Making new softwood look like old

[Penners]

Just how risqué can you get?!



:roll:

 

[xanthe]

Wow! That is impressive. You'd never guess.

I'm now hoping I've get to have a go at that. Bookmarking the recipe!

 

[Feltwell]

If anyone else is tempted to have a go, don't make up too much of the white vinegar and steel wool mix - a little goes a very, very long way.

 

[Flyfisher]

It certainly gives a good result, but does anyone know how it affects the natural ageing of the wood? I supposed it's a bit academic to worry about how it might look in 100 years time but I'm just curious how stable the treatment is and whether it will be detrimental in the long term.

 

[Feltwell]

I'll post back in 50 years! Ooo, actually, not impossible but chances are I won't..... :wink:

I wondered that as well, but apart from it naturally darkening a bit I can't see it will do that much harm. If it does, well, it's not structural and it will be an SEP! (*)

* - Someone Else's Problem.

 

[Penners]

I should perhaps mention that, when I was in the furniture industry, I did quite a lot of experimentation on staining softwood with tea and coffee. All of the results tended to fade over time. I didn't continue the experiments for long enough to discover the extent to which the rate of fading was roughly matched by the rate of oxidisation of the timber (natural darkening).

 

[Feltwell]

I can imagine that their must be quite a lot of vested interests in coming up with an easy to apply, quick drying and environmentally responsible way of making new softwood look like old.

A much more exciting construction project awaits me this afternoon - a slightly poorly, but recovering, 4 year old wants to play Lego with his Dad whilst Mum takes the other two out. Yay, a whole afternoon of Lego!!

 

[Penners]

Yay, a whole afternoon of Lego!!

Just one to look after? Lucky you!! Three grandsons, 8,6 and 4 here for the whole day! Care to swap?

 

[angrybird]

Lego scares me! says she who fractured her elbow falling on it

 

[Feltwell]

Well, our 16 wheel, vertical take off and landing jet-powered lorry (with 6 trailers of course) is a triumph! I shall patent it immediately, the UK's transport problems have clearly been resolved.

Just one to look after? Lucky you!! Three grandsons, 8,6 and 4 here for the whole day! Care to swap?

Ahh, but Penners, as my parents never cease to remind me, the great thing about being grandparents is at the end of the day you hand them back and get a good nights sleep. I've just had two nights with a very unhappy little boy with an ear infection. However, with some medicine, a quiet day at home, Dad all to himself to clamber all over and generally abuse and some spaghetti and sausages, he's looking brighter and will hopefully sleep tonight.

Angrybird - yes, Lego is a constant hazard here if you dare to move whilst barefoot in the dead of night!

 

[Penners]

Spaghetti and sausages?!!

Ooooh - I think I feel an ear infection coming on.

 

[Feltwell]

Spaghetti and sausages?!!

The very height of culinary desirability if you're 4 years old and called Bill. Or so I am confidently assured!

 

[Penners]

And if you're 72 years old and called Penners, I assure you!

 

[Feltwell]

It certainly gives a good result, but does anyone know how it affects the natural ageing of the wood? I supposed it's a bit academic to worry about how it might look in 100 years time but I'm just curious how stable the treatment is and whether it will be detrimental in the long term.

Well, here's a 2 years on update. It still looks good but it has got noticeably darker - too dark in fact However I have other things to worry about, so it's staying as it is!

SWMBO wanted a fairly large pin-type notice board for the (now decorated) kitchen wall, the kids get so many notices home from school that need keeping for a bit. All the notice boards I could find were either horrible cheap cork jobs with the meanest softwood surround you've ever seen, or very much office-type boards. So it gave me an excuse to have another go at finding a way of making new softwood look like old, as I decided to make my own frame to go around a notice board, to be in keeping with the architrave that goes round the built-in cupboard next to where it will hang.

Much experimentation and buying of wood dyes/stains later and I've ended up with the following method, which may be of use to others:-

- Starting off with clean, very "blonde" new softwood moulding.
- Sand down lightly with 180 grit
- Make up a 50/50 mix of Rustins Pine Wood Dye (NOT antique pine) and Bolgers Light Fast Wood Stain in Victorian Pine (NOT Bolgers Water Based Wood Stain)
- 1 thin coat of the mix, leave to dry for 8 hours, sand down gently with 240 grit
- Another coat of the mix, leave to dry for 8 hours, sand down very gently with 240 grit
- A coat of shellac based sanding sealer, leave for half an hour or so, less in warm weather
- Sand down very gently with 320 grit
- Finish with 1 coat of Mylands Stripped Pine coloured wax, buffed off immediately

The Rustins Wood Dye on it's own was too golden in colour, the Bolgers was too brown, but mixed together they give a pretty close match to the original Victorian pine that will be next to this. 2 coats I found leaves it a little lighter than the Victorian wood - so hopefully it will match in even better when it darkens a bit with age. Obviously your wood may be a different colour, but hopefully this gives a starting point to someone (and it gives a reference on PP for me when I need to check back what recipe I used in a few years time and I've forgotten! :wink: )

The dye/stain mix is an odd one. It doesn't actually mix together that well - though they are both solvent based - and you need to give it a quick stir with the brush every time you dip it in. However, it goes on fine and you get the odd little tiny fleck of darker colour appearing on the wood, which actually adds to the ageing effect. The coloured wax helps the ageing deceit a bit as well I find, as it tends to sit a bit in the fine detail of the moulding and in any imperfections - much as dirt does after many years.

Following tips from Toby Newell (who's probably grimaced at my trial-and-error method above!) I'm a total convert to using shellac sanding sealer now prior to waxing - wonderful stuff! Toby's advice has been very useful on a number of my wood finishing projects now, do go through his website and his article on here if you're doing any wood finishing, well worth a read even if (like me) you don't stick rigidly to the guidance given and experiment a bit.

Will post up some pictures when I get a chance to take some in daylight.

 

[Penners]

Please just clarify: is this frame for a pinboard or for a treasured Gainsborough portrait of the 3rd Duke of Feltwell?

 

[Feltwell]

What, a portrait of oneself you mean? Oh no, that would be dreadfully common :wink:

Yes it's OTT and has probably given rise to the world's most expensive pinboard, in time consumed at least, but after you've spent ages on making the rest of the room look good to then fix a cheap horrible item up would just jar every time I looked at it. If I could have bought a half decent one that satisfied SWMBO's size criteria ( steady! :wink: ) then I would have done.

It's not like I've got anything else to do :lol: It's a bit of a blueprint for future, more significant "making new wooden things look like old wooden things" tasks that I have to do.

 

[Penners]

I'm well experienced at making young things look old. I've been working at it for well over 70 years.

Have a great Christmas!

 

[Feltwell]

And to you as well - in fact to everyone on the forum!

 

[Feltwell]

Well, I know you've all been so excited waiting to see my dyed softwood pictures - Penners has hardly slept a wink I bet :wink: - so here we go, next to a bit of the untreated wood:-



Magnificent in it's brown-ness, eh? :lol: A pretty good match to the original Victorian timber elsewhere in the room now - just a bit paler, but I think it will darken with age, softwood tends to even when dyed.

 

[Penners]

A excellent job, Feltwell, and worthy more of a Gainsborough than a mere pinboard!

Thank goodness I can now get some rest!