Darkening segmented turnings with sunlight exposure?

[Matt Meadows]

Team,

Anyone here use sun exposure to darken photoreactive woods like cherry and the various mahoganies?

I have a couple segmented turnings that are the first segmented ones I have ever done, and want to darken the cherry and Sapele I used. A few hours of direct sunlight will definitely work.

But I fear cracking the wood from thermal expansion. These are made from ash, white oak, cherry, Sapele. I live in Charleston SC so sunlight exposure here can be quite brutal.

Doing "just a little at a time" is nearly impossible for me. I am usually gone all day for work, most days a week and my yard is all shade by the time I get home lol. Which is nice, but I can't leave these things outside all day.


Any experiences to share here I can learn from?

 

[Michael Anderson]

Hey Matt, you can always just leave them inside sitting in a window. All the benefits of UV without the heat. I suspect that all of pieces are dry (assuming so, given segmented) so I doubt you would get enough movement in the sun to cause cracks. Leaving inside would be the safest bet though.

 

[Jim Kent]

Team,

Anyone here use sun exposure to darken photoreactive woods like cherry and the various mahoganies?

I have a couple segmented turnings that are the first segmented ones I have ever done, and want to darken the cherry and Sapele I used. A few hours of direct sunlight will definitely work.

But I fear cracking the wood from thermal expansion. These are made from ash, white oak, cherry, Sapele. I live in Charleston SC so sunlight exposure here can be quite brutal.

Doing "just a little at a time" is nearly impossible for me. I am usually gone all day for work, most days a week and my yard is all shade by the time I get home lol. Which is nice, but I can't leave these things outside all day.


Any experiences to share here I can learn from?

hi matt, what i found that works best is direct sunlight make sure ite even sunlight. you can try finding a spot in your lawn that has limited time in the sun then shaded until you get home. setting in the window is a option but for any reason its not fully sunned same time or the rays reflect differently you can get fading or spotting and that can be troublesome to get out..which some times requires a resanding and starting over.

 

[BobCoates]

I have use mulberry in segmented turning and put in sunny window to change the fresh yellow color to a golden brown and have had no cracking issues. Other woods were walnut, ash, oak and maple. Its been in the window about two weeks and I am getting ready to finish.

 

[Kevin Jesequel]

I have accelerated the aged look of cherry using a solution of baking soda and water. I was pleased with the results. You can google it to find suggested ratios. If you already have a finish on the piece, it probably wouldn’t work though.

Fuming is another option that might work, but produce more extreme results.

 

[Jerry Bennett]

Some woods like purplehart react to the fumes from muratic acid in a tent.

 

[hughie]

You may find that reflected light in the room will darken any wood. Where I am the temps rise and fall across the seasons some 30-40 degrees along with humidity. Come the height of summer you never have any turned piece in full sun as the checking can be very severe and very fast.

 

[john lucas]

Put it near a window where it gets direct light. In my case it worked but I wish it had not. I had used Padauk against a wood like Cherry because I liked the contrasting colors. After 6 months sitting on a table bear a window both colors had changed to almost the same color.