Black Ash Look...

[rogoll]

If I stain or paint plywood will it look like Black Ash?

[gabel87]

Re: Black Ash Look...

What distinguishes black ash or white ash is it's deep grain pattern, so I would say no.

[bobhowell]

Re: Black Ash Look...

Put BLACK stain, or dye, on oak plywood and you will have your black ash look. Paint will fill in a lot of the grain. Water down black latex paint and you might be happy. Black TRANSTINT, a dye, I have used a lot and is the best produt I know of for the effect you want. Might have to use several coats.

I looked for black stain and never found it.

[LouC]

Re: Black Ash Look...

The easiest way would be to use a light seal coat after sanding. Krylon rattle can black paint, then an acrylic spray on clear coat. The Krylon is an acrylic base for sure. Some of the Rustoleum products use oils. If in doubt, dewxed shellac between coats.

[rogoll]

Re: Black Ash Look...

Put BLACK stain, or dye, on oak plywood and you will have your black ash look. Paint will fill in a lot of the grain. Water down black latex paint and you might be happy. Black TRANSTINT, a dye, I have used a lot and is the best produt I know of for the effect you want. Might have to use several coats.

I looked for black stain and never found it.

I have two different type of black stain, both from Minwax. You have to have them mix it (at Lowes). I used the water-based base and had both Black and Onyx mixed.

With a B-C grade of plywood, and light sanding, I think that I can obtain the look of black ash, since the grain of the plywood looks similiar to regular black ash. I'm still uncertain, though, as to whether I should stain or paint it.

[PassingInterest]

Re: Black Ash Look...

I looked for black stain and never found it.

Several companies offer Ebony stain.

I'm still uncertain, though, as to whether I should stain or paint it.

I suspect the stain will get you closer to the look you're after, but experiment on some scrap first.

[lamski]

Re: Black Ash Look...

Put BLACK stain, or dye, on oak plywood and you will have your black ash look. Paint will fill in a lot of the grain. Water down black latex paint and you might be happy. Black TRANSTINT, a dye, I have used a lot and is the best produt I know of for the effect you want. Might have to use several coats.

I looked for black stain and never found it.

I agree with this. Unless the grain is very high, paint will cover it unless the paint is thinned substantially and very light coats used. The only true black I have seen available is the transtint dye. Others have a bluish hue.

Cool thing is the transtint can also be used to tint nearly any finish, I have used it on shellac and lacquer recently with exceptional results. The transtint dyes are very potent and everyone I have heard from that used them loves the results.

Water or denatured alcohol with the dye is what you are looking for to get that nice grain look.

[Brewski]

Re: Black Ash Look...

http://techtalk.parts-express.com/showthread.php?t=223516

I wonder if multiple coats of vinegar / steel wool solution would be able to get you the effect you'd want. The link above goes to MrkCrwly's thread where he used it on some veneer with mixed results but I wonder what it would do on plywood. You might want to shoot him a PM to see what he thinks.

Take it easy
Jay

[djg]

Re: Black Ash Look...

Minwax has a new classic black Polyshade color, I might try it on my oak veneer Singularities, if I don't do gray.

[bobhowell]

Re: Black Ash Look...

I agree with this. Unless the grain is very high, paint will cover it unless the paint is thinned substantially and very light coats used. The only true black I have seen available is the transtint dye. Others have a bluish hue.

Cool thing is the transtint can also be used to tint nearly any finish, I have used it on shellac and lacquer recently with exceptional results. The transtint dyes are very potent and everyone I have heard from that used them loves the results.

Water or denatured alcohol with the dye is what you are looking for to get that nice grain look.

Transtint will give you unexpected results, so I use it dilute and sneak up on the desired color. Also, mix the colors. On figured wood use a dark color like black heavily and then sand MOST of it off. It will penetrate deeper into the figure, will remain there than the flat/normal grain. Then put a coat of red,brown, yellow, or what ever you want on. The dark in the grain will pop it out.

You can get transtint to go through a lot of finishes by using Alcohol as ths solvent. One of the danish oil finishes is sort of a half-way finish that alcohol will easily penetrate.

Get the wood the color you think you want.
Put on Danish oil finish and see what the final results will be.
If you don't like it adjust will transtint/alcohol.
If you like it put on a more lasting finish or just leave it.

[rogoll]

Re: Black Ash Look...

http://techtalk.parts-express.com/sh...d.php?t=223516

I wonder if multiple coats of vinegar / steel wool solution would be able to get you the effect you'd want. The link above goes to MrkCrwly's thread where he used it on some veneer with mixed results but I wonder what it would do on plywood. You might want to shoot him a PM to see what he thinks.

Take it easy
Jay

Yes, now that you mentioned it I remember him doing this. Unfortunately, later on down the thread he ended up changing things:
Unfortunately after it had dried it was not as uniform as I had hoped, nor was it as dark as my daughter wanted, so I put on a coat of Minwax Onyx oil based stain.

I already have some Minwaz Onyx on hand, so I will probably try going that route.

Thanks,
Leonard

[MrkCrwly]

Re: Black Ash Look...

Yes, now that you mentioned it I remember him doing this. Unfortunately, later on down the thread he ended up changing things:
Unfortunately after it had dried it was not as uniform as I had hoped, nor was it as dark as my daughter wanted, so I put on a coat of Minwax Onyx oil based stain.

I already have some Minwaz Onyx on hand, so I will probably try going that route.

Thanks,
Leonard

Probably a wise choice. Commercial stains/dyes would be the safe choice.

[bobbarkto]

Re: Black Ash Look...

You need tannic acid rich wood for this to work.
Veneers typically don't have enough acid to work well, sometimes, it depends. I've had mixed results doing it on veneer but never a problem on solid stock.

Oak and Walnut qualify as tannin rich.
Birch, Fir, Pine do not.
You can pre-treat the wood with a tannic solution and it will work and can give an incredibly transparent and incredibly dark, even black.
Stinks like h*** tho.

http://techtalk.parts-express.com/sh...d.php?t=223516

I wonder if multiple coats of vinegar / steel wool solution would be able to get you the effect you'd want. The link above goes to MrkCrwly's thread where he used it on some veneer with mixed results but I wonder what it would do on plywood. You might want to shoot him a PM to see what he thinks.

Take it easy
Jay

[gabel87]

Re: Black Ash Look...

How do you use plywood w/o veneer and pull this off? Oak face w/ locking miters, roundover/bevel? I know oak is cheap as faced ply in <1/4". When you say black ash I think black sheen w/ an ash grain pattern. Is that what you mean?

[relder]

Re: Black Ash Look...

How do you use plywood w/o veneer and pull this off? Oak face w/ locking miters, roundover/bevel? I know oak is cheap as faced ply in <1/4". When you say black ash I think black sheen w/ an ash grain pattern. Is that what you mean?

FWIW the "black ash" china cabinet I built for the wife was 3/4" oak ply (classic core) with a 3/4" solid oak face frame. Ply was joined together with 45deg miter joints with buiscuits for alignment (slightly tricky) followed by a couple coats of black paint, but not too much as you don't want to fill the grain too much since the open pore grain makes the finish. A speaker would be different, but I thought I'd throw that out there.