finishing wood to get that old worn look

[Josh Goldsmith]

Hello eveyone!!!! I am getting ready to build my brother a entertainment center. He wants it to look kind of old. I have never tried that before. My questions to you are:

1. What wood would you recommend. He wanted a medium brown color.

2. How do you "burn" the wood. Like around the corners and and other spots.

3. What finish would you recommend for a very active cabinet.

4. Anything else that i forgot that i need to make sure i address.

Thanks and in case i don't respond by christmas- I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

[Vaughn McMillan]

Josh, I've known people who've used a propane torch to burn the edges of pine. I think if you practice a bit on a piece of scrap, you'd get the hang of it. That said, if your brother wants a medium brown color, seems the burned edge look would be lost in the rest of the wood.

You can also "distress" the wood in other ways if he wants it to look old. I'm sure there are a whole slew of ways it can be done, but I've used chains to beat on wood to give it a distressed look. You have to kind of experiment to see what effects you can get, but a chain makes a somewhat random pattern of depressions if you apply it right. I've also heard of shooting a piece with a shotgun, and as much fun as that would be, it'd take some experimentation (let alone the proper place to do it) before trying it on an entertainment center. Have you considered using used wood? Depending on your location, there might urban recyclers and similar salvage dealers in your area that carry things like used lumber and building materials.

Personally, for something I intended to make look beat up, I wouldn't buy any sort of premium wood for it. I'd get something relatively strong and straight but cheap and stain it to the desired shade of brown. I'll let the real experts here suggest specific wood species and finishes, but thought I'd share some of my wood-thrashing experience.

- Vaughn

[Mike Glaze]

Hello eveyone!!!! I am getting ready to build my brother a entertainment center. He wants it to look kind of old. I have never tried that before. My questions to you are:

1. What wood would you recommend. He wanted a medium brown color.

2. How do you "burn" the wood. Like around the corners and and other spots.

3. What finish would you recommend for a very active cabinet.

4. Anything else that i forgot that i need to make sure i address.

Thanks and in case i don't respond by christmas- I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

By burning the wood I assume you mean using a torch with a ton of soot coming off of it(less oxygen) to fume the wood with. You can cover the wood in black soot and wipe it off, then apply a clear finish over it. Pine works well for this.

You could use any type of cheaper wood you want and use a milk paint finish over it. You finish the whole piece with the color of milk paint you want then sand the edges of the wood with a fine sandpaper until you sand through to the wood to give it a distressed look. You see this type of finish done all over the place in stores on new furniture made to look like antique furniture. Milk paint requires no other finish over it. It leaves a flat looking color that looks vintage and you have probably seen it many times, but didn't know what it was. Check: www.milkpaint.com (http://www.milkpaint.com) and www.realmilkpaint.com (http://www.realmilkpaint.com) for a local supplier of milk paint in your state.

Just depends on what look you really want. I like the milk paint finish because you can finish it in the color you want, then distress the finish and it looks like a vintage piece of furniture.

Mike

[Aaron Kline]

Why not just buy reclaimed wood? It's already aged looking naturally.

[Chris Barton]

What kind of wood do you plan to use for this project? That makes a big difference. Soem woods are nearly impossible to make look old. One popular way on hardwood furniture is to use a glaze that replicates the patina that builds up over the years.

[Anthony Anderson]

Why not just buy reclaimed wood? It's already aged looking naturally.

My thoughts exactly. You should be able to find some recycled/reclaimed wood somewhere near you. Later, Bill

[Richard Wolf]

You may want to do a search for "museum quiality finish". This term may seem misleading because your first impression would be of high quality but it really mean unrestored and showing wear.
The key to doing it is working backwards. Here an example;
Stain the raw wood with a brown stain.
Paint it with barn red milk paint.
Use a crackle medium.
Rub some wax on areas of high wear.
Paint it with your finish color of milk paint.
Rub the paint off where the wax is.
Sand completely down to the brown stain in other areas of higher wear.
Mix some baby powder with some of your milk paint.
Torch the baby powder for a cumbly look.
Finish with an oil type finish.

On and on. These technique can take a long time to get really good at and your preception of how furniture wears is really important for good results.

Richard

[Jim Marshall]

I have used the Ralph Lauren tea stain on poplar and liked the results. The tea stain is an aging process and has a tan or light brown look to it when dried. The stain looks like latex paint and does not look that good when you first put it on but when it dries it looks really good. It is a heavy body stain and builds up heavy in crevices and corners which you will want it to and when it dries it looks old. A couple of things I have done to distress pieces is to over sand in some areas and I have used rat shot in a rifle and a pistol to shoot the piece to get the worm hole look. Beware when using the rat shot, it will bounce back at you and it does sometimes sting a little but protect your eyes above all. Chains, and a bunch of old keys will distress it pretty good also. As said in the above posts, there are a good number of ways to distress a piece.

[Wolf Kiessling]

In the past, when I built stuff with that sort of look, I used recycled fence boards over a frame of regular 2X4's. Used a propane torch to THOROUGHLY burn the wood then used a wire brush to remove all of the soot. Sometimes I had to burn twice to get the look I want. Finished with waterborne poly. The fence boards were cedar. I always made sure to burn enough to remove some of the softer wood between the grain to get a nice, ridgy(?) feel and look.

Now that I think of it, though, that is probably not what you want in an entertainment center. What I used this stuff for is out on the patio, sun porch and the like. Oh well........

[Mark Singer]

I don't know how I do it.....but when I am trying to get that perfect look....I get the worn ,rustic , old look...I guess try real hard to make it perfect:rolleyes:

BTW (Bacon Tomatoes Wasabi) use a curved scraper and scorp the face...leave ridges

[Josh Goldsmith]

Wow thanks for all the responses. I don't want to paint it if possible. I was maybe thinking of talking them into a cherry wood becuase i have never used it and think that i could get a rich old look. Here is along the lines of what i was thinking. This is not what i am building them but mainly to show you guys what i am thinking- color wise.
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/7052/coolcherrydesk0ox.th.jpg (http://img407.imageshack.us/my.php?image=coolcherrydesk0ox.jpg)

I was hoping to make the corners and edges a little darker. Now i haven't talked to them to make sure this is what they want but i am pretty sure they wood like that. If you find any other pics that look kind of old furniture please show me. Thanks Josh

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Stefan Schoenberger]

Hi Josh

To give your wood an old looking touch you can try some chemical methods. This methods are working great with woods they have tannic acid in it (like oak).

Smoked wood:

Put your wood into an airtight box or make something airtight out of tarps. Then put some small bowls with ammonia underneath the wood and let it work in for about 12 hours (the fumes goes into the wood).
I don't know if this works with other woods, too.


Burned wood:

3 parts of sulphuric acid to 100 of water
1 part of hydrochloric acid to 4 of water
2 parts of hydrochloric acid to 1 of ammonia One of those solutions you can put on your wood and then you have to burn it with a torch. After that you brush the wood with a wire brush (bronze wires! - no oxidation).

When you are done with this you can put some clear coat over the wood (water-based or polyurethane).


Attention:

When you work with acids, always wear saftey gloves, saftey glasses and if possible a respirator.
Use metal free brushes and metal free bowls (metal + acid means oxidation.
Work in a good vented place. Maybe you should make first some small samples to see how it works (solutions + paint).

Good luck!


Stefan