Howdy Gents,
I was thinking about wood stains.
We have discussed before using coffee or black walnut ink, among other things, to stain wood.
Bog Oak came to mind. Anybody try it?
Another thing came to mind, and that's African Blackwood. Not for the dark staining I'm looking for, as you probably can't beat BO for that, but for the incredible ability of AB to resist mold, mildew, or any kind of rot. This comes from my experience with AB surpassing any that I have worked with in that regard.
So now we have BO for the deep black, AB for rot resistance, and we mix the two powders together, and pull the qualities out of them.
This is where testing will need to be done..
This could be done with something like alcohol, denatured alcohol, maybe lacquer thinner?
There are oils and also the tannins that need to be pulled out, so a happy medium I think would be alcohol as it will pull water solubles and oils out I think.
The other way may be to use neatsfoot, extra virgin olive, jojoba, or tung oil as a carrier.
This may have the added benefit of producing a single solution wood finish, but would not allow for a varnish finish follow up.
If a vanish is going to be used, then maybe skip the AB and oil carrier, and simply use the BO for color with the alcohol carrier, as a vanish is going to seal it anyway, and AB and oil do not let the varnish adhere well.
Anyway just an idea.
Of course... You can always go to the local hardware store and get all you need to achieve the same effect.
This is just a little added flavor to the process, I tend to like that kind of thing.
Any thoughts?