Weathered look?

[John Miliunas]

We're (I use the term "we" very loosely here!) finally getting closer to the final design of the bathroom remake. LOML has settled on a Sea Theme. Kind of nautical, if you will. She'd like the cabinets to have the look of driftwood, at least, in color. My initial thought was Cedar, as it naturally turns gray. BUT, doesn't it need sunlight (UV) to do this? This particular bathroom does NOT have an outside window :( making that a bit tough. And, although driftwood in color, we still need to have the surfaces smooth and finished. At first I thought of "pre-weathering" the boards, but as soon as you start machining them, they'll regain their original brown color. Any suggestions? Anybody know if there's a chemical treatment which can be applied before machining, which would go deeper? A chemical treatment after milling? Stain which would actually mimic the natural aging? I'm at a loss. Suggestions most welcome! :cool:

[Don Abele]

John, I asked this question several months ago. I was making a shelf in the shape of a lighthouse, to hold lighthouse figurines. I too wanted it to have that weathered gray look. Never got an answer, so I'm hoping you may. Though the shelf is done (stained to match their other shelves instead), it'll help with any future projects.

Be well,

Doc

[Tom Sweeney]

You don'r happen to have a pic of the lighthouse shelf do you? This is something I might like to make for my Dad eventually - he lives on the northern part of the Chesapeake & collects lighthouse stuff.


John, I asked this question several months ago. I was making a shelf in the shape of a lighthouse, to hold lighthouse figurines.
Be well,
Doc

Sorry to hijack your thread John - I don't have an answer for you. I'll offer a guess to pay for the hijacking a thinned grey die then a off white or lighter grey topcoat ragged off?? or maybe the other way around??

[Don Abele]

Sure do Tom, here it is. Wish I could remember the dimensions, it's about 2 feet tall or so and about 18" wide at the base. The shelves are spaced about an inch higher and wider than the largest figurine. Since I couldn't weather it, I stained it to match my mother's other shelves.

Be well,

Doc

[Bob Lasley]

John,

You could probably mix up a gray dye and use it on a lighter colored wood. Another thought, is to build your cabinets and then sand blast them for effect before dyeing. This would especially work well on wood that has hard and soft areas where the soft areas would sand blast away easier than the hard ones.

Sounds like alot of experimentation may be involved.

Bob

[Halsey MCCombs]

John you might check out Cabot's stain. They are on the net. That is what is use alot up here along the NE coast.Halsey

[Jim Young]

Saw a show once where a guy put his lumber under the ports of a grain hopper where the grain came out. It put some natural looking grooves in the board and made it real smooth also. This wouldn't help the color but the texture would look good.

[John Miliunas]

Sounds like alot of experimentation may be involved.



Bob, I was afraid someone might say that! :D OK, I'm good with that. But, it does lead to a couple more questions, then. I originally thought Cedar. In its natural state, Cedar isn't very light. Also, and here's my Newbieness showing through, I've never worked with dyes. Any recommendations on the wood & dye combo? :cool:

[Bob Lasley]

John,

For dyes, I like Jeff Jewitt's stuff at Homestead Finishing, also available at some woodworking stores. On large projects I prefer water based dyes as the alcohol based ones dry too fast although you can slow them down with retarder. One thing about water based dyes, you need to raise the grain and lightly sand before applying them.

As for wood, pine, poplar, white oak, maple, etc. Ambrosia maple might be a good choice for a different look.

Good luck,
Bob

[Mark Singer]

John,
The cedar won't weather unless it is exposed to wet and dry cycle conditions and UV. White oak or teak are also good choices. Take regular bleach on a small piece and see if you like it. You may need to put it outside for a while. If you wire brush it and take regular water based house paint.."off white " or "grey white" . Thin the paint with water about 1 to 1 and apply it. After it drys either sand it or wire brush it..try both. That leaves the white wash in certain areas and removes the rest. If you use dyes some come premixed. That will tend to penetrate the wood and make it opaque. After you get the color you like you can seal it with Deft or some type of varnish after it is real dry.

[Brad Schafer]

again, completely clueless, but i wonder what an ammonia tent treatment might do to cedar (see relatively recent thread regarding "aging" cherry...)

as an alternative to cedar (one i used in the past, actually), you might see if you can find an old barn that's being torn down.

b

[Ted Calver]

John,
I used to have to mass produce "driftwood" plaques for one of SWMBO's craft crazes and found that sandblasting and bleaching would produce some pretty realistic material. I used Cypress and Doug Fir 'cause thats what I had, but any ring porus wood should work.
T

[John Miliunas]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys! I don't have a sandblaster, so that kind of nixes that idea, but I think I might play a bit with the bleach and definitely will need to try out the dye. Seeing as to how it's going to be in a high-humidity area, I'm thinking that maybe the White Oak or Maple may be my best route for stability. Should make for a good learning experience and interesting project! And, LOML has actually come up with a pretty nice layout for it, complete with a "His" and "Hers" side! Equal sizes, no less! :D I'll keep you's guys posted as the experimental stages progress. Thanks again! :cool:

[Kelly C. Hanna]

You could use just about any wood and apply water based color stain. I think there's a grey color that would emulate the weathered wood look you want. You'd also want a satin finish of some sort so it wouldn't shine too much.

[David Rose]

John, like Mark said. Paint is just very thick stain. Thin it and you have one type. You didn't mention messing with the texture, but a cheap sand blaster will work fairly well with common sand. Use it outside and you don't even need a cabinet. Just paint the wood with it like a finish sprayer and let the used sand blow away. Since you don't need a smooth even finish like you might on metal, common sand will serve.

David