Violin Forum/Message Board

[Dave Chandler]

Not afraid to experiment here -- before and after, stained with burnt sugar/water, then wiped from surface, dried, sealed with diluted lacquer, and many coats of balsam varnish (Italian Brown). This wood came from a lumber pile, and as I got into it, discovered some wormholes which I filled with epoxy to keep them translucent just for curiosity sake. The wood was already fairly dark, but the curl was almost invisible, so it did significantly enhance the curl on the back and sides. Might have been nice with minimal color in the varnish. However,the spruce took the stain oddly, so it took many more coats than originally anticipated to even out front and back, and I'm really not inclined to show the front in public. Let's say, this one is staying at home with me for my own use. More on the stain below the photos.




I took about a half cup of brown sugar, put it in a glass baking dish, put it on my burner till it turned a very dark brown, almost black (the smoke will drive you outside, so best to do this outside or in a well ventilated space). Then allowed it to cool into an obsidian type material. While cooking, I stirred the liquid, but beware your fingers will look like a chain smoker if you don't wear some sort of glove. Let it cool completely, then A small amount of water added back in to make a medium to stain the wood. If you cook this too long, it will start to turn into a foam which becomes just black carbon that is insoluble. You cook it right up to that point, where it looks like its starting to expand and looks like dark foamy peanut butter. It may take a few efforts to get it just right.

I wouldn't put this on spruce.
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[L P Reedy]

Looks interesting, Dave. Guess I'll have to do some tests.

[kjb]

looks good, are you using the sugar as the ground

[Dave Chandler]

Not really, pretty much just to enhance the grain. Top photo is after scrubbing all the residual off and letting it dry.
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[Janito]

[Dave Chandler]

Seriously stronger than the strongest tea stain.
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[Franciscus]

Just thinking: maybe it could be useful to wet the spruce prior to staining with burnt sugar?

[Dave Chandler]

I had tried this on a piece of spruce beforehand, but it is the appearance of end grain where the arches slope downward, that caught me off guard.
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[byacey]

You need something to close up the end grain before applying the colored seal. Perhaps a thin coat of gelatin, or maybe a clear seal made with white sugar and allowed to dry thoroughly before the application of the cooked sugar seal.
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Bill

[Dave Chandler]

Perhaps wetting the spruce, then drying it off, the end grains will have soaked up the most water, then before all the water evaporates out of the end grain, apply the burnt sugar solution. Will have to try that on my next spruce top before getting getting completely down to the final arching.
_________________
Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[Dave Chandler]

Just an update on my application of "burnt sugar" before varnish. The first varnishing I did not like it so dark, so removed the varnish and repeated with a lighter varnish. Now I'm inclined to show the front, where with the first attempt with the dark varnish was not worthy of showing.


[img][/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/38492037@N03/], on Flickr[/img]

100_3933 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/38492037@N03/][/url], on Flickr
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[Dave Chandler]

Should the spruce color tone be somewhat the same as the lighter tones on the back, the darker tones, or something in between? I decided to keep the spruce light, although from the burnt sugar application, some areas did end up a bit dark, such as the bottom of the right side and top of the left side. I may have rotated one side of the spruce before joining, but don't recall now.
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[Michael Darnton]

It's best if the whole thing tracks color together. This is the general problem with stains--they can look great on maple, then awful on spruce, yet you really need to get the spruce a bit darker than the maple, even, if you're looking for a traditional look.
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