Fumed Rift White Oak Veneer

Fuming is a reaction, not a finish. Ammonia vapor reacts with the tannins already in the wood and the color develops through the thickness of the leaf rather than sitting on top of it. Nothing is sprayed, wiped or dyed. Sand it back and the color is still there.

White oak is high in tannin, which is why it fumes so well and why it is the classic species for it — the reaction runs deep and produces the warm amber-to-chocolate range that stains approximate and never quite reach. On a rift substrate you get that color on the straightest, most disciplined face oak can give, which is why fumed rift white oak carries so much specification work.

Because the depth of color depends on the tannin in the individual log, fumed material varies more between flitches than unfumed does. Order the whole run at once and ask for a fumed sample rather than judging from an unfumed one. Available raw, two-ply, paper-backed, and pressed to panel.