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Carey Mitchell
120 posts
and
11 followers
in over 1 year
in over 1 year
potassium dichromate on sapele
Working on yet another cellarette, this one with a fair amount of maple stringing. I saw a comment that potassium dichromate can be used on mahogany without affecting the color of the stringing. Since the reaction is with the tannic acid, and maple has little, I suspect this is true.
Before trying this, does anyone have any experience with this approach?
And, yes, I am acquainted with the hazards of hexavalent chromium. I recall removing some especially stubborn something from lab glassware back in organic chem 2, using a solution of 98% sulfuric acid and potassium dichromate. It worked, but was scary to use.
Before trying this, does anyone have any experience with this approach?
And, yes, I am acquainted with the hazards of hexavalent chromium. I recall removing some especially stubborn something from lab glassware back in organic chem 2, using a solution of 98% sulfuric acid and potassium dichromate. It worked, but was scary to use.
Carey Mitchell
6 Replies
I've used potassium dichromate on mahogany & cherry several times. It's very effective. I've tried it on several other woods (including maple I think). I wouldn't say the result is absolutely zero change but it is really mild. Id recommend trying this out on a sample piece and see if you are satisfied. I expect you will be.
Carey,
I will be following along. Please post progress pics
I will be following along. Please post progress pics
Petey
Forgot to update this.
It worked ! In fact, it worked much better than expected.
The result:
It worked ! In fact, it worked much better than expected.
The result:
Carey Mitchell
I saw your project post and I had not connected it with this topic. Yes, it did work out exceptionally well.
Nice work! Thanks for the update. So much of the sapele I see looks faded or washed out. I'm going to keep this in mind to try.
Rob used to use it all the time, and it has a great effect, with almost zero work. His use was Cherry, and Mahogany, as he is all about Federal.
