Ammonia Alternative?

I saw an article in a magazine the other day on finishes I think it was by Michael Dresner. Anyway he used roofing tar without the fiberglass particles mixed with equal parts of shellac and brushed that on oak to get a similar effect. Then he put a finish coat of poly on it. I would try it on some scrap first. jockmike2

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

Mike, Ive fumed oak before and it can be uncertain, you can get the same look from a good water based dye or alcohol,just check the color first on a sample,Tar and shellac work,but geez its a mess and what you get is a film finish ,a good waterbased dye will do very well indeed,then top with a coat of a good oil to help pop your figure,quartered oak is reverse of say a figured maple ,in that the rays are harder and go lighter,again a water dye works well and if you are doing this in an apt,definately the best way to go, if it tries to go to dark simply wash it down, of course you need to dampen your project first and then scuff it down after it dries,so as to raise the fibers , and then the scuffing resmooths everything ,so as when you put your dye on the grain doesnt refuzz, oak isnt bad about it though.The primary reason for fuming oak was to impart a color throughout the wood,Stickley did it while it was still in board form,in todays world,we have dyes and good stains,the dyes are going to go deep and color well,just my 2 cents worth,but please check a scrap first,its always the smart thing to do

Chris, you should check out Fine Woodworking #157 & #193. Both of these articles are basically the same. I’ve started to use this technique on my A&C pieces. It works really well. Experiment with the dye and stain to get the color you are wanting. Good luck.

-- Greg Mitchell--Lowell, AR--gdamitchell@sbcglobal.net

I have an arts and crafts furniture book ( I think published by Taunton) and one of the pieces was finished using minwax’s “Jacobean” stain. The author claims this is a very close approximation of the fuming technique commonly used. The results in the book (of course) look great! No personal experience, just passing along something I read.

Thank you all- now I have some things to try…

Yeah, and I have no idea. I’ve had great success with Polyureathane and Tung oil without having to use ammonia. You really can’t go wrong with quarter sawn oak, probably just a little more sanding to get a smooth surface and help it pop.

-- Branden - Sacramento, California - www.ShopDogUSA.com