Darker staining and more contrast

[ND Pipes]

Hi,
help needed.....

i am using water based stains mostly... at grit arround 200 i usually put a first layer of darker stain (black or brown) after i heat the briar really good ... After that i sand it down until i get to the colour of the briar and than go to the next grit usually 400... When preparing the wood with 400 i heat the briar and stain again.... same happens at grit 600 and on grit 800 i put some lighter stain to get some contrast ... but, i am not happy..... the contrast is not that good...
so, i am thinking - might be because i am using water based stains that do not enter into the wood that good like alcohol based??

i would like a darker colour with more contrast......

any hints...?

thank You...

[baweaverpipes]

Read the post by Todd Johnson. It's the last posting in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5029&p=44520&hilit ... in+#p44520

[ND Pipes]

thank You Bruce so much... thing or two are more clear now....

[grimloki]

Following this method allowed me to get a really great black for a contrast stain.

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3263

For the record I used matcha (powdered green) tea as my tannin source. Boiled down into a paste, and smeared on. Heat speeds the Iron acetate and tannin reaction.

[ND Pipes]

thank You Grimloki... I am using Nigrosin for staining the pipe black (no problem with having it black).... the problem was to have those lighter spots even lighter while leaving the darker spots darker ... contrast....
that link Baweaverpipes provided WORKS GOLD for me... this is the thing i was looking for.....
works beautiful....

[CedarSlayer]

Following this method allowed me to get a really great black for a contrast stain.

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3263

For the record I used matcha (powdered green) tea as my tannin source. Boiled down into a paste, and smeared on. Heat speeds the Iron acetate and tannin reaction.

Freaking brilliant using matcha! I will have to add that to my methods!

Good to see this method is in use on pipes. In fine woodworking the use of vinegar with iron in it is usually called ebonizing. The vinegar with iron in it is called vinegaroon by leatherworkers. Typically leather has tannic acids in it as do a lot of woods, so no tannin treatments are needed when this method is generally used in leather or woodworking. Different Iron oxides can be mixed into vinegar and will on occasion allow for different shades of black. The chemistry of this method is rather variable, so adding a red iron oxide vs a blue/black or yellow iron oxide will sometimes give you what you want and sometimes frustrate. This was an experiment I was going to try, but it is nice to see where others have led the way!

Has anyone tried using vinegar based dyes? Jacquard acid dyes are usually used for wool, nylon, silk and feathers, but I really like the 619 crimson for use on leather. A small jar of the powder, if it stains briar well, would last a rather long time.

While you are buying macha, some oriental groceries sell small glass bottles of vinegar at a much higher concentration than you can obtain normally. I have not found it to dye leather or wood any better but briar is different from a lot of other stuff so it might make a difference here.

Bob