Yep

>> making it look like the ones at Old Town Salem’s workbench museum, i.e. 200+
years of oxidation, sweat, and work,

That’s *exactly*   what I’m aiming for on my bench top.  After being dinged a
bit,  I may plane flat (takes off the colour) and I wash over a thin layer, it
gathers nicely in the dings to add age, and I can blend the new looking wood
into the old,  a spit coat of shellac to seal it all together and no one knows
it  was made yesterday.   I used some on a brand new, softwood pole lathe I made
a few years back, and discovered that a light drizzle before it was dry brought
out a speckled appearance, but repeated outdoors exposure just toned it all
together.

Ebonising and VanDyke will never work.  No way to get a walnut shell extract to
black.  and there seems to be a limit to how deep a colour (color) you can get,
at least on side grain.


R