Ebony Gel Stain???

[zootroy]

Over the past few months I have been trying to perfect my ebony finishes. The best results that I have found are black dye then a coat of dark gel stain. The darkest gel stains I have found are:
Minwax dark walnut
Bartley's Jet Mahogony
General Finishes Java (Best so far)

Does anyone make an ebony gel stain? I have searched and haven't been able to find anything.

TIA
Jason

BTW Should questions about finishes be in tool talk or project related?

[Martin]

Ebonizing Wood

"Understanding Wood Finishing" by Bob Flexner, pg 83

Quote:
Ebonizing wood means to make the color of wood black.
You can use any aniline die: water, alcohol, oil, or NGR (Non Grain Raising).
then he goes on to discuss ebonizing difficult woods such as oak. the photos are very good.
In my community, Dallas and suburbs, the libraries will have book sales of slow moving books. I bought this book yesterday, for $1.00. down from $28.00 in 1988.

[drunkcat]

I recently ebonized some poplar that came out very nice. I went with a black dye followed by two coats of the minwax ebony stain (not a gel) and and two coats of minwax wipe on poly. It was the first time I didnt use a gel stain (I couldn't find a gel in ebony). I have used the GF Java for another project and I think it is a nice color, but I havent ebonized with it. You might want to give the minwax ebony a try.

Scott

[greencat]

I recently ebonized some poplar that came out very nice. I went with a black dye followed by two coats of the minwax ebony stain (not a gel) and and two coats of minwax wipe on poly. It was the first time I didnt use a gel stain (I couldn't find a gel in ebony). I have used the GF Java for another project and I think it is a nice color, but I havent ebonized with it. You might want to give the minwax ebony a try.

Scott

Would you mind posting some pictures of the ebonized poplar? I thinking about a project where I could use that. I also saw where someone used flat black paint to ebonize.

[just4funsies]

Is there any reason you could not add a dark pigment to the gel stains that you have to make them darker?