Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Making new wood look old ?

I am building picture frames out of old weathered boards. Problem is..the places where I have to cut the wood now looks fresh. Is there anything I can put on the cut areas to return that weathered gray look? Thanks, Lawdawg

Lawdawg,

There a a few different chemicals available that will age wood, but they are poisoness and /or very harmful to the skin (they're acids!).

The simple way to handle the problem is to go to your local paint supply store and have them mix up latex paint to match the gray color in the wood. When you cut a piece of the wood, you wipe the latex over the wood leaving just enough color to blend the area. This is not only a simple process, but it is safe and inexpensive to boot!!

Forget going to the lumber or hardware stores to get your paint. Go to a "real" paint store. They have the expertise to match the color and will give you the mixture ratios to make it easy to mix more in the future.

I have used wood agers a lot, trust me that these are something you should avoid.

Best of luck,

CD

On HGTV they make these cuts from front to back and they never discuss this issue. But, that is TV! You might try this tip and see if you have success and report back so that the rest of us DIYers have a clue in case we want to pursue your DIY project. Thank you for posting.

Sandblasting works.

While sandblasting will give the wood a weathered "texture" it won't produce the color desired. Using a stain will. Wiping off a thin coat of the correct color latex paint will also work.

I did some shelves which I added to an existing aged gardening bench, by using craft paints, rubbing on different colours.
I've also done a set of saloon doors by using silver and cream shoe cream and rubbing it in. I picked this idea up while on vacation in Jamaica, the wood carvers there use shoe polish to finish their carvings, stain and wax at the same time.

I've had good luck with several products--depending on how much aging you want and the wood type. Lye (Easy-off oven cleaner is all Lye--can be sprayed in container then brushed on for control) ages the fastest and darkest, especially on oak and cherry. Must be neutralized with white vinegar. Test on scrap wood till you can control the color. Household bleach is a mild ager, gives slight color change and can be reapplied to achieve darkness. Ammonia from the grocery store gives even less color change--again will need to reapply to get darker. Pure ammonia (obviously) will darken more than the cleaning brands. All of these have been used to match new wood to old wood in restoring wood in churches and historic buildings.

Today 06:36 PM - permalinkgoeh-primitive
What I do is use stain as the base then put mixture of 1/2 gray water-base paint and 1/2 water brush it on let it sit for about a minute and wipe off...let it dry then I sand lightly with 200 grit sandpaper around the edges and if you want it to look rustic get a gallon ice cream bucket fill it about half full of white vinager and throw in some steel wool pads and let it sit for like 2 days. Then brush that on let it sit about 2 mintues wipe off the excess. if you need anymore help let me know ...you can also add a base coat then use elmers glue dilluted with water 1/2 an 1/2 to make it crackle. then let it get tacky then brush your main coat on brushing only one way . .. never going over the same spot more then once.. otherwise it tends not to crackle..

Hi,
I got solution for you just try it.Just mix the granular packet in a plastic container with water (small packet with 1.2 gallons or large packet with 6 gallons) and apply the solution onto the wood with either a brush, roller or sprayer.