Oxidize Wood Stain

Intro: Oxidize Wood Stain

Super easy stain that makes your wood look weathered.

You will need Vinegar and Steel Wool (tea or coffee is optional I'm not joking!) that's it!

Tear up some steel wool and put it in a glass jar then fill with white vinegar, let it sit for 24 hours then you can stain away.  You can also use coffee or tea prior to staining the wood if the wood you are using doesn't have enough tannins in them, I tested a scrap piece of wood out first before doing this on my bench top you can see the staining process in one of the photos, for more info click here.

Comments

[Mike Bickle]

You can leave the steel wool in the vinegar from the 24 hrs. until it finally completely dissolves if you wish how ever the longer the steel wool stays in the vinegar the darker the stain will be. Depending on the tannins in the wood and coffee or tea the darker the stain will also get. I have had the chemical reaction continue for up to three to four days. It is best to experiment to determine the effects of the different strengths of the steel wool/vinegar dan record how long that mixture steeped, weather you used tea or coffee or not and how strong the tea or coffee mixture was. Careful records helps tremendously in reduplicating your stain. The bottom line is how the woods tannins react with the stain. I have had three day vinegar/steel wool just barely turn new pine grey, older pallet wood, that isn't already grey into old barn wood grey and some freshly cut plywood ebony black! So it all depends. I like the inconsistency of it all! Have fun with it!

[RobertBobbyeF]

When I was making muzzle loaders, I used Potassium Permanganate as wood stain. start with a weak sol. 0.5% in water. More applications make darker, or stronger sol. 5% will give a dark grey to black. (caution will stain almost ANYTHING, wear gloves)

[ERICOSCAR]

OK I have read the text once again. It is not tea OR vinegarsolution. It is tea AND solution.

So tea and coffe is in most cases unnecessary.

Wille B.

[ERICOSCAR]

Hello !

I cooked Tea strong as could kill a rat........

Then put it on Spruce and Pine.

But absolutely nothing happened, it wasn´t even brown after an hour.

What is wrong ? Which type of tree is used in your examples ?

Wille Borlin

Sweden

[traviskeenum]

I have made and used this successfully in the past, but now it just turns the wood browner. The more I put on the browner it gets. No grey. Any thoughts?

[HannahR74]

How strongly did you brew the coffee and tea?

[str3ss]

I wonder what the results would be like by using a 20% or 30% vinegar http://www.factorydirectchemicals.com/collections/vinegars

[Tsu Dho Nimh]

The stronger vinegar requires safety gear, and it just dissolves the steel wool faster, making a far stronger solution that you will have to dilute unless you want really DARK wood. Ideally you end up with no acetic acid left, just iron acetate in solution. Using 5 or 6 pads of steel wool (88 grams to a gallon) in a gallon of supermarket vinegar makes a concentration that is easy to work with straight or diluted. YOu can appluy a couple of coats (see lower left picture) to darken it.

The largest color change limiting factor is the amount of tannin in the wood ... and you have to test on scraps unless you are willing to accept whatever happens.

Here's a picture of pine (low tannin) with a high-tannin extract of quebracho (used in taxidermy and leather tanning) applied over the top. Tannins in tea, or soaked acorn caps or something else would also work - I use quebracho because I can weight out the powder to make a reproducible strength solution.

Next to it is alder with just the iron acetate applied, no quebracho. It had enough tannins for a lovely silvery grey. Other woods turned deep slate grey or even a dark purple-grey - facinating but you have to test before you swab the whole

[JoeJ61]

Ok. So.... How do i get it off my hands. Also use gloves. Lol. Trust me..

[Tsu Dho Nimh]

Thanks for the reminder about gloves. It will wear off.

[SimpleSpiveys]

Awesome Ebonizing!