How to age a tree with your own hands?

2024 Author: Aaron Duncan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 03:30

Surely you have noticed how beautiful antique wood furniture looks. Moreover, even interior items of budget series. In nature, wood ages under the influence of natural factors. These are rain, wind, temperature changes, sun and, of course, time. We will tell you how to age a tree artificially - quickly and without depriving the material of useful properties. Here are some effective and relevant ways.

Basic aging techniques

There are several methods of artificial aging of the material in this area:

1. Brushing. Soft fibers are removed with a brush, which helps to give the material a characteristic relief, which is emphasized by the application of glazing compositions. Suitable for hardwoods - spruce, walnut, larch, oak.
2. Patination. This is already processing with coloring substances, followed by grinding. A stain or wax may also be used. The method is good for soft woods (cherry, maple, beech, etc.) with a weakly expressed structure.
3. Chemical way. Surface treatment with chemicals that change its color. Suitable for hardwoods only.
4. Thermal way. Firing with a blowtorch or gas burner. Nagar is partially removedwith a metal brush, after which - treatment with varnish or stain.

Required tools

How to age a tree at home? Let us first analyze two types of actions - mechanical processing of the material and the application of special varnishes, coloring agents. In such a case, we need the following:

• Metal hard brush.
• Circular brush.
• Sandpaper ("skin") with coarse and fine grains.
• White spirit.
• A few brushes.
• Task.
• Wood preservative.
• White icing "Belinka".
• Dark glaze "Belinka" (replacement - dark "Pinotex").
• Big sponge.

Everything at hand? Then you can start.

Method 1: soft fiber removal + painting

How to age a tree with your own hands? This method tells us to use a hard brush, which will remove soft wood fibers, thus creating a relief that will emphasize the applied paint.

Let's take a closer look:

1. Pre-treat the wood carefully with sandpaper.
2. The second step is to use a metal hand brush. It is possible to replace it with a circular one if you have a grinder on hand - this will significantly speed up the process. We brush only along the fibers in order to remove the most pliable of them.
3. Sawdust from the surface is shaken off with a separate brush already with soft bristlesin any convenient direction. You should not do this with your hands, so as not to plant a splinter.
4. You will see how the material changes its appearance right before your eyes, acquiring a characteristic "old" relief.
5. How to age the tree further? We emphasize our results by staining with a special composition in two layers. For these purposes, a translucent glaze is used. It can be applied both with a brush and a roller. The tree already looks much more attractive!
6. But that's not all. Take a sponge and carefully remove the top layer of glaze with it. Why are we doing this? In the desire to find the relief that gives the old spirit.
7. If you like the resulting color, then we don’t change anything else - we apply a transparent varnish on the result.
8. If you want a more subtle texture, then cover the surface with another thin layer of white glaze.
9. After a few minutes, we again remove the freshly applied glaze with a sponge. And here we have bleached aged wood furniture.
10. When "Belinka" dries, you can apply another layer of transparent glaze on top. As an option - varnish the surface.

This method is ideal for artificially aging beams and other transition structures.

Method number 2: multilayer painting and old wood relief

As you understand from the name, to give an antique look to a thing that seems to have come to us through the ages, we will use a multilayer surface coloring.

So let's get started. How to age a tree with your own hands:

1. First thingwood is deliberately subjected to various damages: they hit it with a hammer, seal it with steel rods or screws, warp it with a saw, pierce it with an awl. In general, they create the appearance of an object worn by time itself.
2. The next stage is the primer with Pinotex. It needs to be given time to dry completely.
3. How to age the tree further? We cover the surface with a continuous dense layer of antiseptic - tinted paint.
4. Please note that "Pinotex" has a thicker structure than "Belinka", so there is a possibility that it may lie unevenly. Therefore, he is assigned the role of the creator of the dense lower layer of the future aged surface.
5. Next time for a more liquid dark azure "Belinky", which can be quickly, easily and evenly distributed throughout the tree. Coloring here is guaranteed uniform.
6. After the first layer of "Belinka" dries, we begin to artificially age it - rub it with coarse or fine sandpaper, go through the fiber with a metal brush. But you also need to not overdo it. At this stage, only a slight touch of antiquity is important.
7. We continue to reveal how to age a tree. Now we apply a layer of already white azure "Belinka". It is important to do this so that the lower dark one looks through it. Therefore, the azure does not have to be applied evenly.
8. As soon as this layer dries, it is mercilessly passed along with a stiff iron brush with longitudinal movements. You can see how a beautiful relief pattern appears. But he is still far fromnatural shade of old wood.
9. To make the tone more gentle, muted, white azure is mixed with white spirit in a ratio of 1:1. The surface is covered with this mixture.

After all stages of processing, we get the noble color of aged wood - soft, calm, but with an original dark base obtained thanks to Pinotex. Such processing is more typical for furniture, complex finishing.

Method 3: brushing, white icing

If you are looking for how to age a tree at home quickly and easily, then this method is definitely for you! It is enough just to go over the surface with a stiff brush, and then process it with white glaze.

After the "Belinka" layer dries, it should be scraped again with a metal brush. Move with longitudinal movements along the fiber. What will we get as a result? A bleached surface with a slight touch of antiquity, which was given to us by stiff bristles. This is how everything is aesthetically pleasing, easy and simple.

Method number 4: aging method from the master

Quite an interesting instruction, which we will now analyze together. Aged wood texture can be obtained like this:

1. First of all, you need to choose the right material. Young wood will not work here - its small fibers will not give the desired decorative effect. A resinous tree is also undesirable - it is long and difficult to process. We need a material with a pronounced structure and he althyknots.
2. Process the tree with a planer. What is important, it is worth using a manual, not an electric tool - the latter will erase the effect of naturalness.
3. Now we act with a chisel - it makes shapeless sharpenings on the edges of the bar, resembling ax notches.
4. Next, soft fibers are removed. For this operation, you can use a drill nozzle with a hard nylon bristle. But do not apply excessive force and do not put pressure on the tool. In order not to reduce the efficiency of work, you need to take only light pressure.
5. For rougher terrain, you can use a hand tool - a metal brush instead of a nozzle.
6. If you want, add a wormhole effect - use a blunt nail or punch to make holes 1-2 mm deep.
7. Clean the surface of debris and cover it with paint-varnish "Pinotex". Such a coating is stable even against weather troubles. As an alternative - "Senezh Aquadecor".
8. After the coating dries, it must be processed with sandpaper No. 80. This beautifully highlights the structure and volume of the material - the depressions will be dark, and the protrusions will be light.
9. The final stage of work - covering the wood with a protective layer of varnish..

Method 5: aging with fire

How to age a tree with your own hands in the Provence style? Use a gas burner!

And here we can distinguish three methods of work:

1. Aging without material processing. In other words, the master simply emphasizes the structure of the tree,burning its surface. Next, the material is processed with fine sandpaper, after which it is varnished.
2. First of all, small wood fibers are removed with a metal brush. Further processing is already carried out with a burner. This method helps to get a beautiful three-dimensional structure, which looks very impressive.
3. The last method is intensive burning. How does this happen? The burner burns out fine fibers, after which the surface is treated with a hard metal brush.

Method 6: Waxing

The sequence of work here is:

1. The surface of the wood is treated with sandpaper.
2. Apply 2 coats of dye to even out color (optional step).
3. Paraffin (ordinary candle) is rubbed on areas for supposed aging.
4. Now another layer of paint, but a few tones lighter than the previous one.
5. Remove the wax layer with a spatula and sand the wood again.
6. It remains to cover the surface with a protective layer of transparent varnish.

Method number 7: using wood stain

Here's how we'll proceed:

1. The wood is treated with a water-based stain.
2. With a soft sponge, the substance is washed off from the middle of the bar - the corners, cavities and edges remain intact.
3. As soon as the layer dries, the next one is applied, but of a different composition - based on white spirit, naphtha.
4. Stays overnight untilcompletely dry.
5. Then a primer is used to fill cracks and crevices.
6. Conclusion - rub antique wax along the fibers.

To make the surface matte, after all work, wipe the surface with a soft cloth.

Method number 8: the use of chemicals

First of all, take care of your safety - a respirator, protective gloves and closed clothing. Work in a well ventilated area! Work goes like this:

1. Scrub the surface with coarse sandpaper, wipe off debris.
2. Apply an alkaline compound or ammonia with a brush.
3. Leave for a few hours. To make the substances evaporate more slowly, cover the bar with a film.
4. After changing the color, the workpiece is wiped with water. Then with a solution of vinegar (1 tablespoon per 1 glass of water), if alkali was used. For ammonia, this is not necessary.
5. After drying - wire brushing, sanding.
6. Conclusion - a protective layer of clear varnish.

Last tips

We figured out how to age a tree (you also saw a photo with the results throughout the article). In conclusion, we present some valuable tips from the masters:

• Old boards are best for work. After processing, they look more beautiful and effective. Such material can be obtained even for free from friends and neighbors.
• Remember that on different types of wood, the effect of even the same processing method will look different. It's necessarytake into account if you are going to make one prefabricated structure from materials.
• If the process seems long and troublesome to you, then in the hardware store today you can already pick up ready-made artificially aged wood.

That's all we wanted to say. You can choose any method of artificial aging of a tree that suits you. Good luck in your work!