snowdragon said:
Swampy, do you know what the lye does? Bill
I'm not Bill but I'll take a crack at answering your question about lye.
Lye water applied to the surface of the stock after whiskering brings out the tannin in the wood and floats it to the surface.
This tannin is brown so when it drys on the surface it darkens the appearance.
That said, lye water is extremely caustic and the slightest drop of it on your skin will start dissolving you. A drop in your eye will start destroying your eyeball so be careful with this stuff if you choose to use it.
It's also a good idea to have a mild acid nearby to neutralize any lye that gets on you.
Vinegar or lemon juice works well.
To use lye water the stock must be fully 'whiskered'. Whiskering two or three times is a good idea.
When the stock is ready, slowly mix 1 teaspoon of dry lye into a cup of water. Never add the water to dry lye. After the lye has dissolved sit it aside.
Get a narrow NYLON paint brush and dip it into the lye water. Apply the lye water, fully wetting the surface of the stock. Then, sit it aside to dry.
If you use a paint brush with natural hair bristles they will instantly shrivel and fall off of the handle. The same can be said for any hair on your arm. Well, it won't fall of the handle but it will fall off of your arm.
At the time, you won't notice it because the intense burning you will be feeling will divert your attention to getting some vinegar on the lye. :grin:
At first it will look just like wet wood but as its drying you will notice the color of the wood will start getting browner.
Of course, when it is totally dry it will lighten some but when you a apply the finishing oils it will darken back to the color you will end up with.
After the lye water has dried, use your brush to coat the entire surface of the stock with one medium wet coat of vinegar to neutralize the lye.
Let it dry.
The stock is now ready for the finishing oils.
Several thoughts about lye water:
It does not attack metal so if you have inlays or patchboxes installed you do not have to remove them before coating.
There is only 'so much' tannin in the wood so multiple coats of lye water will not add anything to the color of the wood.
It will turn Walnut BLACK so, unless you are wanting a totally black "aged" stock don't use it on Walnut.
The dark color brought out by lye water is a surface coating only. Do not rub or sand it.
Lye water will dissolve any oils that it comes in contact with including all of the oils that your hand has left on the stock. If one is planning on staining a light wood after treating it with lye water, the removal of these oils will improve the effects of the stain.
Because "curly wood" is curly because little bands of 'end grain' are exposed in the stripes and because the lye can penetrate the end grain better than it can between the 'stripes' it tends to increase and improve the 'contrast' between the stripes and the wood between the stripes.
The effects on plain Maple are not very noticable unless the wood has some 'curl'.
Cherry will turn much browner than untreated wood looking like 'old' cherry.
I've already mentioned its effect on Walnut but similar comments could be made for any dark wood.
If lye water has been used on the wood and the color has been removed by handling or sanding you will have to sand the stock down and start again to get to some 'new wood' that hasn't been exposed to the previous treatment. Of course, if the wood has been resanded it will also have to be re-whiskered before applying the next try at using lye water.
Hope this helps.
PS: Dry lye is often found in hardware stores Plumbing Department. It is a commonly used drain cleaner. Some folks have tried using other things that supposedly contain lye but I don't recommend them because they often have other things in them that may interfere with future stains or finishing oils.
Places on the net will also sell real lye to individuals.
