Last weekend, it was my granddaughter Victoria’s 1st birthday! We went down to Phoenix to celebrate, but I want sort of empty-handed as far as her gift. I have built her a lovely Arts & Crafts style chest, initially to be used as a toy chest, but eventually as a Hope Chest. I just didn’t have a crucial piece of hardware, nor had I applied the finish in time. But, now the chest is done and I am taking it to her this weekend.

I haven’t taken the pics for the Furniture Gallery portion of this site, so in the meantime, I have these snapshots. (click on the images to enlarge)

  

Grandpa working on the final finish.

 

  

The finished product – hickory with “ebony” details.

The “ebony” is interesting. Purchasing ebony can require that one sell one’s first granddaughter due to its expense. What is a boy to do? I did a bit of surfing the web and discovered a recipe that allows me to use black walnut and “ebonize” it. Here is the trick…

First, make a STRONG black tea. So, if you use one tea bag to make a small pot of tea, for this recipe use 10 (!) tea bags. Also, make “rust tea” by taking distilled white vinegar and adding a steel wool pad to the vinegar (maybe use a quart of vinegar to one steel wool pad). Leave the steel wool in the vinegar for at least a week and the pad will essentially dissolve. Strain the mixture.

Then, cut your walnut to finish dimensions, soak it in the black tea for a few minutes and let dry for a couple of hours. Then, dip the pieces into the rust tea. It will continue to darken for about 30 minutes, essentially turning practically ebony black!

Finish the darkened pieces as usual, and voila! You have a near match for ebony, but much cheaper!

So, tomorrow evening I will take the formal pics to be added to the Furniture Gallery. Check back in a few days to see the “nice” pics! This weekend, I will take the chest to Phoenix to give to Victoria. Another project completed!