Making new softwood look like old

[Feltwell]

Purists look away now...........

Feltwell Towers, which is of late Victorian vintage, has retained an original built-in cupboard in the kitchen that has been stripped by a previous owner (badly - but that's another story). The same owner stripped the skirting, doors and architraves in that room, and whilst it's a modern fashion and would all have been painted originally I quite like it as stripped wood.

I have a horribly bodged section of modern skirting to replace, which sits alongside a length of original skirting. Whoever fitted the modern skirting had a go at making it match the old with what looks like a water-based woodstain, but it really doesn't work.

Has anyone any tips for making my new softwood moulding match, or at least blend in better, with the old?

 

[plasticpigeon]

Some people use caustic soda to darken and age wood.

 

[Penners]

This is a bit of a tricky question, Feltwell, because it depends how old your old pine is, and by what method it has aged. Variations in the process can produce quite different appearances in the timber.

However, here's something to try - be absolutely sure that you try it out on a piece of scrap first, to ensure that you like the effect. This will also help you to see how much to allow each treatment to work, in order to achieve the match that you're after.

First of all, arm yourself with a variety of bashing tools - chains, bunches of keys, golf shoes, screwdrivers... maybe even a soldering iron. Anything that will distress the surface of the pine. Give the wood a good going-over with your armoury to an extent that you feel matches the patina of the old wood (don't worry about the colour at this stage). Just try not to cause too much damage to the board edges.

Now crumble or tear up some fine steel wool and drop it into a jar of white vinegar (ordinary vinegar will do but it's not as acid - and acidity is what you want). Leave this mixture overnight. It can be a bit fumey so put a lid on the jar. While you're waiting for this mixture to react, give the surface of the pine a bit of a sanding with coarse paper (P60 or P80) ALONG the grain (don't use an orbital sander). This knocks off any splinters and opens up the grain.

The next day, strain the bits of wire wool out of the vinegar (don't worry if the vinegar hasn't changed colour). Now paint the liquid on to the wood, making sure it penetrates all of your dings and dents, and leave it for about 4 - 6 hours. Wipe off any surplus and let it dry. You should find that the wood has gone grey.

Finally use something quite aggressive, such as a power brush (e.g. http://www.rutlands.co.uk/finishes-glues-&-materials/brushes-&-applicators/brushes---hand-&-drill/FD40/dome-brush) to brush a brown-coloured soft wax into the surface. The colour should strike more deeply into the wounds than elsewhere, producing a satisfactory patina. The brush will also buff the wax very effectively.

Now step back and decide whether you like the effect. If you don't, curse me and do something different.

 

[Feltwell]

Thank you both - and as it happens, I have a selection of different shades of brown Briwax from an old job, so I'll give it a go on some scrap after the "bashing & vinegar" treatment Penners describes. After looking online I found a similar approach to Penner's but instead of vinegar, it uses caustic soda as PP mentions - so I may well give both a go.

I'll report back once I've got around to the job, so that'll be some point in 2015 then..... :wink:

 

[Penners]

I'll report back once I've got around to the job, so that'll be some point in 2015 then.....

That's fine, Feltwell - no rush. I'll take a Kit-Kat break in the meantime.

 

[billybuntus]

Thank you both - and as it happens, I have a selection of different shades of brown Briwax from an old job, so I'll give it a go on some scrap after the "bashing & vinegar" treatment Penners describes. After looking online I found a similar approach to Penner's but instead of vinegar, it uses caustic soda as PP mentions - so I may well give both a go.

I'll report back once I've got around to the job, so that'll be some point in 2015 then..... :wink:

Go to your local fireplace stripping centre or next best try a furniture stripping place and ask for a dip out of there tank. Take an old coffee jar.

Just paint a coat on then let it dry. Stick a coat of your favourite briwax on

 

[Penners]

Feltwell, when billybuntus suggests that you should visit a stripping centre, I just want to be absolutely sure that you understand the kind of establishment that he's talking about,

 

[Feltwell]

Funnily enough, I was just going to ask if Spearmint Rhino was a possible alternative source..........

 

[CliffordPope]

You can also add a bit of old woodworm. Use a 1mm bit in an electric drill and just perforate areas of the wood at a variety of angles. Then fill with dark Briwax.

Making an emulsion of two different wood stains works quite well if one is water and the other oil based. Different bits of the grain accept one or the other variably, bringing out different grains, knots, bruising, etc.

 

[garnett]

Hi

I have found two ways of doing this. In one case I removed all the spindles from my staircase and had them stripped. I had 4 new ones turned and they also went in with the others. You can't tell now which is which.

I also did a replacment floorboard. It was far lighter than the originals. A couple coats of cold tea followed by sealing wax and they look fine.

Good luck.

Garnett

 

[CliffordPope]

followed by sealing wax

Sealing wax? You mean the red stuff that comes in sticks that you melt and drip onto parcel string and legal documents?

 

[Penners]

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax,
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings."

 

[garnett]

Sorry well spotted - sealing with wax not sealing wax! heated so that it absorbes well.

Thaks

Garnett

 

[Feltwell]

Thank you both - and as it happens, I have a selection of different shades of brown Briwax from an old job, so I'll give it a go on some scrap after the "bashing & vinegar" treatment Penners describes. After looking online I found a similar approach to Penner's but instead of vinegar, it uses caustic soda as PP mentions - so I may well give both a go.

I'll report back once I've got around to the job, so that'll be some point in 2015 then..... :wink:

Well, for once, my time prediction for getting round to completing a job *might* have been pessimistic! That is, providing I get my finger out and get it finished in the next month..... :wink:

Thought I'd report back on the final result of my trying to make new softwood skirting look old and match the existing in my kitchen. I tried various methods and ended up with a bit of a mix of all the advice above. Coloured Briwax only didn't do much, the colour didn't really take enough. Stain looked just as awful as the previous owner's attempts. Painting caustic soda mix on the timber did next to nothing in this case - just made it go a bit yellow - the wax over the top still didn't add much colour. Strange that, as I thought it would work, I tried different strengths of caustic soda but all to no avail.

In the end, I went with:-

- Roughen the timber by sanding along the grain with the 80 grit paper
- Bash it about with a variety of implements to simulate 100 years of being knocked about. Harder than it sounds to get it looking "naturally" battered!
- Light rub with sandpaper again
- Paint black tea on, leave to dry
- Paint on a vinegar & steel wool mix and leave to dry. This was made by putting steel wool in white vinegar and leaving it for several weeks until the steel wool had dissolved completely. This is what gives most of the colour to the timber, it's a reddy brown coloured mix, but applied over the tea it dries brown
- Wax and polish off twice with Briwax "Old Pine". Use a cloth to apply, if you use fine wire wool to apply as per the instructions it take too much of the colour underneath off and it goes blotchy.

Not a perfect result, in fact I don't think it's that great at all, but I'm hampered by the grain pattern being quite different between the old & new timber. Even though the new stuff is decent quality redwood moulding, it's clearly grown a lot more quickly than the Victorian stuff. It's also hard to replicate just how battered and patchy the old wood is. However, once it's in place and has had a few years of natural battering and grubbiness, I'm sure it will fit in fine!

Test piece:-





And as an idea of what it looked like before treatment - very blonde!





At some point I've got to tackle the cupboard doors on the picture above, whatever abuse has been heaped on them in the past has made them very blotchy. The built-in cupboard on the other side is even worse, one bit of moulding on a door panel is quite badly scorched from where someone must have tried to paint strip it with a blowtorch, and set fire to it! Funny how it doesn't notice to most people though - they just see a very old and well worn cupboard with lots of character.

 

[Penners]

Bash it about with a variety of implements to simulate 100 years of being knocked about.

Pity I didn't know you were doing that. For a small consideration you could have put the pieces in a room with my grandsons for an hour. That's about as close as you'll ever get to 100 years of authentic wear and tear.

 

[LadyArowana]

You've done a great job matching that, I don't think anyone would know unless you told them

 

[Feltwell]

For a small consideration you could have put the pieces in a room with my grandsons for an hour. That's about as close as you'll ever get to 100 years of authentic wear and tear.

The little Feltwells don't do a bad job of that either. Mind you, now that my youngest has outgrown his ride-on fire engine, which has seen far more than it's fair share of both head-on and glancing high speed impacts with the skirting boards, the wear & tear rate may go down a bit.

I don't think anyone would know unless you told them

Shhhh! Someone might hear and post it on the t'interweb, then everyone will know! Seriously, thank you for the kind words, my verdict is it's OK but not fantastic. I'm a terrible perfectionist but I know that even I will ignore them soon enough, much as I've ignored the bare plaster walls in that room for 2 years! Get it decorated by Christmas (this year!) - that is the target now.......

 

[skier-hughes]

I think it looks excellent, when we all get invited round for supper the game can be "pick out the new skirting"

 

[Penners]

the game can be "pick out the new skirting"

Wow! I bet you have some riotous evenings, Graham!

 

[Keith Bowman]

the game can be "pick out the new skirting"

Wow! I bet you have some riotous evenings, Graham!

Well, there's skirting and there's skirting board. The post did clearly state skirting