How to get this finish

[=Adam=]

Hi guys,

I am wanting to make some things for the house and I would like to get the aged effect similar to this:



I am guessing that it is simply rough sawn timber that has been lightly sanded and then stained with some form of antique pine?

Would I be right saying that, or are there more (or less) steps required?

Thanks

 

[marcros]

I can't see it very well, but I would use oak, plane the worst of the sawn surface off by hand, but don't go to too much effort. Fume it for somewhere around 18-24 hours in ammonia, oil it and put a dark wax on top. The odd bandsaw mark or two add character, and I would suggest knocking off the worst of any sharp edges to add a bit of age too it.

You probably could do the same with stain but I think it will look stained.

 

[marcros]

before

after

Sorry, dreadful phone images but gives you some idea of the change. There was a coat if shellac between the oil and wax.

 

[=Adam=]

Thanks for the reply.

Does the lustre come from the wax?

 

[marcros]

No that is probably the flash on the camera to be honest, the shellac may help- the wax probably softened it a bit. The fuming and oil bring out the colour, the grubbiness is from the dark wax.

The colour in the picture isn't very good. In real life it is nearer your pic- a rich antique brown

 

[marcros]

Thanks for the reply.

Does the lustre come from the wax?

Adam,

If you want, I could cut a couple of slices of some oak and fume them for you. If I did it tomorrow night, fumed them for 24 hours it so and got them in the post on Friday, you should have them for the weekend hopefully. You can see the colour of the fuming with and without oil on. It is rapidly becoming a favourite finish of oak of mine because it is so straightforward to do. Alternatively if you google fumed oak you will get better images than my picture.

Mark

 

[=Adam=]

When you say fume it, how much ammonia do you actually use? And in terms of oil, is there any specific type, tung, Danish, linseed?

 

[marcros]

Not a huge amount- the active part is the fumes. The fish tank stand used a plastic takeaway tray I think and was filled about a centimetre deep. It was tipped back in the bottle afterwards. A plastic cup with an inch or so in would be fine.

If you do it, put some scraps in too, sanded to the same degree. Then when you think they are done, take a scrap out and wipe the oil on. Without it it looks grey/green and dull, like it hasn't worked.

Oil was boiled linseed with a splash of (genuine) turpentine in. Danish would do too. I have never used tung so couldn't tell you what it is like. I just used what I had.