Roubo red dye experiment (horse based), conclusion.

I prepared some sample boards to test the dye on different types of wood. I am not sure that all would have been used as furniture wood back in Roubo's days, but these were the types I could find.

From left to right on both pictures, the species are:

Birch plywood, Ash, Elm, Oak (old), Pine, Beech, Larch.

The oak was something I acquired some years ago, I think it is from the 1950'ies, it was intended to be for the back of a chair, hence the hourglass shape.

To complicate things a bit, I tried tested the dye twice.

First test:

This was carried out a little more than a week ago, and the smell of the dye was unpleasant, kind of like the smell when you empty a dry closet for a caravan or an old highway type public rest room. The smell stayed in the workshop for a couple of days, and then it fainted.

The wood didn't take much color once the dye had dried. The Ash looked like it had responded best to the treatment.

Regarding the color, I wouldn't call it red, but it does darken the wood a little bit, but I think the same effect could be had with tea or coffee. But I suspect that horse dung and urine was easier obtainable in those days tan tea and coffee (perhaps the good ole days weren't that good after all?)

First treatment.

Second test:
I was a bit disappointed that the first test didn't produce some blood red or similar colors, so I decided to give it another go. This time I re-poured the liquid from the lower bucket over the rotting dung, to see if perhaps it was too thin a mixture. The first batch was flushed through using the urine sample described in the last post on this subject.
After seeping through, the liquid looked a little darker.
When I poured it into my small jar, I noticed that the smell wasn't nearly as bad as before.
During brushing on, It didn't smell like what it was made of, but more kind of like.. a horse. Not altogether unpleasant, but not something you would want for a cologne.
While the pieces were drying I sniffed again, and there was hardly any smell left.
Therefore I think this is more like what Roubo had in mind.

I applied the stain to the same pieces, and this second treatment produced some darker results, It is not jatoba or mahogany, but clearly a darker type of wood now (or so it seems).
For some reason the elm seems to respond better on one side of the board than on the other, probably the density of the wood is the cause of it. But the rest of the pieces looked OK, I would even call it a moderate success.
To make sure that the darker tone still wouldn't come from one treatment, I applied some dye to another piece of pine, but the color looked like the color in the first test.

Second treatment.

Conclusion:

The red color is not Salem red, but the dye does darken the wood some. I found it necessary to apply the dye twice to get a satisfying result. 

If the dye is re-poured, it does not smell bad nor does it leave a smell behind. If you use the dye too soon, it is not nice..

If you happen to have some horses on hand, it is a cheap and easy way to make a dye.

If you haven't got some horses on hand, it is a lot cheaper to buy the dye you need.