[Woodcarver] Fuming wood

[Alex Bisso]

I enjoyed looking at the effect of "fuming" on the butternut cross.  This reminded me of something I had heard about and tried many years ago.  It was quite interesting.  I am fairly sure that the process was to soak a pad of fine steel wool in a jar of vinegar overnight.  Then you remove the steel wool and use the remaining vinegar mixture.  What happens is that, when applied to wood, the mixture reacts with the tannin in the wood and if there is a lot of tannin, it turns the wood black.  My first try was on a piece of butternut - did it on the hair parts - what a shocker!  There is a LOT of tannin in butternut and it turned the hair, beard, etc. pitch black.  I thought it was a disaster but it proved to be a good base and adding various colors of paint to it really yielded a very good effect.  This was the carving of the Aborigine Elder in my picturetrail carvings album (user name Abisso).  I also tried it on a piece of diamond willow and it really reacted with the bark inside of the diamonds, turning them black, and I am sure it would turn cottonwood bark carvings black (yuk).  What I did not like about the diamond willow stick was that some bark dust from sanding in the diamond must have been entrained in the wood grain around the ends of the diamonds and this also reacted with the mixture - some looked ok but some was smudgy.  I tested it on a small piece of light-colored basswood and it did not seem to have any noticeable effect.   If anyone has tried or does try this I would be interested in hearing their experience with it.
Alex
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