Finish Advice for Quartersawn White Oak- Question of the Week

May 15, 2007 | Filed Under Blog, Question of the Week 

This week’s question comes from Jeff. He writes:

I am almost complete on my commision of a quartersawn oak barrister cabinet. I am now ready to apply the finish and am looking for a way to make the ray flecks really “pop”. The customer is looking for a medium color in the white oak. If you were building this cabinet, how would you go about making the ray flecks really stand out?

And here was my reply:

“There is no doubt in my mind that the best way to make the ray flecks “pop” is to do a classic ammonia-fumed finish. First order of business is to attain some aqua ammonia. I got mine from a local pool/spa supply but many people have luck going to a blueprint supply house. You need to build some sort of airtight (or near airtight) tent outside. Do not be tempted to do this indoors. I usually drape plastic sheeting over the project and make something that resembles a tent. If you can build some sort of makeshift frame that would be even better. But build the tent in such a way that you have one access point that you can occasionally open and close. Now before going any further, we need to discuss safety. Aqua ammonia is dangerous stuff. Without the proper precautions things can go badly real fast. So you will absolutely need a respirator with an ammonia-filtering cartridge, sealed eye goggles, and gloves. Its a good idea to cover all exposed skin as well. Pour the ammonia into a shallow pan or two and place these inside your tent. You also want to put a test piece of scrap wood in the tent as well. This is your color indicator. Seal everything up and wait about an hour or so. Pull out your test board and see if the color is where you want it. The color change happens gradually and depending on how well sealed your tent is, you could hit your desired color as fast as an hour. So check the board every hour or so (with your protective gear still one). But the idea is to catch it at just the right color and remove the ammonia. Then open up the tent (with your protective gear still on), and let the wood air out. You are probably best off leaving it outside overnight. The color will appear a bit grayish. Don’t worry, it will look beautiful once we add some finish. Here is my finish schedule: one coat of amber or orange dewaxed shellac (2lb cut) to seal the surface. Sand lightly with 320. Then apply a dark brown glaze and wipe off the excess. This will put a nice dark color into all of the open pores. Let dry overnight. The next day, apply another coat of the shellac to seal in the color. Then for some extra protection, I like to add a few coats of a wipe-on varnish. When its all done, the finish should look something like this: Q-Sawn Hall Table

Now if you are even slightly uneasy about working with the ammonia, consider some of the other finishes that are designed to mimic the fumed look. Here is a great example: Jeff Jewitt’s Mission Oak Finish

Comments

8 Responses to “Finish Advice for Quartersawn White Oak- Question of the Week”

  1. Tim on May 16th, 2007 7:17 pm

    The Jeff Jewitt finish is the way I am most familiar with when dealing with quarter sawn wood, looks very nice in my opinion. I like the look of the hall table as well. What exactly is the ammonia doing to the wood? Almost looks like it has a bleaching effect of the grain of the quarter saw that would normally be dark.

  2. thewoodwhisperer on May 17th, 2007 7:48 am

    As I understand it, the ammonia fumes react with the tannic acid in the wood. And the tannic acid levels are very low in the area of the medullary ray flecks. This means they stay a milky white color while the rest of the piece darkens. This is why I prefer this type of finish over the “fuming substitutes”. Most other finishes simply layer color on top of the wood, which will darken up the flecks. Fuming changes the color within the wood, and has little/no effect on the flecks at all.

  3. Tim on May 17th, 2007 10:24 am

    Interesting! Does this only work with quarter saw or could you do this with anigre and get similar effects?

  4. thewoodwhisperer on May 17th, 2007 3:51 pm

    Its really something specific to woods that have high levels of tannic acid. If I remember correctly, someone over at the WWA forum did an experiment testing various woods and the effect of fuming. Many of the woods changed. But usually not if a favorable way. :)
    So I would stick with white oak.

  5. Joe on December 11th, 2007 11:09 pm

    Mark, What would be the lowest temperature one could fume white oak in? The temps have been from 30-40 F. Any idea what effect the cold has on the color?

  6. thewoodwhisperer on December 12th, 2007 8:26 am

    Hey Joe. To be honest, Im not sure how much temperature affects the color change. The ammonia gas, which should be present at just about any temperature, reacts with the acid in the wood. I imagine temperature could slow things down a bit, but I would think it would still work. The only way to find out is to test it. Just place a small piece of scrap in a cooler outside with a small dish of ammonia and check it once in a while.
    Let me know what you find out.

  7. Don Harris on February 17th, 2008 3:55 pm

    I am getting ready to finish some quarter sawn white oak plate racks for my dining room. We have other red oak in the room, and we like to keep everything mostly the same color. It’s 50% Minwax Sedonna red mixed with 50% English Chestnut penetrating stain. The result is a warm brownish-red that is perfect for our house.

    If you use the ammonia vapor treatment, do you also use the stain? Is that something you would do before or after the ammonia treatment?

    My idea is to create a piece that has the same color as the other oak, but with the contrasting grain marks that are so characteristic for quarter sawn oak.

  8. thewoodwhisperer on February 18th, 2008 10:19 am

    Hey Don. To tell you the truth, you run the risk of have an oddball piece of furniture if you try something different on this one. And Im not sure the results would really justify taking the risk. When you apply stain after fuming, the stain tends to obscure the grain a bit anyway.

    In the past, I have done a light fuming, followed by a coat of glaze. The glaze fills and darkens the pores and evens out the surface color, without really darkening the ray flecks. So I do add color AFTER fuming. Although I am sure you could fume after if you prefer.

    But again, on this piece, Im not sure its worth the risk since you are doing a color match.

    Good luck.

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