ageing wood

[weisyboy]

i have been making small boxes from old packing cases that have proven to be verry popular but i have now run out of cases.

i wish to know how i can make small boards look old?

any help wold be mutch apreciated.

[Bob38S]

Old?

Aged, weathered or distressed or all 3?

Not really sure what you are trying to achieve?

[Claw Hama]

Weisyboy, I ran a thread similar the other week and Tea Lady found a tip on turning new wood to old brown look. Just mix up a couple of tea spoons of Bi Carb Soda in a litre of water, paint or spray it on and leave for about an hour. Bing old brown, and you can do it over again if you want to keep going. THe other one I have done is give it the costic soda paint strip treatment and then wire brush. I know that would distress me.

[BobL]

Weisyboy, I ran a thread similar the other week and Tea Lady found a tip on turning new wood to old brown look. Just mix up a couple of tea spoons of Bi Carb Soda in a litre of water, paint or spray it on and leave for about an hour. Bing old brown, and you can do it over again if you want to keep going. THe other one I have done is give it the costic soda paint strip treatment and then wire brush. I know that would distress me.

I tried the Caustic and wire brush method on some new Jarrah a few years ago and it ended up looking like new timber that had been turned grey and lifeless. There's something special about the look of old weathered timber that is very hard to duplicate. Maybe it works better on other types of timber?

[underfoot]

Hey Weisy,
keith bootle's 'wood in Australia' has about the best recipe for "silvering" wood ,
next time you're at the hairdresser,:wink: see if you can get hold of some (concentrated) hydrogen peroxide, paint that on, let dry , then paint with cloudy ammonia, and leave out in the sun.
works for me ,

[sumu]

Hello,

I have done some "silvering" with iron sulphate (ferrous sulphate, iron vitriol, green vitriol) dissolved in hot water as "suitable" dosage and then brushing it on the wood. It makes the wood (in a day or week) as grayish like kinda sunburn wood. Would help the appearance if the surface of the wood is beforehand brushed with a steel brush.

Check out these tips, too: http://shipmodeling.net/vb_forum/articles.php?action=viewarticle&artid=38
http://www.kramers.org/color.htm

"Wormholes" can be done with a dia 1...2 mm round steel nail where the tip is flattened.

Make some deeper "wormholes", then plane the wood, then brush it with a steel brush (angle grinder or drill brush will do) and apply the solution. Marinate.

Don't sandblast it, it will look like some neo-postmodern art surface, that is, looks like a bit too fake. (or to me sandblasted wood looks like kinda fake, it's a matter of taste allright)



Thorough aging of wood needs heat treatment, or thermowood treatment. That's how the natural movement of wood can be tamed down by more than half, depends a bit on species. Will have darker tone, too.

Here is a handbook for thermally treated wood for our Nordic species. No idea how it would apply thereabouts with your gumwood. But with our species, in the beginning it was all trial and error anyway :).
http://www.thermowood.fi/data.php/200312/795460200312311156_tw_handbook.pdf

kippis,

sumu

[springwater]

Great info sumi, thanks alot, it took me 2 hours to get back here again after wondering off on those links. Those wood colouring techniques are fantastic, some could be a health hazard though, others down right dangerous: "I have read descriptions of using the sun and plastic method in combination with fresh manure to enhance absorption of the ammonia; be very careful this is approaching basic explosives and may give your neighbors something more than a bad smell to complain about." BOOOOM!:oo:

[Claw Hama]

"Fresh manure", the mind boggles??, what have you given him Sumu?:no:
Sumu where were you a week or so back when I asked this question:welldone:.
The Bi carb and soda work great for browning off but it was silver I was after.
Apparently there is a commercial product on the market but I haven't been able to find it.

[sumu]

"Fresh manure", the mind boggles??, what have you given him Sumu?:no:


Wha, I gave him the same I treat myself !!! Damn, do you think he is now going to get hurt by dubiously processed fresh manure? How weird, even from that guy :D.


Well, I really hope your wood matches with my hints. You probably know already there can be differences in results related to different wood acidity, structure and such things. With coniferous like this nordic pine it worked out pretty well. Grayish weathered shedwall, I'd call it "silvery".

To really get the wood white, I'd go for sodium hypochlorite, the now mostly banned bleach of paper industry. Use it straight. A bundle of brown flax fibers turns into almost snow white over night.

I haven't tried this thing out, but some guys hereabouts claim that a powerful UV lamp would also be a player in wood surface aging activities. At least it is in use for aging plastics, for example for "vintage" guitar lacquers and textile fabrics and such. UV is a bit nasty, special goggles/masks are needed and full skin cover.

kippis,

sumu

[jimbur]

There is an absolutely foolproof way but it comes expensive.
Make the boards into packing cases and send them to a woodworker in the UK and have them send it back.:D
Jim

[weisyboy]

ill give a few of them ago imight also take a couple of boards down and drop them in te wet grass next to the dam for a few months.:2tsup: thanks guys.