Aged / Reclaimed Oak Finish

[cusimar9]

Hi all,

I'm familiar with some of the Osmo Oil finishes, having used a number of their oils previously. However I'd like to try something different and I'd like to have a slightly more 'aged' look to the oak. Something along the lines of the below

It's definitely a stain I'm after, and how some of the grain picks up more stain than others adds to the affect. I've seen some new furniture for sale today that looks similar, so I'm sure it's possible, just don't know what I'm looking for.

It'll be for a bed.

Cheers, Rick

 

[thetyreman]

that's natural wear, just look for old cracked oak, re-claimed oak is what I would look for, however it's not easy to find from experience, maybe I'm missing something that others know about.

 

[ED65]

It's definitely a stain I'm after, and how some of the grain picks up more stain than others adds to the affect.

Localised staining and then cutting back the surface can work well for that sort of thing.

If you want to replicate the overall look starting with pristine new oak I think you'll need to use a variety of techniques together, partly to physically weather the surface (abrasion) and partly to mimic the effects of exposure (staining). So to begin with I'd get to experimenting with various types of abrasion for texture, including wire brushing to enhance the grain.

If you'd like to grey the wood at all then it's worth trying the steel wool + vinegar thing you might have read about. Leave some rusty nails in vinegar for a week to prepare the solution, or dissolve a small wad of steel wool. Usual advice is to strain the liquid so you don't accidentally get a rust spot on the wood, but you might actually want that since those spots will turn black on oak. Similarly it's common advice not to us steel wool to smooth oak, as any particles left behind will react and give black stains but you can deliberately ignore that advice here as it could give you something you really like the look of.

For your final finish, overall the oak in that photo looks quite light so you might try a water-based poly.

 

[cusimar9]

Could you recommend some finishes to play around with?

 

[ED65]

If you're up for a bit of experimentation I'd suggest you lay in a bottle of boiled linseed oil and one tin of (gloss) oil-based polyurethane. You can do an amazing amount with just those two and some white spirit or turpentine for dilution.

You can use the BLO by itself and the poly by itself as originally intended.

You can use BLO before the poly to enhance the grain more.

Want an equivalent to Danish oil? Mix equal parts of spirit, BLO and poly in a jar, stir well to blend or cap the jar and shake it up and it's ready to use. Some of the Osmo oil finishes may be something very similar to this.

Want wiping varnish? Transfer some poly to a jar and add 1/3 to 1/2 as much white spirit. Again, mix well and it's ready to use immediately.

Although you can thin oil-based poly heavily for a barely-there finish if you really want the wood to look like it has no finish on it while still having decent protection a matt water-based finish is your best bet.