Aging eastern white pine

[Daniel Rode]

My recent project and the thread about distressing have me thinking about how to age pine.

Pine (Eastern White Pine) over time acquires a rich brown/dark amber color that I very much like. I think it's the result of perhaps oxidation, but I'm not sure. It does not seem to depend on exposure to light as I've found many old studs that haven't seen light in decades but have darkened considerably. I also have some unfinished pine shop pieces that have grown dark over the course of just a few years. The look of old EWP is sometimes referred to (incorrectly) as "Pumpkin Pine".

Stains and dyes and glazes do not give this look. They reverse the grain, give a muddied or blotchy appearance. For oak and some other woods that are richer in tannins, I'd try ammonia fuming but pine is not a good candidate for this treatment.

My Google searches have not produced much. Has anyone here tried to expedite the darkening of pine with any success? Maybe to match old trim or simulate age in shaker or country furniture?

[seth lowden]

Do an internet search for nitric acid and pine. It can be combined with other methods with nice results. You used to be able to get it at a local printing or graphics design suppliers. You'll have to pay a hazmat charge if you have it shipped. Harder to get nowadays, perhaps because you can use it to make an IED. Lye works too allegedly, come to think of it, but I have no experience with that.

[george wilson]

Not sure if you can get nitric acid without being associated with a business or museum that employs its use. You used to be able to get it before the terrorists threats .

I have used potassium permanganate,but it is also a dangerous substance now. It is also poison,though years ago boy scouts used it as a cure for poison ivy!! It certainly will dry out your skin into crusty layers if you get it on you.

[Daniel Rode]

Thanks for the tips! It wasn't that long ago that nitric acid was sold at the corner hardware store. Times have changed.

[Bill Moser]

I had been wondering about this also. a little googling turned up this page, which talks about "reagent grade" nitric acid, and how to stain wood with it:
http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20914&highlight=wood+staining

It looks like Grainger sells nitric acid, and trackofthewolf.com sells something called "aquafortis reagent" (aquafortis being an older term for nitric acid, apparently), with instructions on how to use it for wood staining:
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/categories/partdetail.aspx/1025/1/aquafort-2

[seth lowden]

The "Aquafortis Reagent" has iron filings in it. It is an old-timey stain for curly maple. I have a bottle somewhere, and have used it to good effect for bringing out the curl in maple. Looks a bit better with a tiny bit of reddish dye stain over it. I speculate that the Gibson company used it on their Lloyd Loar F-5 mandolins. I have also used it on a few other woods just for experimentation. I do not know what the iron would do to the pine. Maybe I should try it out.

[Jim Matthews]

My mentor has also produced good results with steel wool immersed in tea water and vinegar.

[Tony Joyce]

Amazing what you can purchase on eBay

Search for "nitric acid 70"

[george wilson]

They use nitric acid and iron filings to stain gun stocks in the Gunsmith Shop in Wmsbg. I stained a curly maple guitar with it once. A very permanent brown. Can never fade. Messy,though.

[Kees Heiden]

Okay, aqua fortis. Of course this stuff doesn't look to be available overhere, but as it is just nitric acid plus iron, that wouldn't be too difficult. It sounds like some dangerous stuff though. Luckily I have a hood at work, so I might give it a try in my search to get some solutions to get an aged look on various types of wood.

[Kees Heiden]

Been reading up a bit. As far as I can see, when adding iron to nitric acid, you get ferricIIInitrate. That's something I can buy too, and it avoids the nasty, toxic and dangerous conversion. handling the ferricnitrate crystals is still not entirely safe, but I guess it is better then brewing my own.

This is especially used for maple.

[george wilson]

In our harpsichord film,we used vinegar,powdered oak galls,and iron chips from my metal lathe to make a black stain for the sharps on the keyboard. Actually,it was just an extremely dark brown. You might could use less amounts of the oak galls and iron chips,.

Behlen used to sell things like boxes of powdered oak galls. Probably they do not now. If I couldn't get them,I'd just make some white oak sawdust. What you want is the tannin. Red oak might work the same.

Google around and find a supplier of oak galls. You can get it from suppliers of textile stains as well. Chinese galls are the best. They contain a lot of tannin.

[Tony Joyce]

You can buy "tannic acid" from Olde Mill.

Tannic Acid (Tannin): A light yellow powder formed from hemlock, sumac, oak, chestnut; especially concentrated in galls or growths on these trees. When added to water and applied to wood naturally low in tannin, will "pre-stain" that wood so as to more effectively take a chemical dye.

[george wilson]

I like to use chemicals at the END of their "evolution". Like iron rust: It will not change color or fade,as it has gone as far as it can down the chain of degradation.

For the most permanent other dyes,I use ORASOL. It is expensive,but is used in museum conservation. It is a line of dyes developed in Germany for the automotive industry. They have been tested in front of arc lights for maximum fade resistance. I use it these days for my restoration work,but also for making sunburst finishes on guitars.

The trouble is,every Orasol color is different in what it will dissolve in. Some will dissolve in water,some in oil or some in lacquer thinner. I test each bottle,and write on the lid what it will dissolve in.

[Daniel Rode]

Is there any way to change the title of a thread?

I noticed shortly after I posted that I misspelled "eastern" in the title but couldn't find any way update it.