Q: I’m planning to ebonize a project using India ink. Is there anything I should know before I tackle this, such as warnings about curing times or lap marks?
A: Use waterbased India ink as opposed to oil based, and treat it as you would any stain; flood it on liberally, then wipe it all off while it is still wet, leaving only what the wood was able to absorb. That flood on, wipe off method will eliminate lap marks. Like all waterbased materials, drying times depend on humidity, so drying can be from a few minutes to many hours. Fortunately, the wood will look and feel different dry than it does wet, so you should have no problem on that score. And as always, try this and any new finishing method on scrap first.
Michael Dresdner
straight talk about wood finishing
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