Quartersawn Oak Frame Fumed?

Would this Oak Frame be fumed? How do I describe it?
Thanks, Sue

 

Hi,
Just looks like oak to me. When I think fumed oak, I usually see a darker coloring. It may have had a fumed finish but it it did it was very
a very light finish. In my humble opinion it is just a nice old oak frame with butt cuts not mitred. 1895 to 1920.
greg

 

Thanks Greg. I do not know if I ever saw a fumed finish. While checking other like sales I saw a frame identified as "Fumed Finish" and a higher price.

Have a Great New Year, Sue

 

Agree, not fumed. In correctly done fumed quartersawn oak, the medullary rays are darker than the background. It is just the opposite of stained. In straight sawn oak, the difference between the two is not quite as clear. Most people who identify oak as fumed have no idea about what they are talking about. A lot of dark oak gets incorrectly identified as fumed. Very few companies actually fumed oak and the practice was discontinued fairly quickly. There are some people that have revived the practice, or at least a facsimile of the practice.

Here are some samples. The first is quartersawn. The second is straight sawn.

 

First time I ever heard of or saw fumed oak?

 

LOL..I know now,horse urine ammonia fumes of the past.

Ammonia fuming is a traditional process for darkening and richening the colour of oak. Supposedly it was discovered by observing the way that oak beams in stables were darkened on exposure to the fumes from horse urine. Thanks to Haber and Bosch, we can now do this with convenient ammonia, and we don't need to keep a horse in the workshop.

 

Thanks to all of you for sharing your knowledge. I have certainly learned from you.

Sue