True ebonizing draws out the blackness of natural tannins from the wood, and thus will differ in intensity from one wood species to another, depending on the concentration of tannic acid, and should be distinguished from either staining or ammonia fuming. But otherwise, it's very simple. Take a couple pads of 0000 super-fine true steel wool and leave them in a sealed jar of kitchen vinegar (or equivalent concentration of acetic acid stop bath) for about a week. This partially dissolves
the steel wool just enough to create an ebonizing solution. You simply brush this liberally onto the wood and within five to ten minutes the black tannins come out.
Once the wood is dry you lightly sand or polish it smooth. Unlike a stain, the tannin effect goes quite deep and integral to the entire body of wood. Then you can oil
or varnish it if you wish at the very end of the process. Always experiment on scrap first.
Black Cat India Ink. I use it to make pool cues jet, piano black..No other brand has as high a depth of pigment. It will brush very well with a foam brush. Can be had from Dick Blick.
India ink has a somewhat different look - a true deep black regardless of the substrate. But it is in a shellac binder, so will easily dissolve in common solvents including
alcohol. Best to seal it in with some varnish. Since tannic ebonizing goes deep into the wood, by bringing the black up rather than outside-in, it is less likely to wear
off. How deep ink goes depends on the wood species, of course; but most woods suitable for camera manufacture are relatively dense, and it won't go deep except
selectively in open pores.
Doesn't need to go deep. Black Cat is extremely hard stuff and almost impervious to solvents. I don't mean cheap generic India ink..Black Cat is on a level by itself. I use it on cues which sel for $2-3000.00..It will tolerate almost any finish. I have used tannic staing on cues for about 45 years and if you are after black, thus is the stuff. Some examples of the level of my woodworking...
I understand, Evan, and partially agree. A good solution, but it is not ebonizing. I've only sold tens of millions of dollars of products to professional restorers, and started out doing faux finishing on buildings now on the national historic register. Ink is a nice option for minor repairs. I wouldn't want it on a camera in the field
unless it was sealed in with marine varnish (at least if I considered my cameras a furniture, which I don't).
I was reviewing some history on old cameras and the black was mentioned as ebonized , thus the question. Are some woods more conducive to this process. I saw one camera in he smithsonian it looked quite elegant.
So using new wood procedure etc. both suggestions might work, the cues look quite glossy, we would want it to hold up n moderate weather changes. I
Different woods (and even cuts of wood) respond somewhat differently due to the amount of tannins present as well as how deep your solution soaks in. Ebonizing is a lot of work for big projects, but cost effective in terms of the inexpensive solution itself. Pseudo-ebonizing with India ink, such as Evan is obviously quite skilled at, is impossible to do on large projects simply because one cannot acquire significant quantities of the ink, which is relatively expensive to begin with. A camera is something small, so you could realistically apply either technique, but the look might be different. Ink is always full opaque black, whereas chemical ebonizing might
allow some of the underlying wood color through, though quite differently than the effect of an ordinary dye stain. For example, one of my intermittent customers
is the largest wholesale framing shop in the area. They used to do quite a bit of business ebonizing black walnut frames. The effect was elegant - a deep black with a hint of brown, quite unlike all these black painted frames one sees. But walnut is quite expensive, and the process labor-intensive. So they compromised and
now mainly use inexpensive poplar frames with India ink, which gives them a much less expensive option than true walnut ebonizing. Poplar looks like hell stained
with ordinary stains (despite what the do-it-yourselfer sites and magazines state). I'm more the type who makes various hardwood frames because I enjoy doing
it. But if you're framing as a business, there would have to be a serious upcharge to it to make ends meet. Just practice on a scrap of something before applying
any such technique to a camera. The ebonizing solution still contains a lot of water, and not just acetic acid, so your camera wood will hypothetically be subject to warping, swelling, and grain raise requiring a bit of minor sanding. India ink does not introduce that risk.
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