The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I agree that the very dark shades of oak are not achieved by fuming in ammonia. Some years ago I tried to see how dark I could make a fumed oak specimen. I placed a few small pieces of different samples of oak suspended in a closed jar with a pool of ammonia and inspected it periodically to note the color change. Most of the change happened within a few days. After leaving the samples in the ammonia atmosphere for MONTHS, the color darkened on all the samples only a little more and remained only a bit darker than the typical "golden" color. Later, I found that the VERY dark finishes are likely to be what was called "Flemish" oak. I'm sure they were obtained from the use of dyed or stained shellac coatings. I have an Edison C-250 in oak that is nearly black. It's a very uncommon finish, but I have seen one or two other examples of it on Edison C-250s. I presume that it's "Flemish" oak finish or Edison's equivalent of that.

These very dark oak finishes have been discussed in earlier threads here on TMF. Maybe an archive search will turn up more info on this topic.

Covah wrote:

Well said!