I like exposing white oak wood to amonnia gas in order to obtain a chocolate brown color. Ammonia fumes react with the natural tannins darkening the wood and bringing out the grain. Dark wood blends easily into almost any interior.
Until now, I thought I was getting a shade very similar to exotic wenge wood until I got a chance to try real African wenge. Although there are similarities, wenge has more red tint to it. Just have a look at the photo below to examine the obvious differences – the headphone stand made of wenge sits on a smoked oak table.
Juts like oak wood, wenge has open pores, but is much heavier, denser and harder. Anyway, it was not particularly difficult to work with, the wood sands well, although the texture of the wood can be felt by hand after the final processing due to the large open pores. It’s a really good feeling.
Wenge is a very expensive wood and rarely available. So if you like it as much I do, you might still get the chance to get one of the headphone stands at melodeko etsy shop.
