Well, its been a long road trying to get these bad boys to the colour that I wanted. The fuming process whilst seeming to be simple is undoubtedly a combination of experience and environmental factors, heat etc. The first exposure of 24 hrs rendered a colour change to that of milky coffee, but not dark enough. The wood goes a kind of murky grey but when 'wet ' it then adopts the character that we are all familiar with.
At this point I should mention that I tried all sorts of stains on little tester pieces as well as stain after fuming. None seemed to be getting the depth of character that I wanted.
Following a couple of posts from JBLOG I decided to apply the ammonia directly first in dilute form. This started to show results but still not deep enough so it was in feet first with full strength. Wow what a stink it would bring a tear to a glass eye.
Now i was getting somewhere but still a little shy of ideal. It seemed as if the colouration receeded somewhat once the application had dried off.
As it happens I had run out of Ammonia so after a fine sanding it was on with some very dilute spirit stain in a mixed colour to bring the tint into line.
All along I have been keeping a watchful eye in case the rays were getting subdued, but luckily there were no problems.
I am sure any of you that know your way around staining and finishing will know that treating oak in this way is a whole different world from for example oiling only on walnut or rosewood.
Anyway I have posted this for interest sake and I am fairly pleased with the result. It will take a few weeks till the wood settles down, it still looks too hot or new.
The finish after staining was rubbed on polyurethane satin lacquer 3x all round. This has the benefit of hardening the surface. I have yet to steel wool and then wax but will leave that till the finish cures.
The pics show clearly the rays and as you can see it matters where you view them from. The literally shimmer as you move around and this will get better once the are waxed.
Hope you like em
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