Ebony Stain

[daveq]

I bought some stain from stewmac for ebony boards. I tested it on an ebony board that I won't be using. It certainly makes it black BUT -

When I turn it in the light, I can see an effect almost like and oil slick. I see tiny little lines of shiny colors.

Am I supposed to sand after staining also? What's the deal?

My other concern is that my good ebony board has some inlay in it. The inlay has some areas where filler was needed (CA and ebony dust). Will the stain highlight these areas?

I'll try to post some pics tonight if you're not sure what I'm talking about. I'm considering just leaving my ebony as is although it does have some brown areas in it.

Thanks,

Dave

[www]

From Tutorial Section

I had very good luck mixing steel wool with vineger in a jar for a few weeks. Makes a great fret board dye.

[Drak]

I'm taking a guess, but the dye you bought is actually an oil-based (leather) dye, hence the oil-like sheen under the right light.

When I dye a board, I always follow up the next day with their fretboard conditioner, which is a type of polymerized tung-oil (it forms a film finish, although very thin) so it traps the dye into the wood as well as can be done.

Then I wait another 24 and buff it up with a dremel tool and buff cloth.

[daveq]

Will the dye highlight the CA/ebony dust filler areas? IS the conditioner you use a specific brand?

[Drak]

Yeah, I use Stew-Mac's Fretboard Conditioner, but under inspection it acts (and looks) almost -exactly- like Tru-Oil, which IS a polymerized Tung-Oil film-forming finish.

I've taken both and spot-tested them, they're very close brothers in the chemical formulation dept.

[daveq]

Thanks,

do you know if my inlay filler will be highlighted by doing all of this? I really don't want that to stick out when someone looks at the inlay. I was hoping it would all kinda melt in. As it is now, the filler looks a bit darker than the rest of the wood around it.