How to Darken Oak Furniture with Ammonia Fuming
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2024
- Joshua Farnsworth shows how to darken a pair of quartersawn white oak end tables using ammonia fuming. Buy the plans here: store.woodands...
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Gustov and Leopold Stickley would approve I know I doGreat tables, great finish.
usually I do not give a comments so often but your work and videos are really simple in presentation but also so amazing and nice.
Very helpful, adding this to my favorites! Many thanks
I would like to add, I do this quite often, and even though I'm experienced with ammonia, I have occasionally caught a face full, and believe me it takes your breath away. Remember, the ammonia gas is heavier than air. I was matching a drawer front for a customer, so I just used an old ice chest for a container, after a time I carefully opened the lid, everything is fine, then I reached in, this displaced the gas and I caught a face full, I couldn't breath, couldn't see and my nostrils we're burning, I quickly stepped back and got into fresh air, but believe me, you really want to avoid that. In a few minutes I was ok, my eyes stopped watering, my nose stopped running and I could breathe. For a week I could still smell that ammonia. As soon as I could breathe, I went, picked up my twenty dollar mask and went back to remove the wood. Please be careful and use proper safety devices, you'll be a lot happier.
Beautiful color
very nice!
Really nice colour. Realy nice.
Thanks so much Tony
I would like to add one more thing. I have had some interesting results from making a bark tannin and painting it on any species of wood, then fume it. It's interesting, give it a try.
Hi Joshua :) I really enjoyed this. It's not too dark but it made a great difference to the finished look :) Thank you for sharing the Wiping Varnish recipe, I will definitely give it a try ॐ
After you try it, share your project on my website! woodandshop.com/submit-your-woodworking-project-workshop/
Thank you Joshua :) I would love to :)
Nice work! At risk of hijacking this thread, here is how I've fumed 8/4 qs white oak: I purchased 29% ammonia that I bought on Amazon. I placed the oak inside a heavy duty plastic garbage can with a lid that sealed tight to contain the vapor. I further sealed up the lid with duct tape. To speed up the reaction, I left the sealed can in the sun for 3-4 days. With any clear finish the resulting oak is a rich walnut color with a deep 3D shimmer that no stain can duplicate. (I sound like an ad) Sufficiently treated, the color will completely saturate the full thickness of the wood. And yes, the wood will smell bad for several days after treatment.
Warning: 29% ammonia is nasty stuff -- like WMD nasty. Read up on ammonia safety and use protective eyewear and gloves.
Hey, thanks for sharing your experience! I like your idea for using a plastic garbage can. Hope you can share more of your valuable advice on my forum!
Is it possible to use a vinegar and wire wool solution instead? I live in a city so I can't get away with using ammonia and leaving it outside.
I've never heard of that before. You should be okay using ammonia if you use a cooler, or trash can as mwallacereese recommended.
Oh it's well worth a Google, it's a method used when ebonising oak and other woods that are high in tannins. You take wire wool and soak it in a jar of vinegar for a week or so. Then simply brush the solution onto the oak and it darkens it by reacting with the tannins. How much it darkens is governed by the amount of tannin in the wood and how long your solution has been sitting for.
I could have done a better job explaining my rationale for going through all the trouble of fuming white oak with concentrated ammonia for when I could get a similar color out of a can and just avoid the masochism. With enough exposure to ammonia vapor, the color will fully saturate all of the stock. Then I can perform whatever joinery I want on the fully colored wood. Glue strength is unaffected. I tend to prefer thin finishes like oil and shellac and I like to rub them out. With this technique l'm not worried about burning through the color of an applied stain when using any kind of abrasive.
Wow takes time but it looks great.
Nice, I believe that is more or less the process Gustav Stickley used yes? It makes for a lovely finished with very well defined grain and figure.
That's right, Stickley used to use this process. Now they stain their furniture.
Good job!
thanks for sharing!
Will the size of the cover influence the color, as the concentration of ammonia might be higher.
I use household ammonia for 10 hours in a small plastic greenhouse (130x40cmx40cm)
I was supprized how the color was changed overnight with household
Nice job
Thanks Peter!
That's amazing what the fumes do in just 2 days.beautiful looking pieces
Yup, it's quite a cool thing!
Wood and Shop VERY...I've never heard or seen that done b4 definitely need to try this..does it only work on oak?
Hey Joe, it works best on oak, but works with some other woods too. See the article for details: woodandshop.com/how-to-darken-oak-furniture-with-ammonia-fuming/
Hi, I want to use ammonia to react my oak kitchen furnitures but have listen that with the time may appear stains because ammonia could react in the future with the varnish used or even with different liquids that can fall down in the furnite, creating new reactions with this. Is it possible from your experience?
Hello, Gorgeous work! I built a bar out of white oak. Would it be recommended to ammonia fume a 600 square foot space in Brooklyn NY where there is buildings connected?
Great!
Thank you!
Wow grate sir
Thank you Prem
Hi! Maybe a stupid question but, have to ask: what if I put the ammonia directly on the wood? :D
Could the ammonia fuming work on a piece of oak furniture that has already been finished, e.g., a vintage or antique?
Did u change out the ammonium periodically?
Hi. I'm just wondering how different it would look if you didn't give the ammonia treatment?
Hi Carina, it would just look lighter :)
Do you have a good source for industrial strength ammonium hydroxide 30%. Thanks
I looked for your finish recipe but I couldn’t find it. Could you please share it? I’ve heard 1/3w BLO, oil based poly, and mineral spirits is a good recipe but I’d like to get your expert opinion. Thx. Love the channel and your approach.
Hi Hugo, the link is in the video description: woodandshop.com/how-to-darken-oak-furniture-with-ammonia-fuming/
Thanks for watching!
Does the ammonia leave any smell to the wood?
Nope, no residual smell after a few minutes. Which is a good thing, because it's certainly strong during the fuming!