Ford Fitzkee
Member
I was hoping to get some advise on people's experience using either potassium dichromate or lye to oxidize mahogany and other types of wood. I am well aware of the toxicity of the chemicals and required safety precautions.
The piece in question is a large federal desk/library table seen in the photo that I recently finished construction on. It is made out of some really nice African Mahogany that I got from a local lumber yard (no Genuine Mahogany within a 2 hour drive, unfortunately). I am very pleased with how the African Mahogany worked out. I was able to match the boards fairly well at the lumber yard after digging through the stack a bit. The top has especially nice ribbon striping. Tearout wasn't a problem despite the reversing grain of the ribbon striping with a sharp jointer plane and high angle smoothing plane, with the chip breaker set extremely close to the edge.
The issue is how pale the mahogany is after planing. I want to finish the piece with shellac, and did some test pieces with amber/orange shellac as seen in the photo, but the result not nearly as dark as I was hoping for. I am also going to try a test peice using Garnet shellac, but I don't think it will make a huge difference. I want that deep rich aged mahogany look seen in period mahogany furniture. I would like to avoid dyes and stains if possible due to issues with fading and the wood oxidizing naturally, thus changing the color years down the road.
I am leaning toward using Potassium Dichromate or Lye to oxidize/darken the wood before applying the appropriate shellac (blonde, amber, or garnet). Despite the use of chemicals, this seems like a more natural outcome to me than stain or dye since you are simply accelerating the oxidation process that would occur naturally over the decades. I will obviously do as many test pieces as required before putting anything on the desk. I would love to hear about people's experience with these products, preferences between the two, successes, failures, and techniques.
Thanks,
Ford
The piece in question is a large federal desk/library table seen in the photo that I recently finished construction on. It is made out of some really nice African Mahogany that I got from a local lumber yard (no Genuine Mahogany within a 2 hour drive, unfortunately). I am very pleased with how the African Mahogany worked out. I was able to match the boards fairly well at the lumber yard after digging through the stack a bit. The top has especially nice ribbon striping. Tearout wasn't a problem despite the reversing grain of the ribbon striping with a sharp jointer plane and high angle smoothing plane, with the chip breaker set extremely close to the edge.
The issue is how pale the mahogany is after planing. I want to finish the piece with shellac, and did some test pieces with amber/orange shellac as seen in the photo, but the result not nearly as dark as I was hoping for. I am also going to try a test peice using Garnet shellac, but I don't think it will make a huge difference. I want that deep rich aged mahogany look seen in period mahogany furniture. I would like to avoid dyes and stains if possible due to issues with fading and the wood oxidizing naturally, thus changing the color years down the road.
I am leaning toward using Potassium Dichromate or Lye to oxidize/darken the wood before applying the appropriate shellac (blonde, amber, or garnet). Despite the use of chemicals, this seems like a more natural outcome to me than stain or dye since you are simply accelerating the oxidation process that would occur naturally over the decades. I will obviously do as many test pieces as required before putting anything on the desk. I would love to hear about people's experience with these products, preferences between the two, successes, failures, and techniques.
Thanks,
Ford