Yakisugi (aka Shou Sugi Ban) is the Japanese technique of preserving wood with fire. I’ve taken the traditional technique, wire brushed it back and stained the wood to produce, what I think, are some delightful bits of wood.

Since I’ve seen the process I've been on the lookout for an excuse to do it! Following my log store project I had some off cuts. These bits of sleeper were a perfect size to make either some garden stools or some side tables.

This is a relatively simple project to get a real beautiful, unique look on any piece of wood.

Supplies

Tools

Clamps

Belt sander

Wire brush/wire brush drill attachments

Paint brush

Materials

Wood (100 x 200 x 400mm)

External wood glue

Wood Dyes

External wood varnish

Weed burner/blow torch (or something similar)

Step 1: Preparing the Wood

In this process the grain of the wood will affect the final outcome of the project so try to choose some wood with some nice patterns to the grain.

To achieve the desired size of stool/side table you can fasten multiple pieces of wood together. For this project I have used 2 offcuts and glued them together.

Choose some wood with a nice grain pattern.
Cut to the desired length, this will determine the height of the stool/side table.
Choose the face of the wood that you want to be on show.
Pour external wood glue onto the opposite side.
Spread this out, a small paint roller is ideal for this.
Position the two glued faces together.
Make sure it is all square, clamp into place and leave to dry.
Sand the wood back, if required.

Step 2: Burning the Wood

Burning the wood is key to how the final bit of wood will look, it took me a few tries to get the look I wanted. I found that I needed to burn the wood much heavier than I initially thought.

Set up your burning equipment, make sure you are doing this in a safe environment.
Burn each face quite heavily, until it is fully black and lightly crazed (I worked from left to right, top to bottom). Make sure the wood does not catch on fire, large bits of wood will take quite a bit of heat before they catch on fire.
Leave to cool.

Step 3: Wire Brushing the Wood

Wire brushing the wood will give you contrast between the hardwood and the softwood of the grain. The softwood will be burned more, it will brush away easier and leave a lighter colour. the hard wood will burn less but will not brush off and will leave a darker colour.

Use a wire brush to brush all the loose chard wood off, I recommend a drill attachment and this can be bought impregnated with abrasive (I used an 80 grit brush).
Continue to brush until you have a really good contrast between the grain.
Dust off any loose particles with a brush or dry cloth.

Step 4: Dying the Wood

For me this was the really fun part, I took inspiration from how people dye guitars and went for a ‘sunburst’ look. There are two ways of doing this depending on how subtle or vibrant you want the look. You either want to work from the outside-in (more vibrant)or inside-out (more subtle). I worked from outside in, and used yellow, orange and red dyes but you can use any colour you want.

Vibrant look.

Use a paint brush to apply an outline of red dye approximately 1-2” around the full circumference.
Next, move onto the orange dye and cover the inner third (but not the centre) in this colour, just overlapping the red by a little bit and only on the final pass.
Finally fill in the centre with yellow dye, again overlapping the orange and just on the final pass.
Continue to dye all the faces of the stool/side table.
Repeat this process until you have the depth of colour you want, two coats were fine for the dye I was using.

Subtle look

Start by applying a coat of yellow dye over the full face.
Next, move onto the orange dye, go over the yellow dye and cover only the outer third.
Finally, use a paint brush to apply an outline of red dye approximately 1-2” around the full circumference, again over the orange.
Continue to dye all the faces of the stool/side table.
Repeat this process until you have the depth of colour you want.

Step 5: Varnish

Coating with varnish is essential if you want to have these outside but I would also recommend doing it if you intend to keep these inside, this will protect them from drinks etc.

Give all faces a coat of varnish, in-line with the varnish instructions.
Leave to dry, put them in their final location and enjoy.