DIY Wood Burning Technique on Oak With Unicorn Spit

**The Experiment: Burning and Brushing Techniques for Wood Finishing**

In this experiment, we'll explore different techniques for finishing wood, specifically using the unicorn spit and burn method. The goal is to see how various treatments affect the final result. We'll start with a blank slate, applying a black stain first and then going over it with another color.

As I began my project, I realized that many of the things I saw in tutorials or videos involved laying down black paint first and then adding another color on top. However, I decided to try something different by only staining one board and coming back to knock off the steel wall treatment later. This approach allowed me to bring out the blacks again, skipping a step in the process.

However, as I continued with my project, I encountered some issues with the verithane polyurethane finish. A quarter of a can was left over in the garage when it froze and all the power went off, which may have affected its performance. This resulted in some muddy results, particularly with the unicorn spit and burn technique.

Moving on to the main part of the project, we had two types of oak: one that was burnt before brushing, and another that wasn't. The burnt oak received an extra layer of detail, while the unburnt oak looked smoother but less interesting.

Next, I applied a brush treatment with unicorn spit, followed by various finishes such as steel wall, clear lacquer, or oil. This gave me a range of results to compare. For example, the burnt board that was finished with oil looked particularly cool and had more depth than the unburnt board.

I also side-by-side compared two boards: one that was brushed without any treatment, and another that was burnt before brushing. The burnt board showed much more detail and texture, while the brushed board looked smoother but less interesting.

Unfortunately, some of the colors didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. Specifically, the blue and red boards were muddy and lacked definition. However, there was one notable exception: a white board that was finished with oil looked particularly striking when compared to its unburnt counterpart.

To wrap up the experiment, I asked viewers which result they liked best. Do they prefer boards that are burnt first or those that are just brushed? Do they like the extra texture in the unicorn spit and burn method, or do they think it's overkill?

**The Results**

Here's a side-by-side comparison of some of the results from my experiment:

* **Burnt Oak vs. Unburnt Oak**: The burnt oak received an extra layer of detail, while the unburnt oak looked smoother but less interesting.

* **Brushed Board vs. Burnt Board**: The burnt board showed much more texture and interest, while the brushed board was smooth but lacking in depth.

* **White Board with Oil Finish**: This board looked particularly striking when compared to its unburnt counterpart.

**The Verdict**

Ultimately, whether you prefer a board that's been burnt first or one that's just brushed is a matter of personal preference. Some people like the extra texture and interest that comes from burning the wood, while others prefer a smoother finish.

As for the color results, some didn't turn out as well as I had hoped – particularly the blue and red boards were muddy and lacked definition. However, there was one notable exception: a white board finished with oil looked striking when compared to its unburnt counterpart.

**Special Thanks**

I'd like to extend special thanks to my Patreon members who have been instrumental in making this experiment possible. Your support means the world to me, and I'm grateful for your enthusiasm and encouragement.

And that's it for this experiment! If you liked what you saw, be sure to smash that like button and subscribe to my channel for more content. Until next time, thanks for playing along with me – let's get back to work!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: encheck one microphone check one two can i get a oh yeah oh yeah what's up guys i'm nick and this is build that build a place where we believe your word is your bond and that that bond should be oak unless we're talking about women and then bro code you know okay a lot of you guys have sent me pictures or video of this kind of finish done on oak so we're gonna try to replicate that today basically you take a piece of oak with good grain powdering in it like hole you take a wire brush or the nylocks brushes that you put on your drill or if you have a restore use a restorer shout out to restore this thing is awesome thank you my dude that you can run it over it what it's going to do is it's going to kind of scrape out the soft cellulose material and the oak it's going to leave the hard and it will give us a good texture so we're going to try to recreate that today but my question is if i take a torch to the soft cellulose material first and then scrape it with the restorer will i get a better texture than if i don't we're going to experiment with that and we're also going to experiment with some different colors on the boards everything i've seen has been pretty much black and white and let's just see what kind of results we get all right one last thing these suggestions came to me via my discord channel we do a lot of discussions there so you might want to check it out uh head on over to the discord channel if you get a chance and uh say hello i'll buy a drink send you a meme that's what the cool kids are doing right sending memes did someone say okay first experiment not exactly the results i expected there's definitely texture on both of them i don't know how well you can see that in the light there is there's a you can feel a difference in the two but man with the torch so much more texture i mean you can probably you can probably see that in the light look at that now the reason that i'm at a bit of an impasse here is because a lot of the things i saw that laid down black first and then went over with another color problem is if i do that on here wait a second i have an idea if i just go with like one stain on here and come back and knock it off with steel wall i think i'll bring these blacks back out so then we just totally skip a step by doing that i realize that you've got it's probably still the same amount of steps okay whoever's out there with the numbers and the counting but with this one i would have to paint it let it dry and then apply a second coat which is going to take longer versus if i just do this with one stain and i just have to wait until it dries and knock it off less time and less time is less money wait that's not right less time is more money stinky glove up don't be nasty so all right guys now it's time for the results before we get to the results i just want to say that i had some issues with some verithane polyurethane finish i had like a quarter of a can that was left in the garage when it froze here in houston and all the power went off and stuff like that and i think that may have affected it so i have some muddy results with just the unicorn spit and burn technique we'll have to revisit that at a later date i'll show you those results real quick but we still have the results of the oak that was burnt versus not burnt prior to brushing so we'll take a look at those as well we've got your white over char that one probably turned out the best of just the char with the unicorn spit on them next we have the metallic turquoise which just with that texture in there it looks pretty good that one doesn't look too bad and then we get to the blue and the red and this is where i think i had an issue because if you look at these they're both really kind of muddy you can still see the texture in them but the color is just not quite there and i really think that was the end of the can right there now here's an interesting one this is burnt brushed and then just finished with oil and i think that looks pretty cool all right next i'm going to show you side by side of the the boards that were burnt versus weren't burnt they were brushed unicorns spit and then finished with a clear lacquer so i went out and picked up some clear lacquer for these guys this is the board that was just brushed okay and that looks pretty good but then look at how much deeper this one that was that was burnt first looks look how much deeper and how much more detail you can see and the one that was burnt first next we have red the red had a little mishap on it i'm not sure exactly what there was i think some water got on it but you can still see the detail on the edges um it looks pretty good until you put it next to the red wit that was burnt and just look at how that red pops against that black and last we have the white it was just brushed and we have that versus the white that was burnt then brushed and finished so guys you probably saw me do a couple other colors in there uh the results were just not very good so i figured we'd just go with the highlights and the colors that kind of really work themselves out so do me a favor and comment down below which one you like the best do you like the ones that are burnt first or do you like the ones that are just brushed do you like that extra texture in there or do you think the treatment's fine without the burn first all right guys that's it for this video let me know if you want to see a part two where i just burn and do the unicorn spit and don't paint it black first and thanks for sticking around to the end of this video thank you to each and every one of you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you not you you you and you and a special thanks as always goes to my patreon members especially nick the greek stephen mann ez e derek coates caveman ross chuck faulkner puffy muffins chas thompson and mike penrod cheers to the boilermakers all right guys if you like this video smash that like button in the face and if you're not subscribed to the channel already do me a favor and until next time thanks for playing now i gotta get to work what's up guys i'm nick and the spill dab bill a place where we believe i believe that your word is your bond and therefore your word believe that you're therefore your word should be that oak so stupidcheck one microphone check one two can i get a oh yeah oh yeah what's up guys i'm nick and this is build that build a place where we believe your word is your bond and that that bond should be oak unless we're talking about women and then bro code you know okay a lot of you guys have sent me pictures or video of this kind of finish done on oak so we're gonna try to replicate that today basically you take a piece of oak with good grain powdering in it like hole you take a wire brush or the nylocks brushes that you put on your drill or if you have a restore use a restorer shout out to restore this thing is awesome thank you my dude that you can run it over it what it's going to do is it's going to kind of scrape out the soft cellulose material and the oak it's going to leave the hard and it will give us a good texture so we're going to try to recreate that today but my question is if i take a torch to the soft cellulose material first and then scrape it with the restorer will i get a better texture than if i don't we're going to experiment with that and we're also going to experiment with some different colors on the boards everything i've seen has been pretty much black and white and let's just see what kind of results we get all right one last thing these suggestions came to me via my discord channel we do a lot of discussions there so you might want to check it out uh head on over to the discord channel if you get a chance and uh say hello i'll buy a drink send you a meme that's what the cool kids are doing right sending memes did someone say okay first experiment not exactly the results i expected there's definitely texture on both of them i don't know how well you can see that in the light there is there's a you can feel a difference in the two but man with the torch so much more texture i mean you can probably you can probably see that in the light look at that now the reason that i'm at a bit of an impasse here is because a lot of the things i saw that laid down black first and then went over with another color problem is if i do that on here wait a second i have an idea if i just go with like one stain on here and come back and knock it off with steel wall i think i'll bring these blacks back out so then we just totally skip a step by doing that i realize that you've got it's probably still the same amount of steps okay whoever's out there with the numbers and the counting but with this one i would have to paint it let it dry and then apply a second coat which is going to take longer versus if i just do this with one stain and i just have to wait until it dries and knock it off less time and less time is less money wait that's not right less time is more money stinky glove up don't be nasty so all right guys now it's time for the results before we get to the results i just want to say that i had some issues with some verithane polyurethane finish i had like a quarter of a can that was left in the garage when it froze here in houston and all the power went off and stuff like that and i think that may have affected it so i have some muddy results with just the unicorn spit and burn technique we'll have to revisit that at a later date i'll show you those results real quick but we still have the results of the oak that was burnt versus not burnt prior to brushing so we'll take a look at those as well we've got your white over char that one probably turned out the best of just the char with the unicorn spit on them next we have the metallic turquoise which just with that texture in there it looks pretty good that one doesn't look too bad and then we get to the blue and the red and this is where i think i had an issue because if you look at these they're both really kind of muddy you can still see the texture in them but the color is just not quite there and i really think that was the end of the can right there now here's an interesting one this is burnt brushed and then just finished with oil and i think that looks pretty cool all right next i'm going to show you side by side of the the boards that were burnt versus weren't burnt they were brushed unicorns spit and then finished with a clear lacquer so i went out and picked up some clear lacquer for these guys this is the board that was just brushed okay and that looks pretty good but then look at how much deeper this one that was that was burnt first looks look how much deeper and how much more detail you can see and the one that was burnt first next we have red the red had a little mishap on it i'm not sure exactly what there was i think some water got on it but you can still see the detail on the edges um it looks pretty good until you put it next to the red wit that was burnt and just look at how that red pops against that black and last we have the white it was just brushed and we have that versus the white that was burnt then brushed and finished so guys you probably saw me do a couple other colors in there uh the results were just not very good so i figured we'd just go with the highlights and the colors that kind of really work themselves out so do me a favor and comment down below which one you like the best do you like the ones that are burnt first or do you like the ones that are just brushed do you like that extra texture in there or do you think the treatment's fine without the burn first all right guys that's it for this video let me know if you want to see a part two where i just burn and do the unicorn spit and don't paint it black first and thanks for sticking around to the end of this video thank you to each and every one of you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you not you you you and you and a special thanks as always goes to my patreon members especially nick the greek stephen mann ez e derek coates caveman ross chuck faulkner puffy muffins chas thompson and mike penrod cheers to the boilermakers all right guys if you like this video smash that like button in the face and if you're not subscribed to the channel already do me a favor and until next time thanks for playing now i gotta get to work what's up guys i'm nick and the spill dab bill a place where we believe i believe that your word is your bond and therefore your word believe that you're therefore your word should be that oak so stupid\n"