are the reults. Looks better in the flesh!

 

[woodyturner]

Well done Neil

 

[János]

Hello,

It is impossible to colour wood black with ammonia. The tonal range moves in the browns. You can fume any species with high tannin content: oak, black locust, larch, cherry etc. react well to this treatment. The heartwood and sapwood (which contains less tannin) reacts differently, so uneven colouration might occur. Even different pieces of the same species react differently, so it is wise to make every parts of a piece from the same plank or bole.
Urine, a source of ammonia was used to colour wood before the advent of lightfast synthetic dyes. Burying woodwork into manure to colour it was quite common practice.


Have a nice day,

János