Artificial aging of wooden products. How to flawlessly age a tree with your own hands - brushing

Wood is a versatile material, it is suitable for construction and repair, as well as for creating decorative crafts, decorations and interior items. Modern technologies let you choose various options processing, allowing you to create a variety of artistic compositions. Recently, more and more often there is a craving for retro style both in the decoration of walls and ceilings, and in ready-made wooden objects.

Real antiques have a very high cost, it is far from suitable for every budget. However, there is a way out - to age the tree artificially. In appearance, there will be no differences from antiquity, and much less money has been spent. Next, we will talk about the main ways that will allow you to easily and quickly solve this problem.

Processing with chemical solutions

With this option, perfectly processed deciduous trees. Among chemical substances ammonia, acetic acid, stain, as well as ready-made special solutions can be used.

The process consists of several stages:

1. The tree is thoroughly cleaned of dust, dirt, foreign deposits.
2. After that, it is polished with sandpaper to create the desired composition.
3. Then there is a chemical treatment, as a result of which the wood darkens.
4. The final stage is varnishing, which will help create protection against moisture and microbes.

Aged wood in the interior

Burning

Good method for coniferous trees. It is carried out with the help of fire.

Includes several steps:

1. Processing by fire, which in this case replaces the usual cleaning.
2. Next, the burnt surface is cleaned with a metal brush, and then polished with fine sandpaper.
3. To emphasize the natural beauty and the desired shade, if necessary, you can apply a little stain.
4. After that, wax is applied.

Firing, brushing and oiling a pine board in this video:

brushing

With its help soft breeds of wood - a linden, a pine, a nut and others are well processed.

1. At the initial stage, artificial damage is applied to the tree using a chisel, an ax or a hammer.
2. The next step is processing with a metal brush and a regular one to remove excess fibers.
3. Next comes the sanding.
4. The wood is ready to be painted with acrylic or stain, immediately after which the painted layer is wiped with a cloth to preserve the natural pattern.
5. After drying, it is treated with varnish.

Step by step video instruction:

All photos from the article

Under normal operating conditions wooden furniture and the decoration of rooms can last more than a century, over the past years, the tree acquires a noble shade of antiquity and looks just great. Fortunately, wait until this the process will pass naturally there is no need, there are many ways to artificially age wood.

Reasons for the popularity of antique boards

Popularity solely because of the attractive appearance. It has no other advantages over furniture or room decoration with ordinary wood.

Note!
Do not confuse really old wood (often affected by pests) and artificially aged wood.

The effect of antiquity is achieved through a combination of different methods of wood processing.

And often such factors are used, which in the usual case are considered defects in the wooden surface:

• an old board does not have to have a perfectly smooth surface, over the years of operation, small chips, dents, scuffs will certainly appear on it. Sometimes, to achieve this effect, when processing wood with a hammer, small dents are created on the edges, imitating scratches on the front surface;

• ingrown knots, sprouting, graininess and other minor defects will only improve appearance tree;
• patination is also used to create the effect of antiquity– during this process, the wood is painted in 2 layers so that through last layer The first layer of paint was showing through. It creates the illusion that over the years of operation, the finish layer of paint has simply been wiped off;
• wood brushing is popular, this operation allows you to create a relief on the front surface of the board by removing soft wood fibers.

As in any matter, when giving wood a touch of antiquity, it is important to have a sense of proportion. The board should not look like it has spent ten years in the open air; after processing, a person should have the feeling that he is next to an object that has almost historical value.

There are several simple ways how to make antique boards. All of them can be successfully used not only in production, but also in everyday life.

Wood brushing

There are several ways to create an antique board, you won’t need special equipment for this, the maximum is a metal brush, a couple of types of paint, varnish, etc. Of course, you can buy wood already processed in the right way, but there is no guarantee that it will exactly match the plan, and its price is much higher than that of ordinary wood.

mechanical brushing

The density of wood is uneven, denser and harder areas alternate with soft fibers. It is because of this that after some time the surface of the tree becomes embossed, soft fragments simply collapse over time, and hard ones remain.

This process can be accelerated and simply treated with a metal brush. Thin steel wire removes soft fragments of wood, creating the desired surface relief. After that, it remains only with the help of paint or stain to process the board and varnish on top.

The work is done in this order:

• first, the surface of the board is roughed out; in order to speed up the process, you can use special drill bits. When processing wood, it is important that the brush does not move across, but along the fibers, otherwise the desired effect cannot be achieved;

Note!
Not every type of wood is suitable for brushing; it is undesirable to use such species as maple, pine, in which the fibers are weakly expressed.

• after you can walk on the tree with a brush to remove sawdust and small chips;
• The next stage provides in order to finally remove the roughness and irregularities. At this stage, you need to use fine-grained emery and do not press hard on it so as not to remove the entire created relief;

• further, the instruction provides for the application of stain or paint, as well as surface treatment with varnish.

It is not necessary to simply paint the tree after brushing, because at the output we should get a non-monotonous surface, protruding hard fibers should look as if the paint on them has worn off over the years of service. In order to achieve this effect, simply apply a stain or a thin layer of paint and quickly blot it with a sponge.

The stain will be absorbed into the soft areas of the wood in seconds, but it can be removed almost completely from the protruding hard fibers. After that, several layers of varnish are applied to the surface of the product to protect the coating from fading.

Chemical brushing

This kind of processing is living conditions practical is not used due to the fact that it is rather laborious, in addition, aggressive liquids will be needed for application to wood. Usually, solutions of hydrochloric and sulfuric acids of medium strength are used, as well as various alkalis, ammonia.

The essence of this method is that the liquid is applied to the tree and literally dissolves the soft areas of the wood. When processing hard rocks, multiple applications of the liquid will be required, which is rather inconvenient. In addition, before the subsequent application of coatings, the surface will have to be thoroughly cleaned mechanically.

As for how the boards were made in the old days, the described techniques, of course, were not used. Before the advent of the first sawmills, tree trunks were simply split lengthwise using wooden wedges, due to which it turned out uneven surface, because the chip went along the fibers, and they are not perfectly aligned in the trunk.

Wood patination

Patina refers to the plaque that forms over time on copper and bronze. In the case of wood, follow exactly this color scheme there is no need, it is enough just to give the viewer the impression that the paint layer was partially worn out during the operation of the furniture.

The patination technology consists of 3 stages:

• the wooden surface is painted with one color of paint. It is better to take time for drying with a margin;
• after a second coat of paint of a different color is applied;
• after it dries with fine-grained emery, it is necessary to create scuffs that imitate paint chipping during operation. It is not necessary to varnish the surface.

Note!
When creating scuffs and chips, it is important to know the measure, otherwise the furniture will resemble a leopard - everything will be stained, and excessive variegation will only spoil its appearance.
Scuffs and chips will be appropriate in places that most often suffer during operation, for example, at the corners of furniture.

On sale you can find special patina varnishes. It looks interesting craquelure varnish, which cracks evenly after application. You can rub a contrast compound into these cracks in order to emphasize them. And already another layer of patinating varnish is applied on top of it.

This antique board processing allows you to get a soft surface. warm color with imitation of cracks, and the cracks themselves are reliably protected by a finishing layer of varnish.

A couple of antique wood recipes

You can find many recipes for aging a tree using improvised means, but they are all derivatives of the processing methods already described. Let's consider some of them.

Use of wax

With ordinary wax, you can achieve a good effect, you only need 2 types of wax (colored and regular), as well as a wood polishing machine. This method is convenient in that you do not need additional steps like brushing wood or using acid to remove soft parts wood.

The technology for performing the work will look like this:

• first, the board is polished, and the direction is strictly along the fibers;
• then colored wax is applied, at the previous stage the pores of the wood opened up, so it will be good to penetrate inside. It takes about a day to harden the coating;
• then you will have to apply a colorless wax on top of the colored one, while part of the colored wax will inevitably be removed.

The resulting effect will be a bit like brushed wood. The denser areas of the wood will be slightly colored, but the soft porous areas will acquire a rather saturated color.

Bleached wood will look unusual in any interior. It costs a lot, but you can achieve the same effect when painting wood with your own hands. The main task in doing so is to White color did not completely “hammer” the texture of the wood, ideally the wood should have a slightly grayish tint and the pattern of the tree should be visible through the layer of white paint.

You can get the desired effect using brushing technology, and the key point will be how to paint the antique board so that the wood pattern remains visible after painting.

To do this, you can use tinted and transparent varnishes, and painting will be carried out in several stages:

• if the tree is dense and does not absorb varnish well, then the prepared surface can be treated immediately with tinted varnish in a couple of layers;
• then a colorless varnish is applied over it to protect the tint.

If it is planned to process soft wood, then the consumption of tinted varnish will be too large, because the tree will actively absorb it. To reduce its consumption, you can first treat the tree with colorless varnish (1-2 layers), and only then switch to a tinted, finishing layer - colorless varnish.

The same effect can be achieved using white paint, but here you need to take into account that it is easy to paint over a tree pattern by 100%. Therefore, after applying the paint, it can be gently blotted with a sponge so that the texture of the board becomes visible.

In conclusion

An antique tree is available to everyone, and it is not necessary to buy it at all. The proposed methods of wood aging can be used in domestic conditions and do not require special equipment. At the same time, you can achieve almost any effect, the main thing is to show imagination.

The video in this article shows the processing wooden beams antique.

This is tracing paper already from Italian - patina. In a broad sense, patina is the noble traces of aging. The essence of the method: we select the paint to match the furniture, cover it in one layer and let it dry (sand the surface before painting). Then we make the shade lighter - repeat the procedure. Now we take a fine skin or a hard sponge and sculpt the scuffs. It is important that through upper layer looked through the base. It must be seen that the furniture was painted more than once. Adjust the degree of wear to your liking. At the end, cover the product with clear varnish or wax.

Patination is suitable not only for wooden surfaces, but also for metal and plaster, for example. Keep this in mind when choosing paint. They differ just in the type of material on which you will use them. The most popular are acrylic.

Passionate about the process? In addition to furniture, anything can be patinated - from sockets and baseboards to photo frames. And by the way, to start with, it’s better to practice on the latter, and not on the closet.

InMyRoom Tip: sand the first coat lightly to improve its adhesion to the new paint.

Give your interior a personal touch different ways. Most often, this is done by focusing on certain little things, for example, the use of unusual textures or colors. One of the technologies in demand for the formation of the original texture is do-it-yourself wood aging. The technique allows you to give the surface a unique pattern, while the basis is natural material.

The need for a procedure

Those who want to make antique furniture with their own hands should learn how to give its surface the most realistic appearance. For this, an artificial process is used - brushing (from the English brush - brush). During operation, the structuring of the fibers occurs wooden elements. In nature, a tree reaches such a visual state over a longer period, but using modern facilities, it is possible to significantly narrow this time interval.

Under natural conditions, an aged tree loses its strength, and under artificial impact, the reverse process occurs, depriving the material of weak fibers and providing greater strength.

Such treatment also helps to protect the surface from the effects of bark beetles and other insects. As a result, it will be possible to achieve the necessary colors and stylish appearance. You can age a tree with your own hands for any need: from small photo frames or boxes to making furniture or parquet.

The use of wood species

It is important to consider that not every type of wood can be processed in this special way. The final quality is influenced by the structure of the natural material. In most cases, artificial aging of a tree is applied to the following species:

• larch;
• nut;
• ash.

The internal structure of the tree should have a visible fibrous pattern. It will become the basis for the formation of the invoice. Deprived of this property, wood species with extremely hard fibers are not commonly used. These include:

• pear;
• maple;
• Cherry;

The task of the performer is to direct way impact on the soft structure located between the annual rings. In the presence of the most homogeneous environment, it will not be possible to form the aging of a tree with your own hands.

So, for example, by burning, you can turn ordinary pine into a rare and valuable species of tropical wood obtained from the Wenge tree.

VIDEO: We turn pine into wenge

Application of the mechanical method

When carrying out a full cycle of brushing, the following algorithm of actions is carried out:

• primary mechanical restoration using a metal brush to cut soft particles from the surface of the workpiece

• carrying out grinding work with a roughing brush with polymer bristles or the use of sandpaper with a coarse abrasive;
• applying stain or other types of dyes to the treated surface;
• polishing work or applying several layers of varnish, in the intervals between drying, sanding “zero” is performed

During artificial aging of wood, drills or grinders are used to reduce the amount of manual labor and increase productivity. The process uses brushes with aluminum, steel, copper and artificial polymer bristles.

Do-it-yourself wood aging, as shown in the video at the end of the chapter, begins with roughing, when the tool is driven along the arrangement of the fibers with the same speed and uniform pressure over the entire surface.

Processing should not form unwanted "pits" in the blanks, so you need to enter the tool evenly, without much pressure, if the idea does not require the formation of a target rough relief.

The light during work must be of high quality and provide a vision of the natural pattern. In this regard, the lamp beams are directed perpendicular to the length of the fibers. In such a situation, the desired pattern is shaded.

The moisture content of the processed wood is selected in the range of 15-16%. This value will provide the preferred finish surface roughness without raised villi. If, before aging a tree at home, you use a polymer processing tool, you will achieve an effect with a less pronounced relief.

The next step in the form of sanding will cut off the raised wood pile from the fibers. Sandpaper or abrasive brushes successfully cope with the task. You can control the degree of roughness manually.

VIDEO: artificial aging wood with your own hands. Carpentry Tricks

Applying a coloring layer

The prepared relief with the help of mechanical means is processed by staining. This will significantly enhance the result and hide fresh peeling by mechanical means. Thanks to the play of colors, it will be possible to obtain the required presentable effect.

It is customary to stain similar antique wood products with stain, and then wash it off. This will allow the material to enter almost instantly into the soft structure of the tissues, while the hard one will not have time to absorb the applied color. The natural beauty of the material will fully manifest itself outside.

It will be possible to leave particles of gold paint on the surface if you apply a small layer of it with a brush, and then remove the residue from the surface with a hard spatula. The particles will penetrate into the depressions and pores, which will ensure a successful result.

You can protect the cavities and grooves formed during the machining process with a transparent putty. This technique is useful in the manufacture of countertops, shelves or other practical surfaces. During their operation, fine dirt will not be clogged into relief zones.

Since the tree must be artificially aged carefully and with the possibility of its use, the finishing operations are:

• polishing;
• varnishing;
• waxing.

It will also be possible to achieve an interesting texture for designers with the help of craquelure varnishing. It forms small cracks and chips on the front side. Paint or coal dust must be rubbed into them, providing a unique individual pattern.

Choose craquelure in specialized stores and within expiration dates. In most cases, expired varnish does not give a cracking effect.

Using chemical brushing

In the process of chemical action on the fibers, it is possible to achieve similar results that are obtained from mechanical processing. For this, active solutions are used that can affect the structure of the soft fiber. Corroding the desired areas, an original pattern is formed on the surface of a wooden blank.

Chemical brushing

The technique does not require the use of brushes and sandpaper during the active phase. For several cycles of applying and washing off the solution, the canvas is transformed.

In pickling, preparations are used that contain particles that are poisonous to humans, therefore, in order to prevent poisoning of the body with chemical vapors, it is recommended to work in open space.

The chemical solutions that are used in fiber softening contain a high percentage of alkali. You can take for this purpose a drug that cleans the oven. After a good rubbing, the layer is washed off, and the cycle is repeated until the desired effect is obtained. After etching, the finishing operations coincide with those that were carried out during machining.

Work with chemicals must be carried out in compliance with the means personal protection: gloves, goggles, petal and protective gown or apron. After the operation, all residues of the substance from the surfaces are washed off under running water.

VIDEO: How to make an antique wood table top with your own hands

Interior and household items decorated with artificially aged wood:

Table and chairs - made of larch

Kitchen. Facade - larch, shelves - pine

Recently, the use of aged wood in the decoration of furniture and interiors has come into fashion. Even the simplest cheap wooden furniture will look stylish and expensive after artificial aging. This article will open up some simple and not very expensive ways on how to age a tree with your own hands for furniture and other wooden products.

V natural conditions the tree ages under the influence of the sun, wind, rain and other phenomena. And this process takes place over a long period of time. We will make the process of aging wood artificial, which will significantly reduce time and improve the final result. If the whole work is described briefly, it will consist of two stages: mechanical processing of wood (light damage, removal of soft fibers) and painting with varnishes and paint.

To age a tree, you will need:

• hard metal brush;
• circular brush;
• large and small skins;
• estimate;
• several brushes;
• antiseptic for wood;
• White Spirit;
• dark Pinotex or dark azure Belinka;
• white azure Belinka;
• big sponge.

With a set of these tools and materials, we will be able to age the tree in five different ways. Let's take a closer look at each of them.

The first way to age a tree is to remove soft fibers and paint

artificially age wooden surface You can use a stiff brush, which removes the soft fibers of the wood and thus creates a relief, the lines of which will be emphasized by the color of the wood.

The wooden surface is pre-sanded, then it is processed along the fibers with a circular (using a special nozzle for a grinder) or a metal hand brush, as a result of which soft wood fibers are removed from the surface.

Sawdust is removed with a special brush with soft bristles, but in no case by hand, in order to avoid splinters.

The tree instantly changes its appearance, acquires a beautiful relief and a contrasting color, which is specially emphasized by staining in two layers.

For staining, Belinka translucent azure is used, which is applied to the cleaned surface with a brush or roller.

The tree will already have a rather attractive appearance.

After a few minutes, a sponge is taken and with its help the layer of glaze is carefully removed, as a result of which the wooden surface acquires a relief. You can leave the surface as it is and cover it with a clear varnish if you like this color of aged wood.

But if you want to add color to the style a la Provence, then another autumn thin layer of Belinka white azure is applied on top of the first layer.

After a few minutes, we carefully remove the fresh azure with a sponge, as a result of which we get a bleached aged tree, with which we create stylish interior a la Provence. When the glaze is completely dry, the surface can be varnished with the same base as the azure, or another layer of colorless azure can be applied.

This way of aging wood is ideal for beams and other elements. wooden structures, when creating an antique style.

The second way is the relief of antiquity and multi-layer coloring of wood

With the help of this method, the tree is specially given the appearance of an old, antique thing, worn by time. For this, a multi-layered coloring of the tree is used.

Previously, the surface of the tree must be specially subjected to all kinds of minor damage: it is beaten with a hammer, pierced with an awl, torn with a saw, sealed with screws or steel rods, everything possible is done to give it the relief of antiquity.

Then the surface is primed with a layer of Pinotex. After it dries, it is covered with a continuous thick layer of tinted paint (antiseptic).

Since Pinotex has a thick consistency, it can be placed unevenly, as it is much thicker than Belinka's azure. It is used in cases where you need to create a thick bottom layer on an aged tree.

Azure Belinka is more liquid, it is easily and evenly distributed over the entire surface of the tree, creating an even surface color.

When the first layer dries, it can be intentionally subjected to minor damage: rubbed with a fine or coarse sandpaper, walked with a metal brush. The main thing is not to overdo it. The time span here should be kept to a minimum. According to experts, the most reliable effect of antiquity is given by painting with Pinotex with an uneven layer.

After a deliberate aging procedure by scratching with a sandpaper or a wire brush, a translucent layer of white azure is applied to the surface so that a dark lower layer can be seen through it. It is not necessary to apply paint in an even layer.

After the top layer has dried, the upper layer of white glaze is scraped off with a metal brush with longitudinal movements, as a result of which a relief pattern of aged wood is created. Such a pattern has a very contrasting color, which is very far from the natural color of aged wood. To bring the color to a more perfect tone, it needs to be made a little muted. To do this, the white glaze is diluted by half with white spirit and the wooden surface is covered with this mixture.

The aged wood, created on the basis of Belinka blue, has a calm warm tone after final processing. Pinotex gives a more interesting decorative effect, with deep dark color basics. It is used in the creation of aged furniture, as well as in decoration elements.

The third way is brushing and white icing

This way to age a tree is the easiest and fastest. The wooden surface is treated with a metal brush, then covered with a layer of white glaze.

After the glaze has dried, the surface is again treated with a metal brush. As a result, we have a bleached wooden surface, slightly aged with a relief pattern from a metal brush.

Master class: "How to age a tree?"

Let's look at another way to age a tree with your own hands. The photo above shows the stages of work, and below I will describe them in detail.

1. You need to choose the right tree for aging. You should not choose young wood, because of the small fibers it has no decorative value. Resinous wood will be difficult and long to process. The tree should have a pronounced structure and healthy knots.

3. With a chisel, you need to make shapeless serifs on the edges of the board, as if with an ax.

4. A drill bit with hard nylon bristles can be used to remove soft wood grains. At the same time, you should not be too zealous and put pressure on the tool, pressing should be light so that the efficiency of the work does not decrease. You can also use a metal brush for processing - in this case there will be a rougher result.

5. You can add the effect of wormholes, but this is not for everyone. Using a core or a blunt nail, we make holes 1-2 mm deep.

6. Now you need to clean the surface and open it with Pinotex Uitra paint-lacquer. This coating will be resistant even to atmospheric conditions. You can also use Senezh aquadecor.

7. After the paint has dried, the surface must be sanded with fine sandpaper No. 80. The result will be very beautiful effect, when the depressions on the wood remain dark, and the protrusions are light, that is, we highlight the volume and structure of the wood.

8. The final stage is the re-opening of the red tree.

Aging wood with fire

You can age a tree with a gas burner.

There are three main ways here:

1. Aging without prior mechanical processing of wood. That is, we simply emphasize the texture of wood by firing it. Then we pass with fine sandpaper and open it with varnish.

2. First, mechanical processing of wood is carried out - we remove soft fibers, and then we carry out firing. This method will give the tree a relief and three-dimensional view which will definitely look great.

3. Intensive firing of wood, which will burn out the soft fibers of the wood and subsequent mechanical processing with a hard brush.

Finally, I want to give some advice:

• Aged products from old boards will look more beautiful and effective. If you do not have such material, ask your neighbors or acquaintances, often such material can be obtained completely free of charge, and it will be much easier to work with it.
• Different types of wood will age and paint differently when using the same materials. This must be taken into account when collecting wooden structures.
• Now in stores you can buy a ready-made aged board without performing the above operations.