Ammonia fumeing oak.

Since you need to sand it anyway, why not just start sanding? Deal with the color later, IF it changes. Do you really have a choice??

David

Jeff Bennett wrote:

Fuming is a suface phenomena. It will sand off. Not a big deal, fume again, unless you find a particularly satisfying 1/2 way effect and decide not to. If you want it very dark, it's easy (put it in and forget it) if you are trying for a lighter color you need more care to yank it at the right time.

It darkens to a varying depth according to grain direction, fuming duration, and the general fickleness of timber. If the surface is already fairly smooth, then you should be OK. If not, then just give it a bit more fuming afterwards.

I've taken nearly 1/4" off end grain and still been in the darkened wood. I've also taken one light swipe with a plane over quarter-sawn and left dark heartwood and pale rays behind.

It is what you do when you make a mistake.

Or maybe this,

Using strong ammonia fumes to react with acid woods. Ages and colors the surface. Best known with white oak in A&C and Stickley furniture.

You may be OK. I did just fine sanding some floor boards in a staircase landing. I was just leveling the joints between T&G boards( fumed for 2-3 days). I came up a little short and needed to add a 1/4" filler strip. I gave the filler strip just a couple of hours in a big with ammonia until the color looked right. It did not fare as well. I had to build a little in-place ammonia tent to fix that.

I did see a more scientific test on somebody's website that showed cross sections of fumed wood. The penetration varied but was as much as 1/4" in some cross sections.

With a few days of fuming found that the penetration of a solid 1/8". more on the end-grain.

-Steve