Making new wood look old

[Jay Jolliffe]

I've been asked to make a display coffee table. The person dropped off a bunch of drift wood of various thickness. Don't really want to run that through my machines because of the sand that would be in it. I've talked him into use rough sawn lumber then find a way to make it look somewhat old. Any Ideas on how I may go about doing that ?

[peter gagliardi]

My brother used to work in an antiques refinishing shop, and they used potassium dichromate i believe? It was a powder that was dissolved in either water or alcohol- I don't remember for sure.
Some might depend on the specie.

[Doug Hepler]

Jay,

I don't feel that rough cut and weathered look at all similar, although that is not to say that your customer won't like it.

What do you mean by "look old"? You can get a weathered color with grey stain or simulated weatherbeaten painted boards with diluted white paint You can get weathered texture with a steel wire brush applied with the grain direction. You can make wormholes with nails.

Search the net for weathered barn siding -- there's a lot for sale.

In any case, when you work weathered wood you expose freshly cut surfaces which then have to be "weathered".

Hope this helps

Doug

[John T Barker]

Above is mentioned potassium dichromate, this is one of many chemicals I saw used in the restoration shop I worked in. It all depends on how you want it to end up. One fellow took a side job making a table and he distressed it by leaving it outside for weeks (I think it was weeks.) The shop would bury stuff, saturate the hole with water and then put it i a solar kiln when it was removed.
Try some experimentation with chemicals, including salt water (since drift wood was the preferred look.) Craft and paint stores may carry some solutions for doing what you desire.

http://www.houzz.com/photos/34821925/Driftwood-Weathering-Wood-Finish-5-Pak-beach-style-stains-and-varnishes

[Mark Gibney]

I don't recommend using potassium dichromate, it's highly carcinogenic. It was used a lot back in the art and crafts days in giving a certain look to white oak. I've used on oak, but I realized I can get the same result with dyes.

Ferrous sulphate is used widely to age wood - stage and film backgrounds use it a lot. It's very safe, in fact it's an ingredient on some breakfast cereals. You dissolve it in water and brush it on.

You could also burn parts of the table surface with a blowtorch or heat gun and then sand that down, and rub the surface with a stiff wire brush - on some aged wood the surface is ribbed from the softer spring growth disintegrating faster than the summer growth.

[Andrew Hughes]

I would like to add that sand blasting can also give a nice worn out texture.I saw it done at Disney land while I was there banging out some shingles at the New park.Not sure what media they were useing but it sure made fir look 100 years old.

[Wayne Lomman]

I've seen everything tried, including standing back and putting a shotgun charge into a chair. I don't recommend that one though - apart from upsetting the neighbours, it didn't look right - too many pieces to try to re-assemble.

In all seriousness, find an old item that the customer likes the look of and experiment with the methods already mentioned to get the required result. There are no rules for doing this. Cheers.

[Bill Orbine]

Another aging concept is to use the steel wool and vinegar trick. Among the search in ggogle: http://m.wikihow.com/Age-Wood-With-Vinegar-and-Steel-Wool

[David Zaret]

i'm in the process of doing this right now for a big custom build. your results will depend obviously on the technique, but also on the species. for me, we want an "old pine barn siding" look on some stuff, and an "aged white oak" look on other stuff.

for the pine, i started with old pine siding (painted red). machined the lumber to size, then i used wire wheels on a big drill and a pneumatic wire wheel tool (dynabrade) to rough up the surface with the grain. watco natural seems to do the trick, and we have good looking, heavily textured old pine. i tried sandblasting the pine, but it's too soft and the sandblasting didn't look good at all.

for the oak, it's completely different - here we want that "gray look" that you get when oak sees weather for a long time. i started with #2 white oak. for the patina and color, i took vinegar, soaked clean steel wool in it for a while (days), and found that a diluted mix of this vinegar 1/5 with water did the trick. the oak turns a nice gray, but still reveals the color and grain. then, medium walnut watco over that brings out a little brown, and it looks great. my first attempt was the vinegar solution undiluted, and it completely ebonized the oak, turned it black. various experiments yielded the 5/1 ratio H2O/vinegar.

i might try sandblasting the oak and seeing how it textures (prior to the vinegar application obviously).

good luck with your project, report back your successes and failures so we can all learn...

--- dz

[Sam Murdoch]

Thinking this fellow is a "paying customer" I might approach this differently. Give the guy what he is asking but charge him the cost of a new TS blade and cutter knives. You will certainly invest more time than you imagine trying to replicate an "old" finish with trial and error and an assortment of material and possibly not be satisfied in the end for all your efforts. Your time is valuable too. Use a very stiff bristle brush and sweep the parts free from as much loose sand as possible. Vacuum the parts thoroughly. Cover your eyes and ears and runs those parts. You should only be milling one side for thickness and 1 or no edges depending on the design you develop. Just a thought.

[scott spencer]

Can't offer any useful insights about making the wood look older or worn, but to avoid using the driftwood on your machines, you can always grab a hand tools for leveling or cutting, then apply your aging technique to any exposed "fresh" surfaces.

[Wayne Lomman]

With sandblasting, remember that you will end up with sand embedded in the surface, so don't do it until after all machining is completed. Cheers

[David Zaret]

this is good advice.... and to take it a step further, as a newbie to sandblasting, expect the sand to get **everywhere** - hair, ears, etc. it's a horribly dirty process and best done outside with full protective gear...



With sandblasting, remember that you will end up with sand embedded in the surface, so don't do it until after all machining is completed. Cheers

[John C Bush]

Sandblasting with walnut shell media cleans and lightly textures the wood nicely. Doesn't remove too much and you can still machine after blasting. Still messy tho. Harbor freight has it by the box. Ferrous sulfate is used for moss control and is aslo an astringent.

[Glenn de Souza]

i'm in the process of doing this right now for a big custom build. your results will depend obviously on the technique, but also on the species. for me, we want an "old pine barn siding" look on some stuff, and an "aged white oak" look on other stuff.

for the pine, i started with old pine siding (painted red). machined the lumber to size, then i used wire wheels on a big drill and a pneumatic wire wheel tool (dynabrade) to rough up the surface with the grain. watco natural seems to do the trick, and we have good looking, heavily textured old pine. i tried sandblasting the pine, but it's too soft and the sandblasting didn't look good at all.

for the oak, it's completely different - here we want that "gray look" that you get when oak sees weather for a long time. i started with #2 white oak. for the patina and color, i took vinegar, soaked clean steel wool in it for a while (days), and found that a diluted mix of this vinegar 1/5 with water did the trick. the oak turns a nice gray, but still reveals the color and grain. then, medium walnut watco over that brings out a little brown, and it looks great. my first attempt was the vinegar solution undiluted, and it completely ebonized the oak, turned it black. various experiments yielded the 5/1 ratio H2O/vinegar.

i might try sandblasting the oak and seeing how it textures (prior to the vinegar application obviously).

good luck with your project, report back your successes and failures so we can all learn...

--- dz

Would you mind posting some photos of the results of the procedures you're describing? I've been meaning to experiment with the steel wool/vinegar technique myself. Thanks!

[David Zaret]

yeah sure i can do that. give me a bit to actually take them... will do. the white oak in particular looks really, really good.

--- dz



Would you mind posting some photos of the results of the procedures you're describing? I've been meaning to experiment with the steel wool/vinegar technique myself. Thanks!

[Stuart Kern]

I recently made a TV cabinet for a client out of white oak that I used the iron acetate (vinegar and steel wool) approach. I sanded the inside of the glued-up panels smooth, but left the planer marks on the outsides. The iron acetate turned the wood a dark blue-black; then I sanded it with 150 grit to lighten up the color but not remove too much of the planer marks. Clear coated with satin poly.

340583

[Mark Gibney]

Very nice Stuart. It does look aged.

[Greg Parrish]

Would white or yellow pine turn out the same with the vinegar / steel wool treatment? Made a pine desk top that I need to finish and like how that looks. Thanks.

[Stuart Kern]

Thanks, Mark.

Greg, I don't know - the base color comes from the reaction of the iron acetate with the tannins in the wood. Worth experimenting. I warm a quart of vinegar and pour it over #0000 steel wool in a one quart mason jar. It'll bubble for a day. Ready to use after about a day; I just leave the steel wool soaking in the vinegar for future use. When you brush it on the wood, you see the reaction within minutes.

[Greg Parrish]

Thanks, Mark.

Greg, I don't know - the base color comes from the reaction of the iron acetate with the tannins in the wood. Worth experimenting. I warm a quart of vinegar and pour it over #0000 steel wool in a one quart mason jar. It'll bubble for a day. Ready to use after about a day; I just leave the steel wool soaking in the vinegar for future use. When you brush it on the wood, you see the reaction within minutes.


Thanks Stuart. Silly question but how do you warm the vinegar?