Ebonizing: Steel wool & vinegar method

[Anders]

I used the Fiebing's leather dye on the rosewood board on my Epiphone Les Paul and it came out fantastic.
The board was SUPER dry and was a pretty light-colored rosewood, and had very little grain pores when I started.
I cleaned the board with naptha, then applied the dye with a foam paint brush.
I left it sitting for 10 minutes, then cleaned off the excess.
The stuff stained the binding and the inlays as expected, but a light rub with 0000 steel wool cleaned it right off.
I then lightly coated with Formby's low gloss tung oil finish.
Let that dry completely, then gave it a light once-over with the 0000 steel wool and it was done.

The only issue I can say I have is those micro cracks that sometimes occur in the binding where the fret slots are cut darken and show a lot more with the dye.
Honestly, even next to my real ebony boards, you cannot tell this is rosewood. I'm very happy with the results.

That looks awesome!!! I'll post pics of my KV4 when I'm done with it!

[Anders]

Just to clarify, I don't have anything at all against a nice rosewood board! Actually it's the other way around!

However, when it comes an all black guitar, that will be used for playing Death Metal, I really prefer the look of an ebony fretboard. It just blends in more nicely with the overall look IMO!

I would never do this to my sunburst Fusion for example though... because it looks really nice with a chocolate brown rosewood board!

[xenophobe]

Thanks for the tip xeno! What is MEK?

When I started this thread, I had actually already given up on the steel wool & vinegar, and ordered a bottle of Fiebing's Leather Dye.

I've just applied it to my new KV4. I figured it would be a good candidate, since it lacks binding. So far, I'm really liking it! I've given it a couple of coats, letting it sit for some time (the fretboard was really thirsty), wiped it down with a cloth, and went over the inlays with a cotton bud soaked in naphtha.

I'm gonna let the fretboard sit for the rest of the day, then give it some mineral oil, and wipe down the back of the neck with naphtha to get rid of any excess run. I didn't tape off the back of the neck since I can't imagine the dye doing any harm to a black, clear coated surface..?

MEK is Methyl Ethyl Ketone, it's an industrial grade solvent used to weld plastic, clean plastic and other gunk off surfaces and it's been shown to cause birth defects and cancer I believe.

Yeah, well the leather dye results, often would look amazing, but there are quite a few reports of it not taking on some boards and rubbing off and sticking everywhere else unless you seal it. I've never tried it, but the amount of people that seem to report having issues with it was large enough for me to stay away.

And yeah, from what I understand, it's pointless to use tape with it, just use a q-tip. And if the back of the neck is painted black, yeah, you don't have to worry. It should come out fine.

However, when it comes an all black guitar, that will be used for playing Death Metal, I really prefer the look of an ebony fretboard. It just blends in more nicely with the overall look IMO!oard!

That's why I was gonna do it. I love a beautifully grained rosewood, it is one of the prettiest woods, hence it's long history of use in furniture. But that was a flat black body and headstock, and it just looked wrong with rosewood. Plus I love all black guitars too. Every one of my guitars could be black and I would be happy with that. All black is great variety to me.

[RobRR]

I tried the leather dye on a rosewood board a few years ago. Looked great but would rub off on my fingers, so it was pretty much useless.

[Guitarkid8]

Bringing this back from the dead, interested if you still have the pictures as the links are broken.

I would like to darken my rosewood and havent seen anyone else try it on a rosewood board.

[Anders]

I'll have a look and see if I still have the photos! I hope you have better luck with it than I did, it really didn't work at all. It worked great on a test piece of oak though!

[Mudlark]

I expected it would work on oak.
I've worked in forestry/lumber for almost 30 years and I've often seen oak turn black when metal (shovels etc.) is left touching it for a period of time.

[Anders]

Tried to edit the original post, but it would no longer allow me to include two videos in the post... So instead of making a nice tidy post I'll just do this instead:

Ebonizing solution:



Before:



After:

[Guitarkid8]

Thanks!

Did the inlays or binding react in any way? It doesn't look like it from the pictures.

[Number Of The Priest]

Here was my mostly-failed attempt using the Minwax ebony pen method. http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/150...ight=ebonizing

Just for information, documenting an unsuccessful experiment, many years after I originally tried the steel wool & vinegar method.

Before I tackled it, I researched extensively on the internet for the best procedure that was non-messy and permanent, including the ever-trustworthy JCF. The JCF has a very poor track record of successful ebonizing (dare I say, NO track record at all). I really wonder why no JCFer has been able to properly document and photograph ANY successful attempts and have it be repeatable.

It feels like hunting for conclusive proof of UFOs or Bigfoot. I'm nearly convinced that successful repeatable permanent ebonizing is nonexistent. Otherwise the thread would be very popular with others following the same procedure and getting consistent results. Perhaps the thread would even be stickied or repeatedly linked as the best instructional guide on the forum. But it's not. Sorry for being a dissenter...

[Mudlark]

Here's my minwax ebony stain results.
The bass has 2 coats, the guitar 4 coats.[IMG][/IMG]

[Number Of The Priest]

Mudlark, I love how you did basically zero prep work and your rosewood just happily accepted the Minwax. Mine rubbed off...

[Mudlark]

I was surprised to hear the minwax didn't work as well for others as it did for me.
The directions on the can said to prep dry wood with conditioner and seal the final coat with a protective finish...I did neither.

[Guitarkid8]

How's it holding up Mudlark?

[Mudlark]

Excellent. I've had zero problems in the year since I did them.
I actually just put the fourth coat on the guitar a couple months ago.
I'll probably put a couple more coats on the bass in the future.