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Ageing wood

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OwenoWent

OwenoWent

Member
Feb 3, 2011
30
0
South West Wales
Hi guys.

I recently salvaged some old scaffolding boards, and turned them into a couple of 'rustic'/'shabby' shelves for my lounge. They sanded down nicely and look great.

Only slight annoyance is that I've used 3 boards to get the desired width. As a result, one of the ends of the planks is annoying 'clean' and square cut. The other 2 plank ends have just been sanded lightly, and look a lot more battered and aged - what I want.

Any idea on how to artificially age the newer looking end? I have contemplated rounding the edges a bit with a file, then rubbing mud or gravy browning into the grain - but worried I could make it look worse!!

Any advice appreciated. Please follow the below link to see a picture. Thanks.

Owen

https://twitter.com/owencamera/status/448003637634408449
 
Take an off cut and experiment.

Rub the end in mud, cement, use a wire brush, apply an extremely thin wash of a similar colour etc and see what happens
 
When I worked for a cabinet makers the furniture was all distressed, we bad a chap who would use bricks, chains, bunches of keys blunt axes screws, awls and a few other bits to eat the sbite out of things to make them look old.
Be careful with the end grain when staining end grain as it will go darker then the rest as it sucks up the stain.
 
I would use DRY dirt, and hit with a hammer to simulate them being bashed about over the years, you could also burn em slightly with a blowtorch, and then sand off until you reach the desired weathered look.

Dave
 
Coffee grounds or tea leaves, and if you pour boiling water over the grain it'll swell and not look quite so even. The just sand it down with a bit of sandstone.

Do they not reek of creosote now that you've cut them ?

cheers,
Toddy
 
Thanks, Toddy. Good suggestion on the boiling water!! And dry dirt with a hammer sounds good too. Thanks, Guys.

They were never creosoted - in my experience, most scaff planks are left untreated, any preservatives tend to be added after sale by scaffolding companies. Luckily, these ones never were. I can account for the last 5 years of their life, when they've lied unused in a semi-constructed, weathertight house - so they're nice and dry, if not slightly warped!
 
Boiling water and timber can be fun :)

My Dad made a huge great door for an old house. Money was very tight for those folks though and they were friends so Dad did a clever thing.
He made a basic planked door, then he took a hammer and a muckle great coach bolt and went over the door with it in a regular pattern that looked 'right', iimmc. He hit the bolt hard enough that it crushed bolt head shapes into the timber. Then he put the whole thing through a planning machine and took it down near to the depth of the bolt marks.
Then he poured boiling water over it, and all those bolt marks creaked their way back up again. When they were dry he painted them black and they honestly looked like old weathered iron studs.
Looked positively medieval when he was done :D

cheers,
Toddy
 
ozzy1977 said:
When I worked for a cabinet makers the furniture was all distressed, we bad a chap who would use bricks, chains, bunches of keys blunt axes screws, awls and a few other bits to eat the sbite out of things to make them look old.
Be careful with the end grain when staining end grain as it will go darker then the rest as it sucks up the stain.
Click to expand...

This can actually be solved with an old deccy's trick by wiping a little of the solvent that the stain is suspended in on the end grain to pre-wet it. (usually white spirit) A dampened rag wiped on will keep it all the same shade.
 
Right. I have made a start on it. I went at the edges with a key and a small stone I found whilst walking the dogs this morning, I then smoothed the edges a bit with a hammer. I mixed some boiling water with a tiny bit of gravy browning, and slapped it on. Let it dry out then rubbed the cut end with some ground ginger!?!? Smells nicer than mud. Then battered the end a bit more with a hammer.

It's not quite there colour match wise, but is a lot better - I'll keep rubbing various spices in until it matches! Ha!

thanks all.

Owen
 
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