Thread: A George I Walnut Side Table

Another stunning masterpiece sire!!!

Originally Posted by Woodwould

Thank you.

I'm sure I posted the recipe for my 'Old Ambience No. 5' Antique Finish before, but here it is again:

Take one firkin of Don't Try This At Home and heat gently in a large copper pan. Slowly stir in one gill of Rub This On The Neighbour's Cat and bring to a rolling boil. The instant the mixture becomes nacreous, strain off the liquid into a clean carboy and immediately add a glass and a half of This Will Take Care Of The Mother-In-Law, a pennyweight of Well Sodden Impropriety and the merest pinch of Promise You Won't Tell Mum And Dad. Swirl the carboy anti-clockwise until cool and then drop in a fresh lump of Leave Well Alone. Cork the carboy tightly. Over the period of a few days, the Old Ambience No. 5 will become quite clear.

Have patience; it will clear.

Stand the furniture to be treated in a sealed room. Place the un-corked carboy in the centre of the room and leave the furniture to absorb Old Ambience No. 5 for a month of Sundays or until the concoction has evaporated. Stand back in wonderment and congratulate yourself on a job well done.

Yep. Seen that before

Originally Posted by Woodwould

There is a proprietary brass ageing solution sold by Liberon, but it's expensive not very convincing at all; it produces a horrid brownish patina similar to the 'antique' brasses you see in the shops (they use the same chemical).

I'm not prepared to divulge the constituents of my concoction at this time. However, if you want some brasses aged, I should be able to do them just for you.

Even if you put WW to the rack he would not reveal his hard won secrets.

Originally Posted by Peter36

Even if you put WW to the rack he would not reveal his hard won secrets.

Well not yet at any rate. Some sanctimonious twit once proclaimed "Patience is a virtue".

Another masterpiece. I'm speechless once again. Thanks for sharing your work with us.

Great project woodwould and thank you for sharing your ideas and processes.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

Before finally subjecting the brasses to the Bucket of Wrath

G'day Woodwould,

I've come back to learn from the Master, I'm adding some missing pieces and want to age some brass fittings to try and get them somewhere about close (if i can) to the brass fittings on an existing piece of furniture.

With a bit of research I've found a process that is simple ( How to Turn Shiny Brass to Antique Brass | eHow.com ) , the last stage invloves subjecting the brass to a coating (mixture of 2 table spoon of salt to 1 cup of vinegar) then leaving it air overnight to age.

Is the oxidation process by both covering and leaving to air, or by the covering and getting better results by leaving it in the solution?

I've given one attempt but haven't yet got what I'm after, and so will give another go - maybe for longer?

Waldo, there are endless recipes on the net for dulling brass – I say 'dulling' because that's basically all they do. For some reason, a lot of people seem to think that because brass has changed from looking shiny and new that it must therefore look old. None of the internet recipes I've come across actually leave brass looking like old brass.

Now that's not to say that you won't like the results of some of the colours these recipes achieve, but from my standpoint, they just don't look like antique brass.

A less frustrating course might be to purchase some Liberon brass ageing solution. It still won't accurately replicate an antique patina, but produces consistent olive-brown results that you may find suits your needs.

Thanks Woodwould, I had thought of getting some Liberon, but thought first to try a technique which involved readily available stuff from SWMBO's pantry.

Perchance, might you be able to share the concoction to the makings of you Broth of Wrath? As it is the escutcheons had a natural patina to them, and subsequently the process I used cleaned them a bit and lost what I first had. I was hoping I could age them more.

Waldo - Refer to post 91

Ahh, somehow I missed that post - maybe I hadn't checked email notifications for posts including and following to His Master's reply.