Ebonised finish for William Morris Sussex chair

[BEE13]

I have had a 100 year old William Morris type Sussex chair in my garage loft for 40 years. I picked it up from a junk shop for a couple of pounds. It probably isn't by WM himself but is fairly close so my idea was to restore it to attractive usable condition. It had been outside so the finish was dreadful so, without realising my error, I stripped what was left of the finish without really looking at it. All I can remember is that it was a form of ebonising. I'm not sure but I think it probably wasn't a clear finish over a stain. There is no rush seat.

Now I've retired, I have time to restore the chair but I'd like advice on what to use to finish it. Ideally, I'd like it to be the same as original. Googling ebonising techniques gives me at loads of different methods including these:

- Black paint.
- Coloured varnishes & lacquers.
- Black French Polish.
and, of course,
- Chemical darkening using iron and vinegar & similar.
- Clear varnishes over water or spirit stains.

So, does anyone know what finish was used on the original William Morris Sussex chairs? I've asked people who are selling them and got no helpful answers.

Failing that, what would people think is appropriate for a 100 year old arts and crafts chair?

Thanks, Brian

 

[Droogs]

First thing I would try is a bin bag over it and some ammonia and leave it for a day or so and see how it goes

A brief explanation here

 

[BEE13]

First thing I would try is a bin bag over it and some ammonia and leave it for a day or so and see how it goes

A brief explanation here

Hi

Yes, I'm aware of that technique but thank you. I doubt that was the original finish as it would probably not have been removed by me stripping the finish off. The wood is fairly light in colour. Also, I know I haven't tried properly but it doesn't look to be the right sort of wood with a high tannin content. BTW, it's quite a bland wood, not oak or ash and probably not beech. I'll move some things for a better look and try to identify it.

I'm really hoping to find what finish they would have used originally before I try any techniques.

Brian

 

[Droogs]

If you don't think it was fumed, then I would imagine just an analyne dye probably.

 

[Cabinetman]

You beat me to it Droogs, it’s one of the few things I know about the William Morris and the arts and crafts movement that they did like to fume oak to a chocolatey sort of colour. Doesn’t mean that this one was of course.
If you want to turn it black I personally wouldn’t try the vinegar approach I’ve tried it a few times and it never does go quite consistently black, navy blue some of the time, and I experimented and researched a lot, actually a ridiculous lot.
I’m told that Indian ink works well and I can well imagine it does. Ian

 

[BEE13]

If you don't think it was fumed, then I would imagine just an analyne dye probably.

I know nothing about aniline dyes so I'll Google it.

Are they soluble - would the dark colour have disappeared when I took the finish off? I can't remember what I used but very unlikely to be paint stripper. More likely scraping & sanding plus maybe meths or white spirit.

Brian

 

[BEE13]

.... a chocolatey sort of colour.......
Ian

It could well have been that. I certainly don't remember it being a deep intense black like a gloss black paint but then it was in such poor condition ......

How would I go about getting a chocolatey brown?

I wish I could go to an antique shop or museum and look at one! Maybe in April!

Brian

 

[Cabinetman]

Pretty much as Droogs said, but he is the one to tell you as I’ve never done it. It’s an interesting theory as to how it originated The story goes that French stables which were made of oak turned brown and they realised it was the ammonia in the horse urine that was doing it. I don’t suppose Droogs would want you to be quite so original ha ha.
Ian

 

[profchris]

19th century guitar necks were often ebonised with lamp black mixed into shellac. This kind of thing:

Couldn't quickly find a better picture, but you get the idea. It can be made shinier, this one is from pre-1830.

Lamp black comes from art supplies, shellac you will already know. I'd guess blonde shellac would give you the purest black, brown shellacs a brown tint to it?

I can't help on proportions, but guessing again I'd say a heaped teaspoon of lamp black to a cup full of shellac, try it out, add more if needed.

 

[BEE13]

That looks interesting, thank you.

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

Hi BEE.
I have restored many Sussex chairs and other Aesthetic movement ebonised pieces over the years. The originals were stained with Spirit Black mixed with Bismark Brown which are aniline dyes dissolved in meths. The shellac finish is then also tinted with the same dyes and used as a base coat then finished with SPB shellac. I used the same method when restoring these pieces but I add lamp black to the shellac along with the spirit black and bismark to dull the finish slightly and give it more of a grey tinge because I am either matching it into an original patina or I am 'faking it'!! I will then give it a finish with a few rubbers of Garnet shellac which gives a bronze like tint over the greyish ebonising. Below are a pair of Rossetti Sussex chairs I worked on a few years ago.

 

[BEE13]

You're a star! That's just the sort of information I was looking for. Thank you.

Your chairs look wonderful, well done. The next thing I'll have to tackle will be the rush seats. I know there's lots of guidance online but do you have any tips or wrinkles to speed up my learning?

Thank you mrpercysnodgrass.

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

Or you can always try the Salvage Hunters / Drew Pritchard method which seems to be paint it with blackboard paint and then apply French polish. Not I'm recommending that.
Bet that opens a whole can of worms.
Martin

 

[BEE13]

That would probably work but I'm treating this as a learning opportunity so I'm hoping to do it as it was originally done.

Along the same thought process - I'd originally wondered about Liberon Black French polish but the whole point of french polish is that it's transparency gives it depth so that would seem to be a contradiction.

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

Or you can always try the Salvage Hunters / Drew Pritchard method which seems to be paint it with blackboard paint and then apply French polish. Not I'm recommending that.
Bet that opens a whole can of worms.
Martin

That is one way of ebonising and I have used it in the past when building sets in the theatre and it would be fine for 'upcycled' pieces but I would not use it on a good piece of furniture. At the end of the day if you put some black on a piece of wood to make it look vaguely like ebony it can be called ebonising and if it works it works

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

BEE, I have only tried rushing once, by coincidence on a childs Sussex chair! It was not that difficult, I think I watched a YouTube video and just gave it a go. It was good fun. The big problem with rushing is to get rushes that are fine enough. Most of what you see are quite large rushes which end up looking bulky and out of proportion to a fine chair. The two good caners I know go down to Somerset and Norfolk and cut their own to make sure they get the slender ones.
Liberon black polish on its own has quite a blue tinge to it but is good polish, so if you added some lamp black to it it would take some of that blue out and thicken up to give a better finish for your chair.

 

[recipio]

The easiest option is probably to use an ebony lacquer like the one sold by Chestnut. It produces a convincing black finish and you can use their melamine lacquer over it for durability. Not the most authentic finish but definitely the easiest to apply.

 

[BEE13]

Thank you once and all. Interesting info and good food for thought. I'll extract the chair from its patch in the garage loft and have a go at it in the next few weeks.