Experimental Luthiery - Oxidising Guitar Woods - Using vinegar and wire wool

[@CorvinRayne]

I have been utterly addicted to this channel since stumbling across it! Your shop is aesthetically pleasing, your tools are badass, your personality and humor are unique and enjoyable, your ideas are excellent, your curiosity and boldness keep the content fresh and intriguing, and your media team does a stellar job with production! A+++!

[@limpeacock573]

Hi Ben, I used to work with an old timer who made custom chairs and he used this process on different species of wood. His results were always a beautiful jet black matte finish. His secret ingredient was he dampened the wood with tannic acid prior to wiping on the steel wool solution. He then spayed a satin clear coat on the arms and legs and they were stunning. Cheers!

[@harrysaunders6180]

Many moons ago I made dolls' houses for a living, and I used similar method on lime, which has an almost invisible grain making it ideal to replicate timber framing on buildings. I found that by trial & (much) error leaving rust bits of steel in vinegar for various lengths of time, I could get a fairly realistic representation of oak, that sort of silvery grey finish. The stink of vinegar disappears after a week or so. My wife and I love your videos. I watch them on my computer whilst she just listens to your voice while knitting.

[@matthewmccormick9889]

Tea has tannin in it. Make a strong brew of tea and apply it to the wood and let it dry before applying the Iron acetate to get a better reaction. Also, a safety tip when making the Iron acetate: Don't seal the jar. Not only will it prevent oxidation, but gasses are produce during the reaction that can cause pressure that might rupture the container.

[@tho2ea]

I'm wondering if tea alone doesn't just add color like a stain or pigment would, reacting to "cover up" and create a surface effect as opposed to an actual chemical reaction with the tannins within the wood that creates more of a deeper 3d effect. A better approach might be to add more steel wool or iron. It seems to me adding tea or coffee is the same as adding stain, unless for some reason someone can't afford stain in the first place, one could just go with a stunning stain in brown for instance? Although a "layered" approach might work, ageing, then staining or coloring.

[@matthewmccormick9889]

ThomEA It's probably a little of both. I guess a good way to find out is to apply the tea to a non-reactive substrate and then apply the iron acetate and see what happens. The iron acetate stays somewhat clear after the metal oxidizes and you strain it out. You can see in the video when he brushes it on the wood that the acetate doesn't really have any color until it reacts with tannin so I don't think adding more steel to the mix will change the results much. I agree that you could probably skip all of that and just get some ebony-colored stain and keep reapplying until the wood is black but it's probably not as fun as doing science experiments in the shop lol. You might also be interested in a technique that was popular in medieval times. I don't know if you're familiar with it but they built a tent around the piece to be stained and the put a bowl of ammonia in with it and fumes change the color of the wood. I haven't tried that yet. I'm sure there's instructional videos of it on KZbin.

[@tho2ea]

The hard part is getting ammonia strong enough to do that, household stuff doesn't work, and it'll knock one on one's butt (nasty stuff, would probably asphyxiate a person, I used to run a blueprint machine that used it a while back, Some architects are real holdouts technology wise, go figure lol). Mission style furniture makers used it a hundred odd years ago for oak primarily. Adding more metal creates a stronger chemical reaction for the un-oxidized tannins to react with. Adding tea doesn't react with the wood at all.

[@kakkopanda]

well, another great source of tannin, and better yet cos its clear, is tonic water =)

[@attilajozefik1625]

Distilled vinegar ! Also , tree bark can be used to tan leather.. why not a lump of wood..

[@ydin9]

That's a nice experiment, would you do a small follow up with them in oils, wax and varnishes you mentioned? That'd be a really cool to see.

[@christopherfleming5512]

I would love to see you build an acoustic guitar. Not as a challenge video but a video series over the course of however long you feel it would take to complete it. That’s not to say it wouldn’t be a challenge; it would also be another excuse to work with wood and your favorite tools.

[@avigayilenautozoedeiglori5712]

Christopher Fleming he needs to see this

[@catmendoo]

Hi Ben, I have used this same technique on my guitars and furniture... I use a 50/50 blend with water and vinegar, I had an idea to put in a kitchen scrub pad with that dry blue powder. Well, not having any patients for the reaction to happen I tried to speed up the process by heating up the vinegar...it was a good thing I was doing this in the sink, it instantly took off like a volcano ... after it calmed down I had an excellent patina color.... I was speaking with my son who works in a lab at a chemical plant . He said I was luck the gases from it didn’t drop me to the floor.. I was making hydrochloric acid gases when I mixed hot vinegar and bleach ( the blue powder in the scrub pad has bleach in it...).. hope my story helps you and many others who may of though about doing the same thing..

[@rhodwilliams3041]

You should do that finish with the ammonia scratchplate and call it the "piss and vinegar model"

[@EwainW]

I really like this, please carry out further experiments with this, it looks awesome!

[@robertevangelista8201]

If you soak the white wood in tea first you increase the tannin and get a darker finnish.Keep up the great work.

[@JosephGallagher]

What kind of tea?

[@andreasmarz399]

I gave it a try, on a few test pieces of maple. soaking the wood in a liberal ammount of yorkshire gold and after drying applying an equally liberal ammount of iron acetate the result was pretty stunning. fairly dark grey. once you lightly sand the high spots away you get a lovely grungy look. pretty cool technique.

[@MentalDaan]

I just finished a guitar using this technique and it turned out very good. It can give you very nice colors and effects. Using a heat gun you can speed up the process a lot and somewhat 'control' the oxidizing and color especially when you rub the solution on with a piece of tissue paper or cloth instead of using a brush. Also if the effect on a certain type of wood isn't dramatic enough, first apply a few coats of very, very strong tea. This will add more tannin to wood for the solution to react with. I can recommend using rusty old nails and leave them in the vinegar for months without shaking the jar until they leave a very clear and red(ish) solution. This will give you a very potent mixture which on certain woods gives a reddish hue over the darkened areas. I clean/re-etch files in vinegar and left my set-up filled for months and when I cleaned it out, it gave my a beautiful clear cherry red solution. And it worked magic on pine and otherwise more boring looking woods. Hope you all have as much fun experimenting with this as much as I do. But be careful on basswood. It turns black instantly and it penetrates deep, at least it did for me on places I didn't wanted it to.

[@cadflo]

Dude you build sick guitars…you are the definition of cool from my point of view.

[@Xaltar_]

I love the effect on the brown oak, it really brings out the grain.

[@visualthings]

Being an iconoclast myself and an experimental DIYer, I love how you bring risk back into lutherie with your unusual finishes. Fantastic job and I envy your fun ;-)

[@EricMiller-hh1zj]

I have used fabric dye for staining. Black, then sand down so it stays in the grain and makes it pop. From there I used a golden color and a yellow to get a nice golden burst.

[@gneldr]

I recently refinished my guitar using this finish. I was going for the Hutchinson style. Pre-loaded the basswood with strong, black tea for tannins, two applications of 6 months old wire wool/20%vinegar with a light sanding between applications. Home brewed Danish oil finish. Looks just like I had hoped! I look forward to seeing your future experiments!

[@kylerichards2939]

Potassium permanganate is a great one to try as well, its used in Hollywood a lot for aging props and works fantastically for guitars. Mix a bit with water and off you go, its also comically purple when you mix it up!

[@LucasFowler]

This is how I get that played in look on maple necks when I build relic style guitars. Much more believable than a stain. Love the brown on the Sycamore, you should do a carved top with that color and a nice gloss!

[@jusblazed1ful]

Ben, you should try India Ink for a deep, dark black on any type of wood. You can also dilute the ink using mineral spirits. I use it on frames for paintings and in my opinion my result is fantastic.

[@kvelstad]

Thank you for not being a NAMM related channel. I'll take your tattooed head coolness every day over all the channels running NAMM stuff.

[@evilutionltd]

kvelstad agreed. Andertons KZbin channel is clogging up my feed with shit at the moment.

[@kvelstad]

I didn't want to name names, but that's spot on.

[@ScatZacc]

Ha bet you wish we had NANM now in 2021 lollollol

[@Brandywine6969]

I have tried food coloring. I used black. It made the wood look amazing, because it still allowed the wood grain to show. The only thing is, I noticed it doesn't take spray clear coat very well at all....and it is very sticky to the touch. It is beautiful though. If I could find a way to both thin it down some and maybe mix it with oil instead of using clear coat for a nice shine on it. I have also mixed plain rubbing alcohol with those little $2 2 ounce bottles of acrylic crafting paints. That gave some interesting results. You got color, but you also get to still see the wood grain, which is what I am looking for. I have watched other people use mustard for a nice "blonde" look, like you see on some Telecasters. I have also heard that turmeric gives a nice "blonde" look too. I like a little of the blonde look, but I'm like you, I want black. I don't care for brown too much, but really dark black is my favorite. What would be my most favorite, if I could figure out how to do it would be that extremely dark greenish color you see sometimes when mixing black paint, before you have finished mixing it. That is the most amazing color. Sometimes, I wish I could isolate that color from black paint I haven't finished mixing yet and just use that color. Now, you have made me want to test this ebonizing thing again on some of this 70 year old red oak I have that I plan to use to build a mallet. I once tried that method on pine. If it can be tried on pine to darken it, I have tried. I usually end up losing the grain because pine is so hard to stain black....or any color, for that matter. and I usually end up spray painting it black, lol. Yet, I still keep using pine, because it is the cheapest for practicing to get better at woodworking. I know people laugh at those of us who use pine a lot for projects, but has anyone ever found a pine knot large enough to make a guitar body? I wonder how that would sound and look. Pine knots are usually pretty dense and tough. Maybe a pine guitar would not be laughable if you let it age. When pine ages, a lot of times it becomes very hard...harder to cut than oak, even, and also very flammable.

[@phillipjackson2877]

Bleach on black walnut looks really cool, it makes the wood look antiqued

[@carlmeany8072]

One of my favorite treatments for curly maple utilizes the same concoction you used followed by a sanding, to remove some of the color from the harder parts of the curl, where it didn't penetrate as much. Then, get yourself some potassium dicromate dissolved in water. Coat the wood with this, let dry. Lightly sand to get rid of the fuzzys, oil, and enjoy the results.

[@wls64]

i used the white vinegar to treat rusted carbon steel butcher knives and left it soaking for about 3 or 4 days and it left a very thick dark grey paste on the steel, and left a grey patina on the steel. very cool treatment

[@EdVanMeyer]

If you want to grey any light wood like Maple etc, use a water and fertilisier mix, they use this in the veneer industry to make grey wood veneer colour. If you do this with Oak or other high tannin content woods, it turns the wood black, which is great if you want a dark finish to simulate aging of the wood.

[@AdamPage85]

I can't wait to see what you do with the flame Maple! The second coat really made it pop!

[@johngrant5749]

Adam Page flamed Sycamore 😄

[@garretteverett2613]

Planning a Tele build and I wasn't sure what to use for the body blank, but stained oak looks like a winner!

[@kaleocreative]

Try adding black tea first, leave for a while, then add the vinegar/wire wool mix. Tea contains tannins, so theoretically, adding this first should help the reaction along, deepening the colour or even making the reaction possible on woods that contain fewer tannins.

[@JonathonPickett]

kaleocreative thank you, you saved me a lot of typing!

[@kronik66]

You can dose the lighter woods with black tea first to add tannins to the top bit, then add the steel wool mixture after.

[@iannicholls2798]

hi Ben. I have recently subscribed to your very informative channel. I love the way it's unscripted. it makes it not only an education, but fun. please keep them coming.

[@watchtheskies]

Hi Ben you can add tannin to the wood by using a tea solution first and letting it dry, before using the steel wool and vinegar solution

[@joehinojosa6322]

If you ever do anything with leather it works great on that too. I've brushed it on some leather pick guards that I made to give them an antiqued look.

[@brendonA80]

i soaked the steel wool in vinegar for 3 days then removed the remaining half oxidized wool and let it dry for a day, then i painted the stain on the oak and waited till it tuned blackish grey then (whilst the oak is still wet) I used the dried steel wool to scrub the board hard, the oxidized wool crumbles into fine brown rust powder and stains the grain that isnt as black a nice brown colour. beautiful!

[@raisinsawdust]

Walnut, oak grain, cherry & elm are great for oxidization. tip: Place the steel wool into a pot of water for a bit, put it while wet into a coffee can - let it get rusty then add the vinegar It actually is the rust that kicks this up a notch

[@flahprius]

I've done it before with mahogany and a small part of a flamed maple top, but I wanted to see more on flamed maple since it'll be my next project. Thank you for sharing your findings!!

[@paulblackman3936]

I use 4 to 5 coats on most hardwoods, then oil sand back and leave for a day before finishing. Steel wool produces the best stain. When you sand it back it gives a deeper 3d effect.

[@mooningthemoon]

I worked in my fathers furniture refinishing business, we’d use lye to age repairs. It works wonders on cherry especially.

[@michaelg.woodley3732]

That maple with the second coat is beautiful! Quite the stunning brown. I agree with some other commenters here about maybe using copper or other metals in the vinegar. Might get some surprising results!

[@jaizegilbert]

Hi Ben. I use this technique for furniture. If you heat the vinegar and wash the steel wool with washing up liquid to remove the oils and then chop it up as it goes in the hot vinegar it really speeds things up, usually overnight is enough. Also you can then experiment by adding varying quantities of Hydrogen Peroxide to the mix to add oxygen and therefore strengthen the colour of the solution. It is also a great way to control the exact effect you are trying to achieve. Great video by the way, when can we see an oxidised guitar? ;-)

[@TheT0ad]

Honestly, coffee on alder looks amazing. I have a guitar body I did in coffee at home, which I finished with danish oil and beeswax, and it not only looks good but smells delicious.

[@darrylportelli]

Another experiment you can try is an old technique called ammonia fuming , where you enclose your piece in a small diy tent and use 10-35% strength ammonia and the fumes darken the wood .. and it penetrates quite deep and can give rich brownish colors (like the roasted maple color)

[@rapscallion52]

I quite like the result on the brown oak. it just seems to accentuate the grain rather than darken the entire piece.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

I agree, a really cool effect. B

[@michaelreis8266]

It'll happen faster if you wet the wire wool first and leave it in the sun for a couple of days to rust, then when dry add it to the vinegar for a week or so. You can make pine look like rosewood...

[@budgenatorP]

Using tea first will increase the tannins in the wood and the ferric acetate would turn low tannin wood darker

[@ozoneswiftak]

Very cool, I learned something today. Thanks. Vinagar and steel wool. Who would have known?

[@_DeadThread]

Potassium dichromate achieves the same aging effects but can be used on woods with a low tannin count, it is toxic, and can most likely be bought in pharmacies just mix it with water and make sure you wear protective gear.

[@gvtshorts2024]

If you don't like the smell of vinegar you could try Citric Acid. I work with food ingredients and we mix Citric Acid with Sodium Metabisulphite to use as sanitiser. I once put a plain steel screw, instead of stainless, in the solution and it quickly corroded and turned green. It also released some sort of rotten egg sulphur gas. Try dissolving a teaspoon of SMBS, in some citric acid solution or small amount of water, and add it to the mix on the last day if you're after a different colour and leave it outside of course until all the sulphur smell is gone. You can get these ingredients from a beer brewing supplies shop or supermarket sometimes. Don't let the SMBS powder get anywhere near your face. I once had some of it go up my nose and I had to snort water to flush it out and be able to breathe again, it's pretty harmless . Good luck

[@SkyscraperGuitars]

Surprised to see it working so well on the maple. I've been doing that for years on oak all the while thinking it wouldn't work on other, low-tannin woods. Good show!

[@Helllllllsing]

I think it would look really nice on a multilaminated neck. On one guitar I rubbed stove polish paste into the grain. After sanding it left the pores accented.

[@brevs8387]

Different vinegar types (apple cider, white wine, distilled white, etc) will also affect the color the wood turns. I have heard of some people also mixing in some amonia.

[@Brandywine6969]

RIT clothes dye also seems popular. I haven't even tried it on wood, but I have seen the results where other people have and it looks really nice.

[@Uncle_Buzz]

I've done this with SOS pads and got a nice turquoise colored tint. Cheers! Chris.

[@HMan2828]

Some suggestions to try in dilute concentrations: sulfuric acid, nitric acid, sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, etc.. I know for a fact this works on some woods, and you can get shades of green or even red depending on the acid/base used. Sulfuric acid I think may be very interesting because it loves to pull water out of things (and thus can replace it with sulfur ions inside the wood). The main problem I see with this is finishing it afterwards. The acid (even vinegar is acetic acid) stays in the wood, and it may cause serious problems on finishes on top of it.

[@MrCRAIGSHILL]

Use a sponge to apply a few coats and leave it for a few days, it gets darker as you leave it! you can also add a bit of stain to change the color, it turns brown on a lot of woods if you use white vinegar so adding reds can give you a rich color. Also when you burn your wood try using a brass brush to get the charcoal off then sand with wet fine sandpaper! you will love the golden browns after finish is applied!!!

[@MrCRAIGSHILL]

Also cut the wool into small bits helps with the break down

[@donrutter6765]

The best stain job I ever did, I converted a cheap squier tele to look like a fender, it had that white look neck so to make it old I used yellow food coloring, tea,cigarettes, and stained the neck, clear coated it. It looked like it was from 1966.

[@Projacked1]

wooh> the flamed maple ! yes

[@mykhough6614]

Thanks Ben. I've been wondering what to do with the jar of vinegar I use to de-rust old tools. I feel and experiment coming on.

[@mykhough6614]

Just tested it out on some scrap. The colour is good but Jeez the smell !!! Like a really grotty chip shop. Maybe coating it with bicarb of soda would neutralise the acetic acid but I think I will go with CG Stunning Stains Brown :-)

[@OOGKAUWGUM]

I've used this on a pine tripod lamp with succes, nice aged look. I heard or read somewhere that ammonia is used to darken light woods, but haven't tried that myself.

[@OinkySetsTheCurve]

You will find that using steel wool can at times give a purplish color to your mixture when you apply it to the wood. Iron (nails) create a much better result. Not sure why it does that but I do know that Stradivari used this technique for dying his purfling. I believe they were Pear wood or holly (can't remember off hand} The very old book "Violin-Making: As It Was and Is" by Edward Heron-Allen goes into this subject at some length as well as other natural varnish/shellac formulas. Great book if you are interested in creating your own . I make all natural finishes for both my guitars and violins.

[@TheloniousBosch]

I would love to see this and the mentioned bleaching methods revisited. Very much. Thanks for the kickass channel!

[@Wildman9]

Try a combo of Blue Lapis powder,I bet you'd get a nice color !! If it's feasible .Great little experiments for color.👍🎸😎

[@markmcleish3]

A chemical reaction using Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda in the USA) works great on high tannin woods. Used on mahogany it gives some purple hues and when finished with oil, the wood becomes a bit iridescent copper/metallic looking. Unfortunately it's a bit of a lucky dip what you get. Some high tannin woods will give lots of purples with a weak solution. Others less so with a strong solution.

[@marcelofilipchuk5321]

Hi Ben! Since the video is about guitar finish, It would be nice to see a video about cerusing on a guitar, since its hard to find a good guide about the products to use and the diferent techniques to do it. Greetings from Argentina!

[@benmacpherson2675]

Very interesting just built a v with a aussie blackwood top gonna start and do a test on a off cut could be magic thanks ben

[@jonlennon3348]

What do you do to neutralize the vinegar concoction? I love that flamed sycamore, it is really pretty wood even more stunning than maple although old growth fiddleback maple they are pulling out of our great lakes(logs sunk 2 centuries ago like lake huron and superior where the temps stay below 50 degrees) and they bring these logs up to slowly kiln dry and saw it into usable sizes. It is worth its weight in silver. You should check it out and maybe do one build using this old growth reclaimed wood.

[@jaycobie]

You used the end grain sides of the white oak and elm and so they took the stain better than the samples where you applied to cross grain. Cross grain probably needs more persistence for the wood to "take" this stain. Logically, ash should take stain easily, but you had very flat cross grain, I believe. I could be wrong but I do know that some types of oak have end grain that sucks up water like crazy so that's a logical result you got.

[@frankcouture428]

...and the bubinga said "me too" LOL!

[@mxjay2936]

Love to know what you think of Chapmans new £3500+ "custom hand made British luthier range"

[@lmcf_gtr]

I think Rabea Massaad did something similar with his ML-1 Relic; soaking wire wool in an acidic solution, wipe the solution on the guitar and sand it back to look old.

[@MrHornpipe]

I worked for a pine furniture place and to pre age wood, to match the old, they used dilute Pyrogallic acid ( photo developer?) followed by caustic soda when dry. It worked..

[@wupme]

Caustic soda was sodium hydroxide? Interesting, have to try that.

[@MrHornpipe]

Wupme yes. But dilute it and wear rubber gloves! It's what they use in paint stripping tanks for old pine doors etc.

[@Tubefex]

For pine projects, I usually soak the entire project in "Liquid Plummer" to oxidize the tannins. The wood turns fluorescent green for a day or two and then goes gray!

[@Craftlngo]

you can also use ammonia to stain wood effectively. (but this time with the wood in a sealed containment)

[@timcarter1164]

Try adding a little bit of oxygen cleaner such as OxiClean or a similar product. It it may speed up the oxidation process or, alter the color. Worth a try.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

Very very interesting idea! I will try this. B

[@mcpretorius3718]

How about dipping steel wool in the viniger and leaving it on the guitar body? Should create a nice pattern effect...

[@mark64tanner]

copper in vinegar may be interesting, probably give green or blue but thinking you may have scraps of that lying round also ;) Wondering when you're going to try a Lichtenburg finish

[@brianjackson9599]

Ben here in the states we have copper course wool for scrubbing pots and pans, try using that in the viniger

[@Rainmaker40Bsc]

Thanks Ben another great tutorial

[@davidcherrington5864]

Been doing this at work for a few years, if you go to Nando’s and see oak tables with a black strip down the middle, that’s our work Not used it on a guitar yet but done loads of tables

[@robcerasuolo9207]

This is actually pretty cool. I'm here to learn, but I love weird ideas like this, and now I want to see if it'll work, especially with a finish. Have you thought about just soaking an entire block of wood into a sizeable batch of the concoction to see what happens? Also, watching that brown oak and others, the concoction seems to bring out the rings a bit more. It could still be interesting in its own right.

[@anotherwaytafkash]

the Bob Ross of guitarbuilding .... !!!!

[@lrstaf6]

Try some of your copper leaf and vinegar. You may get a green shade, but I don't know for sure.

[@squishy312]

How about Copper and Vinegar. You might get some great blues/teals.

[@jonnyf9049]

I would really like to see and try this effect on a fretboard wood rosewood or the newer cheaper ones which are quite light

[@phoenixcustomwoodwork6871]

You should try chestnut- they have higher tannin levels than oak I believe..... Horse chestnut (conker trees) is a wonderful wood, and the leaves can be used as make shift soap if you get grubby :-)

[@allback40]

Oak and ammonia in a sealed box always gives me a beautiful dark oak. And it can penetrate several millimeters deep too. Just by leaving it different periods renders different depth and epic darkness. ^~^

[@Exgrmbl]

Found this out by accident after my cat pissed on the countertop - made a mess and a big patch of weird black and blue discoloration.

[@G40s_WW]

It really brought out the flame on the maple

[@thevileirish6764]

Kaaaaaa... Meeeeeeehhh... Haaaaaaa... Meeeeeeeehhh... *neighbor looks up* HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

[@thewizardjohn]

have you ever tried the high-voltage "Lichtenberg" burning as a base for a finish? I think it would look very very cool.

[@daviemaclean61]

If you wait a while longer the wire wool will dissolve completely, however, decant the mix into a plastic container. The acidic mixture will perish the rubber seal on the kilner jar.

[@1066wastrel]

I love a sunburst finish (black around edges only mind, NOT the whole `shoulder` or horn!) I`d wanted to see you Ben create a burst with a torch, but now I`m thinking a sunburst finish using alternatives to stains?

[@neshiah4747]

“Looked really cool for a minute...” excellent 😂😂😂

[@dualhelix1613]

i took off the paint of an old strat and did this about a year ago and if you add a rusty nail it becomes a nice brown stain also this on its own makes a awful green color and from my experience the wood will smell like vinegar for a while. Its easy to do and dependent on the amount of rust used it can come out nicely.

[@ernolaakso826]

Looks like the brown oak piece has some drips on the side. Could it be oiled after all?

[@davidlong8401]

for a strong black.Strain your vinegar and iron mix, then make some extra, extra strong tea - I let it brew in a thermos for a few hours - then mix and paint on as required.though this will not give constant results and will never be as black as burning or Indian Ink.

[@GreboGent]

*see's plain, picks up plain, stares at plain for a bit* i had a kooky idea, what if you were to put a pre-sanded and un-routed (i'm talking no neck pocket either) body in a vat of premixed solution and left it to really soak in -only for about a day, maybe- could make an interesting finish, the duration of prolonged application in the solution may permeate deep by saturation causing gradual change in pigmentation through the body meaning it'd be awesome for carving after, or it could just make it completely black as if it was just stained again and again :) -awesome channel by the way, very nice work

[@Halfstronaut]

Could you use the guitar oil over the oxidised wood? I'd love to see that depth of grain. I love what Framus does with bleached Flame Maple.

[@birdwoodcbgs71]

Been doing it for years. Great fun:)

[@kohl-1934]

I know that UV exposure will grey certain timbers like Californian Redwood which in and of itself is an amazing look and I owned an unfinished one piece redwood body that was simply fantastic. I am curious if a UV lamp would speed up this natural process and if so by how much I do know that people use it to speed up relicing (ageing the paint tint and creating contrast from pickguards knobs etc) and is a lot less smelly and messy!

[@1inDnile]

i noticed you have used spirit vinegar try the malt type chips shops use a concentrated acetic acid which they dilute and fill their vinegar bottles as a condiment,it is available in 5 litre plastic bottles I have some that I use to remove the salts from stripped pine that has been striped in a hot caustic soda bath which is very alkaline in nature. Great videos keep up the madness!=

[@Welshsi]

How will it react with finishing oils?