Expert: Eileen Cronk - 1/9/2007

Question

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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----Eileen thank you for taking time to answer my questions. The Wood I am using is solid red oak.  I look forward to hearing your tecniques.
Eileen:

I have heard that if you stain a piece of furniture and then take some water and soak some chewing tobacco in it and apply the stained water from the tobacco over your stain that it will give it a old pertena and make the piece look older and more antique.  I am not doing this to fool people just looking for that older look for some new furniture i have built.
-----Answer-----
Hi David
Nice to hear from you
I know years ago this method was used, but as an actual stain..not to make things look old.
Let me consult some old books I have.
I will post a follow up to you.
Also could you tell me the kind of wood you are working with as I have some of my own methods of aging wood.
Very interesting question by the way.
Regards
Eileen

Answer
Hi Again David
First a couple of quotes from one of the old books I found last night.
"Staining oak.
Like other very hard woods, oak does not take a stain very well.The best way to get it dark-, say like walnut, is to first soak the wood with ammonia.
This will give a base of darkness over which you can stain when the wood is dry. The ammonia turns the wood a brown walnut shade. You can then make this darker with walnut stain"
David I have not used ammonia to age wood because of the smell, but I have used Gillets lye powder disolved in water in the same manner as above.
Heres some info on your tabacco stain...
"Chewing tabacco has long been used to make antique brown stain.
To make it, chop up 4 plugs of chewing tabacco in a quart of water and simmer over very low heat. Or you can just let the tabacco soak in a warm place a couple of days.
This is an excellent stain but has the disadvantage of being a water stain which will raise the grain of the wood."
So thats it David, hope this will be some help to you.
Oh and by the way the book this info came from is The Furniture Doctor by George Grotz. He also wrote From Gunk to Glow. I believe he also has a son who is an antique expert.
The book I have was printed in 1962 by Doubleday press.
Its hilarious in parts but well worth reading and a wealth of information.
Regards
Eileen