Ok. Here is the primary reason I'm building these side tables.
Plans were to keep the tables stupid-simple to avoid any drama. I violated my goal with the through tenons and faced legs, but that worked out ok so no worries.
I bought 200bf of quarter sawn white oak a number of years back, some 4/4 and 5/4.
Not the "good stuff", but certainly quarter sawn (60-90 degrees). This means there will be some flecking to exploit.
For my goal, I wanted dark(ish) and something that would help accentuate the rays.
For my favorite method, fuming with ammonia was the way I'd float this boat.
First step was to test the color since my wood was from several different boards. If a board has more tannin content, it will react more with the ammonia.
I had scraps from all the parts I made so these became my test pieces.
Small stuff is simple enough to fume. I use a 30 gallon plastic tub and the Ace Hardware ammonia (10%) The boards help keep the lid shut.
I have a plastic ammonia tray in the bottom and some "bed of nails" plywood and strips I use to raise parts up for full exposure to the fumes
Cutoffs in place, added ammonia, and covered for 9 hours. What came out looked fully "cooked" You can see the difference between cooked and raw. Closer shot:
A sliver of sap wood shows white oak without tannins. The ammonia works with QSWO by taking advantage of the flecks not containing (much) of the tannins needed to turn dark. You can see that in fact the fine flecks look even darker that the wood. "But Splint, how is that going to work?" Details to follow!
With a change in light direction, they will color shift lighter, but not by much.
Overall, the test showed me that all the wood I used will color about the same when exposed for the same amount of time. This makes life simpler, otherwise I'd be pulling the more tannin rich parts out earlier and letting the others cook longer.
Ok, now to do the actual project pieces. No way will they fit into the tub all at once, I need to make some methods to better organize parts, but this basic frame (PVC) and drop cloth plastic works well enough.
The legs are dry-fit together and the tops are rested on strips of nail beds.
Plastic is wrapped around such that it can be effectively sealed up.
Takes a few clamps to best seal the flaps!
Tray with ammonia seen in the lower left and a small power supply to spin a computer muffin fan for circulation.
The larger volume plus leakage of the fumes means this will take longer that the 9 hours the tub took. I just left the garage windows open for air changeover and let this run during the week so I wouldn't be in there doing other work.
Checking periodically, I shut it down after about 36 hours.
Light direction plays tricks, but you can see one board used for the table top (upper left) didn't get quite as dark. No problem, deal with that later!
Broken back into the basic parts and left to dry/gas out overnight.
I didn't go as dark as the test samples because a lot of the darkening comes from the finish.
What you get is a rather drab, dull grey/brown.
One nice feature of ammonia fuming is it penetrates deep. 1/16" or more, which leads me to my next step I want the white color to come back in the flecks. They are just "glazed" with the darkness, so I re-sand everything, starting with 80 grit. I can sand away until the flecks "pop" without cutting through the dark wood layer.
I also rubbed the top with a weak mix of DNA and "mission brown" TransTint dye. Just used a rag, dipped it into the mix, and worked it in. This evens out the color between boards. Another light sanding with 120, then 220 easily removed the dye from the flecks.
The "magic" happens when the oil ("natural" Watco) is applied Same process for all the other parts and left to dry for the week.
Next time I expect to spray the Mohawk Vinyl sealer and precat lacquer for the top coat. This is much easier to get "right" with the project still in parts. Assembly will commence after that has set up.
Great job on some hodge podge boards. I can do this but get stuck if it's not all from the same tree. They certainly came out showing off the ray fleck, and the nut brown tan is gonna get envy stares from the babes at the pool.
Super pic post, hardly needed words, but they did fill in nicely.
LBD, yep! I've rubbed things down with a wet tea bag before to juice the tannin content, but for white oak that tends to get the flecks infused as well which makes them disappear.
Really good way to get red oak to look useful however,
Tea bagged and fumed: Red oak from random boards, soaked up a bit differently on some pieces.
Splint awesome write up....I was told by Moses, I think, it was long ago, the only thing that fumed well is white oak. So I learned something today....the tops are over the top cool! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
You really do rub elbows with all the elite! I didn't know Moses Malone did ww'ing after his BBall career!
Lots of woods will fume, just takes the tannins. Cherry is one that also does "ok". The tea makes it so any wood can be fumed, but the color tends to just fade to black.
