ageing

[steve_g]

I have a customer who wants his sign to look weathered and old... I read that you can simulate the natural ageing and graying of wood by painting on a concoction of Steel wool dissolved in vinegar. I tested this treatment on a small box made of western red cedar... the same wood as the sign (but not the same board). You can see in my photo the lovely shade of gray that resulted. When I painted the actual sign it turned a DARK black, almost ebony!

I don’t know if my sign is salvageable, but I am wondering if anyone else has tried this recipe, had consistent results, or have another technique?

SG

[joe]

Wow, that panel turned south. If this was mine here's what I'd do.

Looks like it has some kind of top coat and that needs to be removed first. I'd bet this panel can be salvaged by a series of water blasting, bleaching, selective staining and sanding.

First off if you drop a piece of iron in a bottle of vinegar it's going to turn black. That's what we do, as a child, to remove rust. What you have is Iron in liquid solution and it's gone deep. Would probably turn rust color with time. But for now lets try this.

I'd make up a thick solution of granular TSP and scrub the whole surface down with a stiff bristle brush. Let it stand for a couple of hours, then take it to the car wash and blast the **** out of it. Now it's ready for a good bleaching. Try regular household bleach, let stand, wash off and more TSP. Once dry, it could use some texture. Backing your truck over its a few times. A little grave under the wheel might help. Next I'd ease the edges with a flap sander. Right now it's too clean and smooth needing more weathering along the edges.

To finish it off you'll need to re-letter the letters.

Once again, if this was my panel I'd make it go. You're only at the starting gate.

Joe

[srwtlc]

Steve,

I recently used that method on a yellow birch fake window frame/shadow box. Yellow birch, being very light colored, I thought I'd give it a try. Because yellow birch has no tannin, I first brushed the wood with a strong black tea solution to give it the needed tannin for the reaction to darken the wood. The longer the steel wool is in the vinegar, the stronger the solution and the darker it will make the wood. After applying it to my frame and letting it dry, it was almost a purple black. I went back over the whole project with a sanding sponge to knock down the grain and wear off some of the gray. For my situation, it turned out pretty good.

I don't know how much tannin there is in WRC, but I imagine that there is enough to darken it quite well without adding any with tea. I'd try sanding first to see if you can lighten it up without pressure washing it, but the lettering is still a problem to lighten up. How about aging it first and then cutting the letters. Use a chain or gravel as Joe stated to beat it up some. I used a chisel at the ends of pieces to make faux splits and the solution made those darker. Drive some square drive nail heads in to make some square nail holes, etc.

Try a lighter solution with less steel wool and not left to steep as long. Always test on some scrap of the same board that is going to be used. Sapwood, heartwood, and grain orientation can vary the color too. How much time was the solution left to brew between the sample piece and the sign. I saw a great difference in my test piece from a day or two to a week later. I had a whole #0000 biscuit in a quart of vinegar for a week. Could have gone a little lighter, but turned out ok.

You could always make the blank and let hang outside for a year or so and throw a few rocks at it from time to time. ;)

[steve_g]

A follow up here...
I had let one pad of XXXX steel wool sit in a pint of 5% cider vinegar about 12 hours when I did my initial test, I did the sign about 4 hours later. As Joe C. noted, it looked like it had some sort of “top coat” but that was all from the reaction! Joe’s thought that it would likely rust over time got me thinking... I brushed on some Sculpt Nouveau type patina chemicals thinking that if I converted it to rust I could then remove the rust with CLR. The sign indeed turned a rusty brown but half a day later when it had dried well, It was this wonderful gray!

The lesson here... I think that as Scott has suggested, testing on a scrap of the actual wood is in order. Obviously a more dilute solution would have also helped. The web is full of contradictory statements as how to do this best, each likely based on that individuals one time experience! My guess is that there are too many unknown variables to make this an exact science, but something I will try again!

SG

[srwtlc]

That looks great Steve!

I don't know if it makes any difference, but I used white vinegar for my mix (same 5% though).

[steve_g]

Thanks Scott...

Some woodworker forums stated that cider doesn’t work, others that white doesn’t work. One stated that cider vinegar would turn your wood red! I was interested in what the red effect was like and decided to try the cider since that’s what we had. Indeed, the first wood sample I tested did turn my WR Cedar Cherry red... Until it dried, then I had my first pleasing gray. The sign didn’t waste any time, turning instant black.

SG

[joe]

I'm sure the customer will be pleased.

The real benefit is the learning process and the good information all those viewing received. Your customer probably doesn't know what it takes to pull one of these off.

Now please create another disaster to keep up going.

Joe Crumley

[danhamm]

I had never tried the vinegar and steel wool, so this morning I carved "the Horse" and used the vinegar that had been sitting over nite with a piece of steel wool in it, then let it dry in front of the wood heater blower. then used steel wool to highlite it. kinda is ok.

[steve_g]

Dan...
It looks very nice from here! I like the shading effect you got from steel wooling. What kind of wood did you use? Are you going to put a clear coat over the top? How deep is the staining from the vinegar steel wool mix? Did you have to remove a lot of material to get the highlighting?

I messed with “ageing” some more wood today in an effort to scientifically get repeatable results... So far, at least with WR Cedar I can definitively say... My results are inconsistent at best!

SG

[danhamm]

The wood is cedar, interior Cedar is yellow mostly. I wont put it on as heavy as I did ,again...Yes I had to remove quite a bit to get down to lighter color scary, seems the tightness of the grain and color makes a difference, where it was white and tite grain it went dark green other places it just darkened the original color. interesting though..

[twelchPTM]

I have used a extremely watered down black paint to instill the "grayed with age look" and it worked out great for me, also "going to town" with a steel brush (following the grain) has a nice effect

[Brian Harnett]

Burning with a a torch and brushing or flap sanding works well for me, on some I will mist a light gray after that.

I have used the iron vinegar on carvings I make but not on signs its just too unpredictable.

Easy off oven cleaner a base instead of acid can have some interesting effect but has to be thoroughly washed away or the top coating will separate I found that out on a carving I did.