Smoked ash HLD (No. 52)

[simson]

Do you guys know about to dye with ammonia?
In Germany you can buy 'Räuchereiche', translated word by word it means: smoked oak.
It has nothing to do with real smoke, but  is a chemical reaction of ammonia with the tan acids in the wood. The more acid in the wood, the better reaction. I wondered to use it in bowery.

In the last month I did a lot of experiments with different woods. For example fresh osage can be aged over night so that it looks like 10 years old. Every woods behaves a bit different, but I had great results with elm, ash, dogwood (gets a very nice warm grey).

I noticed three important things.
First this dye is not on the wood, it is in the wood at least 3-4 mm.
Second the color is stable, the acid gets the color by a chemical reaction.
Third the structure of he wood changes, it gets a super smooth surface and the elasticity increases. I will do more tests from time to time. Is anybody here with experience in that item?


Let me show you here an example of a 'smoked' ash bow.






Here you see the difference between normal and smoked. Before the smoking process I taped the limbs diagonally. In the detail pic above the border is a bit fuzzy, I like that how it came out. The ash developed very nice colors, especially at the growth rings. No pigments added.








It is a HLD with a deep valley, it is 63“ long. All added parts, overlay, wedge inlay, arrow pass is buffalo horn. The tips are mildly flipped. Drawweight is 72#/28

[JonW]

Very cool bow again Simon. I actually did know about aging wood with ammonia. I know someone who was at one time a reputable stave dealer that was asked to leave an event because of doing that. Your bows are really amazing to me in every way.

[Shaneisneato]

I really like the color it produces and those stripes. Does it weaken the wood any?
Are those tips horn? Do they go solid through the whole bow?

[sieddy]

That is a thing of beauty!

[PEARL DRUMS]

I want some Simon. That looks great, and Im always looking for a way to darken osage.

Jon is the ammonia just wiped on and off? Have you done it?

[simson]

I really like the color it produces and those stripes. Does it weaken the wood any?
Are those tips horn? Do they go solid through the whole bow?

I have not seen a weakness caused by the process, but more elasticity. the wood can bend farther.
And yes, the wedge goes through the entire limb tip. It is buffalo horn. I have posted a how to somewhere here.

I want some Simon. That looks great, and Im always looking for a way to darken osage.

Jon is the ammonia just wiped on and off? Have you done it?

Chris, the ammonia is not wiped on. You need a closed pipe or a long plastic tube, just put the stave / Bow in together with a cup of ammonia (10% - 20% solution). Let the damp react over night or longer when you want deeper colors. After taking out the bow don't bend it, it is damp - you have to wait a few days til the moisture is gone.


I have forgot to say:
This is a so called positive dye. That means all colors are getting darker.

Opposite is f. e. anilin dye  based on water or alcohol. This is a negative dye. The bright wood gets darker than the dark wood (origin). Here you are applying pigments on the surface.

Hope I could explain that with my crude English. I'm sure you will find info via googlesearch.

Looking forward to your attempts !

[PrimitiveTim]

Simson, that's insane!  It's so graceful!  I want to see it shoot so bad!  Wow, thanks for sharing

[dane lund]

Simon,

For hundreds of years, chemical stains have been used in the gun buildinto industry.
I have been building American longrifles for about 20 years, and nothing brings out the curl or figure in curly Maple like Aqua Fortis.  The original formula was nitric acid with iron dissolved in it to saturation. Unfortunately, this must be neutralized to prevent further corrosion of any iron or brass furniture on the gun.
Today, I use Ferric Nitrate, which is the compound you get from the Aqua Fortis, without the acid.

Like the Aqua Fortis, you flood the wood with the Ferric Nitrate, let it dry, then blush it with heat to turn a beautiful amber brown, with the curl a nice dark brown.
As you stated, it works with the tannins in the wood to get the desired colors and the stain is "in" the wood, not on it.
It's a beautiful thing!

[wizardgoat]

Holy smokes that is one cool bow!

[Badly Bent]

Yes Simon I'm a little familiar with the 'fuming' method for wood coloration. Gus Stickley and other craftsmen furniture makers used this method around the turn of the last century and before on their fine furniture. It was also employed for millwork to trim homes at that time. From what I have read tents were built to put the wood, mostly white oak, in with pans of ammonia placed inside to fume the wood. Kind of a hazardous situation to your health so you had to be quite careful. My home is a 1910 arts & crafts bungalow so the wife and I are always on the look out for period furnishing and read quite a bit on all subjects relating to the craftsmen style of architecture.
I've thought about trying that method on bows before but never have so I'm glad you posted it. The bow looks great, hollow wood design with the ammonia finish, doesn't get much better than that my friend.

[missilemaster]

Looks real nice Simon. I have also heard of putting a reagent on woods that have a high sugar content.  I believe the ratio is 1 part hydrochloric  acid 1 part nitric acid 10 parts water. I think you put it on the wood after its sanded and heat it with a heat gun until the acids start to carmalize the sugars. A guy I know used it on osage and he said the effects were stunning, says it was as if you could look down into the wood.

[Danzn Bar]

   don't stop this is some good stuff...
DBar

[JW_Halverson]

Thanks for bringing up Stickley and the Arts and Crafts Movement, Badly Bent.  Some of the finest furniture designs came from that bunch of clever poeple.  Think of the Morris chair and the Mission Oak furniture.  There was difficulty with building furniture from this "ammonia  fumed oak", not all of it took the same amount of color.  The craftsmen would have to pick thru racks of wood to find similar grain and color, then saw and resaw, assemble, and oil finish. 

The benefit of that kind of persnickety wood picking was that they looked every stick over from every angle. They saw the grain, the character, and saved those boards for the parts of the furniture that showed the grain to the best effect.  I remember my great-grandfather showing me the tiger striped grain across the back and along the arms of his Morris chair, and how the wood on the sides and base were just straight plain grain wood.  I was so young, I actually thought they sawed up real tigers to make wood for furniture.

[IdahoMatt]

Man that's one slick lookin bow Simon.  I love that pic of the whole belly.  Great look with the dye job.  Can you use just house hold ammonia? 

[Aaron H]

Very interesting guys.   Cool bow Simon,  your HLD bows are sweet.