Varnish for aging wood. We age the tree ourselves at home

03.09.2016 70426

Sometimes emphasizing old age is an original solution to the problem of unsightly sashes. So, it turns out beautiful without additional expenses. Of course, the effect should be deliberate - slovenliness is out of place in any interior. do-it-yourself wood aging - methods, tools and materials are described below.

Types of artificial aging of wood

The vintage original look of the doors is obtained in several ways. Below, they are listed in order of increasing effort and cost. The operation algorithm is also described. So:

• Thermal method or firing. The process will require a blowtorch and a coarse wood aging brush. The intensity of exposure is determined by the master himself - as a result, you can get pronounced natural patterns of wood or barely visible. After firing, the surface of the canvas is sanded with large emery cloth in different places to create the appearance of heterogeneity. The door for this method of aging should be massive, plank. Appropriate fittings - massive steel handles and.

The old door is cleaned of layers of paint. Use a hair dryer or solvent. The canvas is carefully sanded, the boards are knocked down so that there are no gaps. Not bad before aging with all sorts of protections - flame retardant, moisture-retaining composition. The existing cracks are left - they will give even more flavor. Hinges and handles are removed. The method takes a little time, it is safe with the skills of working with the tool.

• Blackening. The effect is achieved by rubbing shoe polish, stain or a strong manganese solution into the cleaned canvas. Pigmentation lingers on annual rings, sections, knots, and thus, it turns out, the effect of the opening darkened from old age is achieved. In addition, the last composition helps to disinfect the canvas if traces of mold or fungus are detected during cleaning.

How to do it right:

Everything ingenious is simple! To get antique doors, the previously cleaned surface with a solvent and a spatula is covered with black ink, and then the shoe polish melted to a liquid state is rubbed with a brush. You need to rub hard. The method has a drawback - it is important to ventilate the removed door leaf for a week - the smell is unpleasant.

• Traces of bark beetle. They represent paths from the movement of the larva. You can create them on the semi-antique door with your own hands using bent nails. Having spread them on the surface, they are driven in with a hammer, leaving dents over the entire area. It is important to free the rods from the hats in order to create a complete imitation. After work, the canvas is sanded with a fine sandpaper, making sure that the chip dust gets a little into the grooves. Next, varnish.

These antique effects are very easy and fast to get. The style of an apartment or house must be consistent, otherwise the effect is inappropriate.

Work with paint and varnish

You can get aged doors in other ways. They will require more time and labor. In addition, costs will increase due to the purchase of several shades of paint. So:

• A popular dry brush method. The canvas is cleaned and covered with a base primer. Until the layer is completely dry, with the end of a dry brush, strokes of a different shade are applied. The combination of colors can be different - contrasting or moving from one shade to another. Now the layers are given time to dry. The finished surface is cleaned with emery skins to further highlight the areas of scuffs. Again, a layer of a helmet of a different color is applied. The final color is pale yellow or white, which is used to cover the door with strokes. Allow to dry again and then sand. The final layer is varnish.
• Craquelure. Such artificial aging of a tree is done in several ways:

1. - lacquer and silver. A layer of varnish is applied to the prepared surface. After 30 minutes, it is dried with a hair dryer, as a result of which cracks appear. They are rubbed with silver paint, allowed to dry completely and the resulting effect is varnished.
2. - PVA glue. With it, create an antique design. A thick layer of glue on a previously cleaned canvas is not allowed to dry completely. A layer of acrylic paint is applied over it and then dried with a building hair dryer.
3. - gelatin or egg white is another way to age the paint on the tree. The prepared composition is applied to the painted surface with a wide brush - pre-soaked gelatin or protein. Allow to dry naturally and varnish.
4. - vinegar 9%. They moisten a fresh painted surface in a horizontal position. Cracks appear immediately.

It is important not to overdo it - the doors should be aged, and not put into disrepair.

• Mechanical structuring or brushing. The bottom line is to remove the soft fibers of the wood and expose the structure of the tree. For work, a special milling cutter with several nozzles is used - a wire brush for structure, a soft one - for cleaning and emery skins for polishing.

The door laid on a horizontal surface is cleaned by a chemical or hot method, then the machine is used. You can achieve the effect manually, but it will take more time. First they work with a rough nozzle, then they clean the chips and, finally, they polish. During each stage, various compositions are applied to the canvas - stain, ink, shoe polish, so that the further transformation of the old wood goes on continuously. The final step will be varnishing.

• Chemical brushing. Suitable as a wood aging effect that does not require the purchase of a special machine. For work, caustic alkalis, acids, ammonia are used. The process takes place away from residential premises in well-ventilated places and with the use of personal protective equipment - gloves, goggles, a respirator. It consists of the following:

1. - The canvas is cleaned and sanded.
2. - wetted with a large amount of caustic components.
3. - after softening the soft layers, processed with hard wire brushes and polishing.

Using the above methods, it is not difficult to artificially age a tree. In addition to the interior, wooden fragments of furniture - legs, armrests - are decorated in the same way.

Features of the wood aging process

Various methods of aging the door surface at home require compliance with the steps and nuances. For example:

• Cleaning cloths. Occurs with the use of a building hair dryer or solvents. A spatula is convenient to clean off peeling paint. It is important to remove all visible areas, otherwise they will not get the desired effect. In addition, chemical solutions must be suitable for future staining or varnishing - incompatibility will lead to the formation of bubbles and "husks".
• The chemical method of wood aging - brushing with caustic solutions, staining, occurs only with soft woods. Pine, spruce, suitable - oak and larch are only subject to mechanical processing.
• The mechanical method is associated with the formation of chips and fine wood dust, so the canvas is periodically moistened with water and debris is swept from the surface with a soft brush. Not with hands - to avoid splinters.
• Painting - craquelure, do-it-yourself wood aging with varnish, the dry brush method - should go with thorough mixing of the compositions so that air bubbles do not form on the surface. They, bursting, form ugly pits, and the artificial origin of the canvas becomes clear.

By itself, natural wood is beautiful and new canvases are unlikely to need to be decorated with the methods described. Work should be carried out only with used interior doors in order to give them a second life and save on the purchase of a new set.

Antique wooden products with a faded surface, textured notches and openwork grooves left by carpenter bugs are distinguished by special luxury and charm. Of course, the natural aging process of wood takes many years. However, if desired, the tree can be aged artificially. There are several techniques by which you can give your new wooden things a spectacular antique look.

Chemical treatment is ideal for artificially aging hardwood:

1. To begin with, wooden blanks are thoroughly cleaned of stains and dirt.
2. To make the natural pattern of wood more textured and voluminous, the boards are alternately treated with coarse and fine-grained sandpaper.
3. Next, the polished wood is wiped with a rag or sponge soaked in ammonia or other alkaline solution. As a result of such simple processing, the workpieces acquire a noble darkening.
4. Finishing varnishing with a transparent glaze will give the prepared wooden products a rich iridescent gloss.

To effectively and quickly "age" coniferous wood, heat treatment with an open fire is required:

1. Cleaned from stains and dust, wooden parts are fired with a blowtorch or gas burner until a slight soot appears.
2. Next, the charred wood is manually processed with a metal / wire brush, after which it is cleaned with a fine emery cloth.
3. To emphasize the beauty and texture of wood, products are covered with a stain of a neutral shade. To apply the solution, a soft, clean sponge is used, cavities and other hard-to-reach areas are painted over with a brush.
4. The final stage of processing blanks is the application of decorative antique wax. The paste is rubbed into the wood in a circular motion using a woolen cloth.

Machining (brushing) is the process of removing soft layers of wood using various brushes mounted on a drill or angle grinder. The brushing procedure consists of three stages:

• preparation of wood and rough selection of soft fibers;
• grinding and polishing workpieces;
• toning and varnishing of prepared parts.

An important nuance! For mechanical processing, it is recommended to use softwood with a pronounced patterned texture - pine, spruce, fir, larch, linden, ash or walnut.

At the first stage of brushing, wooden parts are processed manually: with a wide chisel or a sharp angle of an ax, the edges of the boards are carefully hewn and chaotic notches and potholes of various depths (up to 1.5 cm) are applied. Next, an electric tool and brush nozzles are used - they are the ones that allow you to remove soft wood fiber without damaging the growth rings. A polymer brush mounted on a drill or grinder will help achieve delicate aging, a metal brush-brush is chosen for a more “brutal” effect. When using brush heads, it is important to follow certain rules:

• Before starting work, be sure to put on protective equipment: a high-quality respirator, plastic goggles and thick gloves will protect you from wood dust and flying particles of metal bristles.
• It is desirable to organize the workplace in such a way that the light rays are directed perpendicular to the wood fibers.
• In the process of work, avoid strong pressure on the surface to be treated, the pressure on the tool should be moderate.
• Before direct brushing, new brush heads must be “run in”, otherwise the wooden blanks will be covered with a small fleecy “terry cloth”.
• The movements of the brush should be directed along the hard wood grains; cross-cutting can spoil the natural beauty of growth rings.

At the second stage of brushing, ribbed wooden blanks are processed with an abrasive brush and fine-grained sandpaper. During the sanding process, it is important to remove all protruding fibers and burrs. To polish textured boards, use a sisal brush, metal wool or an abrasive sponge. Dust from the workpieces is carefully cleaned with a flat brush and a vacuum cleaner.

On a note! For greater naturalness, the product can be decorated with "wormholes". To do this, with the help of a blunt core or an awl, shallow holes are randomly punched in the wood.

At the third stage of brushing, the wood is tinted. To give the blanks a natural, aged look, they are painted with stain or acrylic paint in dark shades. First, the selected paint and varnish is abundantly applied to the wooden surface, then its excess is immediately removed with a rag or rubber spatula. Thanks to this tinting technique, potholes and depressions acquire a rich dark hue, while the protrusions, the so-called "ridges", remain lighter. After complete drying, the products are coated with a transparent protective impregnation or acrylic varnish.

To simulate the aging of wood, you will have to stock up on remarkable patience. Such work does not tolerate fuss and haste. However, the result is worth it - an artificially aged tree looks incomparably beautiful, spectacular and soundly.

Brushing wood with your own hands is an interesting technology that allows you to artificially age a tree. The natural aging process takes decades. But now, with the help of special tools, this effect can be achieved at home quickly and without significant material costs. Aged material is ideal for decorating classic, vintage and rustic styles.

Brushing wood with your own hands: how the process is carried out

Residents of modern cities increasingly prefer styles with a pronounced individuality in the decor of the room: classic, vintage, rustic and country.

The main detail of such interiors is wood. Thanks to this material, the design of the room acquires a uniqueness and inimitable charm. But for a classic and vintage style, a tree in its original natural form is not suitable. In this case, an aged tree is best suited, which has a more attractive and noble appearance. This material is suitable for the manufacture of any element of decor: a vintage lamp, a wooden chest of drawers, stylish doors and window frames, fireplace cladding.

Under natural conditions, the process of wood aging drags on for decades, since the original patterns on the wood surface are formed slowly and unevenly. Therefore, this material is rare and expensive. But among modern technologies there is a simple and fast way to artificially age a tree. This process is called brushing. Interest in this method is shown not only by lovers of elite vintage furniture, but also by those who want to diversify the interior of country houses.

Do-it-yourself wood aging (brushing) is a decorative technology for processing wooden products, during which an artificial effect of antiquity is created for an ordinary wooden surface. The method got its name from the English word brush - brush. The aging process is also called wood structuring.

The method of artificial brushing is based on the difference in hardness of the layers that make up the wood. In the process of work, the soft light layer is removed. As a result, the areas become embossed, which gives the material a special look that is inherent only in fairly old trees.

Types of safe finishing materials for interior decoration, their specificity and features of use, prices.

Process automation: machines and machines for brushing wood

Mass production of artificially aged wood requires speed of work. Some stages of wood processing can be mechanized, which will simplify the work of obtaining aged wood. To do this, you will need drills with speed control and special machines for brushing.

Consider the most popular models of specialized techniques for structuring a tree.

Festool rustofix ras 180 wood trimmer or brush machine. Wood brushing brushes can be purchased with this tool. They are of three types:

• steel wire brush for primary processing of boards;
• brush with synthetic bristles for intermediate grinding;
• sisal or hair brushes for polishing the back surface of the product.

The Makita 974 grinder is used for brushing wood. But during operation, difficulties may arise with the processing of areas at the corners of the part. Therefore, at the joints, it is recommended to use a special angle grinder with different nozzles or use a nylon brush dressed on the grinder for brushing. Such a brush is highly wear-resistant and allows you to process the ends, edges and contours of parts with complex shapes.

The Felisatti AGF 110/1010E grinder is suitable for processing both smooth and uneven surfaces. The tool comes with nylon and metal brushes.

Helpful advice! It makes sense to buy a wood brushing machine only if large volumes of work are planned. Brushes for brushing wood can be bought both with a machine and purchased separately.

How to age a tree with your own hands: technology

The process of aging opens up the widest possibilities for the master to change the structure and color of different types of wood. Before proceeding directly to structuring, the wood must be prepared. The material for brushing should be free of defects, notches and irregularities, and the humidity should be 10-12%, but not more than 15%. If the tree does not meet these characteristics, then the wood fibers will tear during processing, and a beautiful result from structuring will not work.

Let us consider in more detail the process of how to age a tree at home. The work with the material can be divided into several stages.

Before starting work, it is necessary to perform the primary processing of the part, namely: to moisten the tree. This will prevent the spread of dust throughout the room during operation.

Next, you will need a manual brush for processing. Depending on the hardness of the wood, we choose the stiffness of the metal brush for roughing. The bristles of the tool must easily remove soft surface fibers, but must not damage hard ones. Move the brush in the direction of the fibers.

If you decide to automate the processing process with a brush for brushing wood on a grinder or grinder, then you should remember that the movements are carried out along the fibers. It is necessary to move the tool with such intensity that the fibers are effectively scraped out.

You need to carefully select the speed: too high a speed of the brush can cause the wood to bake. When using a hand tool, this problem does not arise, but more effort needs to be applied. Also, manual processing will be delayed in time.

Helpful advice! It is better to select the speed on a separate small sample of the tree. The optimal number of revolutions is 1500-2200, but for different breeds it may differ.

Then we carry out the primary grinding of the part. To do this, we use a polymer brush with an abrasive applied to it. This stage will remove roughness and fiber fragments from the surface of the part. By removing all unnecessary, you can evaluate how deeply and efficiently the structuring of wood is performed. If necessary, the grooves can be further deepened, making the structuring more distinct.

At the next stage, you can think about the decorative design of the part. For this, recesses and grooves of arbitrary shape are made with a chisel in different places of the part. In appearance, they will resemble cracks that appeared naturally.

Next comes the final polishing. To do this, you need a sisal or hair brush. This tool for wood will give the details a finished look, fully showing all the decorative texture. In manual processing, instead of a brush, fine-grained sandpaper with an abrasive surface is used. It will allow you to make a perfectly polished surface of the workpiece.

Then the wood must be well dried. It must be completely cleaned of dust and thus prepared for further painting and varnishing.

The application will make the product look old by creating contrasting textured patterns. A generous application of the compound with quick removal of excess will allow you to paint over parts with soft fibers and leave light areas with hard fibers. Soft fibers quickly absorb paint, which means they are dyed, while hard fibers do not have time to absorb the pigment during this time, so they remain light. A tree painted with gold or silver paint looks especially beautiful.

Against the background of the natural color of the tree, this pigment creates glare on the surface of the part in the sun. This gives the product an original decorative effect and luxury. The product will look especially presentable if the tree is patinated - painting over the deepest cracks with darker paint.

At the final stage, the product is polished again to remove the roughness and irregularities that appeared after staining.

Helpful advice! Lacquering is carried out on completely dry and cleaned wood. To paint brushed parquet, it is necessary to use a special parquet varnish. This will allow the finished coating to maintain a presentable appearance and performance characteristics for a long time.

Wood brushing: features of wood chemical structuring

Brushing with the help of chemistry is rare, even though the use of chemically active compounds greatly facilitates the process of artificial aging of wood. To carry out chemical processing of wood, it is necessary to have special knowledge and skills to work with chemicals. In addition, the method has a drawback - it is not always easy to buy the necessary reagents.

For the chemical structuring of a tree, acids are needed: hydrochloric and sulfuric, alkali and ammonia. Reagents applied to the surface of the material corrode the soft fibers. The master can only scrape off unnecessary wood.

Stages of chemical brushing of wood:

1. Surface grinding and decontamination.
2. Apply a thin layer of chemicals to the surface of the part. During chemical structuring, the evaporation of reagents must be monitored. If necessary, it is recommended to reapply them.
3. When the chemical has taken effect, that is, it has softened the outer fibers, the part must be washed under running water and the remnants of the reagent removed with a soft bristle brush.
4. Next, the tree must be thoroughly dried, painted or varnished.

The availability and demand for brushing allows you to perform this method at home. When structuring wood, it is imperative to adhere to safety regulations. Work with tools and a machine for brushing wood should be carefully and carefully. All artificial structuring processes must be carried out in special protective clothing, goggles and gloves. If antiseptic solutions are used during work or too much dust accumulates in the air from wood, then you should work in a respirator.

Brushing a wooden surface is an unusual way to make a piece of wood more beautiful, unusual and attractive. This method is very popular among interior designers and ordinary people, since everyone can artificially age a tree. You need to spend a little time and effort to get luxurious furniture or a chic original ceiling, stylized antique. For a better effect, patination of furniture can be carried out.

Artificial brushing of wood: the price of work

The main task of wood brushing is to create and emphasize the unique texture of the surface of the board. The result is a material with a clearly defined natural material pattern. The procedure is suitable for many types of material. The cost of standard brushing is 350 rubles. per sq. m. When ordering additional painting, the cost increases. The price of the work depends on the chosen type of wood, as well as on the size of the board.

The cost of each stage of artificial aging is usually calculated separately. You can order separately grinding or just impregnation. The most profitable option is a full brushing service from the beginning of work to the final coverage with the purchase of material. It is possible to perform artificial structuring from your material.

Wood brushing workshops perform an individual calculation of the cost of processing, depending on the type of wood, the size of the product and the list of services.

Brushing is performed over any kind of wooden materials:

• bar;
• lining;

• planks;
• block house;
• planks.

Scope of application of tree structuring technology

The structuring method is very popular in the manufacture of interior items and room elements. Such wooden products will be an original addition to classic and vintage interiors. In addition, the advantage of brushing technology is the ability to independently create exclusive things. In addition, this method belongs to the category of simple processes available to everyone.

Fireplaces, shelves, columns, wall panels, as well as aged wood are used as ceiling beams with a brushed board. This material creates a unique entourage for living rooms and halls, halls of cafes and restaurants. The interior design is filled with aristocracy and luxury, and aged wood creates warmth and comfort in the room.

Wooden furniture with brushed elements looks stylish and sophisticated. Artificial aging and patination of wood with your own hands allows you to make absolutely any furniture: cabinets, chests of drawers, pegs, beds. The use of brushed elements in furniture and interior design has no restrictions and prohibitions - it all depends on your imagination and creativity.

A very popular method of brushing wood. This method is used to decorate wooden floors or ceiling beams (ceilings), as well as styling interior items and furniture. It consists in treating the surface with a coarse metal brush, and then varnishing. During mechanical processing, the soft layers of wood are removed, and only hard layers remain on the surface.

Due to this effect, the surface will acquire a relief appearance. After the wood must be varnished, and preferably in two layers, which will emphasize the texture of the tree and give it elegance. It should be remembered that not all wood can be used for brushing. Coniferous woods are best suited for these purposes, as well as oak, walnut and ash.

First stage preparation

If we talk about how to make aged furniture with your own hands, then you need to start with the fact that the first step is to prepare the product for this procedure.

To really qualitatively age the furniture with your own hands, you should start with preliminary preparation of the product for this procedure.

For this you should:

• remove all handles, as well as other decorative elements from the product to be processed;
• then release all the drawers of the chest of drawers or cabinet, they should also be fully extended;
• remove all paint or varnish that is on the subject;
• if the surface was stained before applying the varnish, then, of course, the entire layer of the paintwork cannot be removed, in which case we remove as much varnish as possible.

In order to truly age the furniture with your own hands, you should start with preliminary preparation of the product for this procedure, for this, of course, you need to empty all the drawers, otherwise in the end it will be clear that these are not antique products, any master class speaks about this.

It is important to empty all chest of drawers

In addition to all of the above, certain materials should be prepared in advance, which are used to carry out the procedure for artificial aging of furniture. This is:

• water-based paint;
• special devices that are used for direct cleaning of furniture;
• sandpaper;
• brushes to be used in the work;
• craquelure varnish.

There are about 10 main ways of artificial aging of furniture. Each of which is based on a specific technology.

Aging furniture with staining

Restoration of the appearance of wood

This need is encountered everywhere. If the piece of furniture has served for some time, and defects have appeared in a separate area or over the entire area, the original decor has been lost, then this is relatively easy to fix with your own hands. In principle, this technology is one of the varieties of wood aging.

Operating procedure:

• Removal of applied layers (cleaning wood to the base). The skin is used. The grain size is selected based on the complexity of processing.
• The bare tree is covered (in 2 layers) with acrylic paint (black).
• Any furniture has a peculiar configuration. Consequently, all protruding places (corners, bevels, segments around the handles, and so on) wear out over time. After determining these areas, they are rubbed with paraffin. It is easy to find a candle in the house.
• Staining wood in the desired color.
• After the composition dries, the paraffin is washed off (peeled off), and dark paint will appear on the areas treated with it.
• Finishing.

The author recalls that the article indicates only the most easy-to-implement methods of artificial aging of a tree with your own hands. There are quite a lot of them, as well as the tools used, preparations. But if the meaning of all technological operations is clear, then it is easy to develop your own methodology. The specifics of the work and local conditions themselves will prompt what and how it is more expedient to do.

The recent fashion for vintage products, cars and retro-style clothing has not bypassed the design of wooden products. Antique wood processing allows you to create an interior in new buildings that looks as if the apartment was inherited by the owners from their great-grandfathers. The owners of country houses decorate the facades and interior space with old wood. Artificially aged wood is used to make decorative false beams on the ceiling, stairs, doors and other design elements that give the house a resemblance to a medieval castle or a fairy-tale forest hut.

The high cost of artificially aged wooden objects makes home craftsmen want to make the necessary things with their own hands, achieving both a reduction in the cost of the product and its genuine uniqueness. Doing the work of aging a tree is not at all as difficult as it might seem from the outside. You just need to know about the main ways to achieve a beautiful textured surface on ordinary lumber, which can be purchased at any company that sells building materials and wood.

Glazing technique

The method of glazing a wooden surface is also widely applicable. This method involves the use of various coloring compositions, ranging from acrylic and oil, and ending with watercolor. The glazing technique is to get deep color overflows due to layers of different transparency. For artificial aging of wood by this method, it is convenient to use acrylic-based paints, since they are easily diluted or mixed, forming a wide range of colors.

In addition, the solution of the acrylic-based coloring composition dries quickly on the surface and is moisture resistant. The painting process is quite simple: the prepared acrylic paint solution is applied to the surface, after which it is allowed to dry completely. If necessary, the procedure can be repeated to obtain the desired shade. The glazed layers do not hide the texture of the wood, and the effect of aging is achieved due to the overflow of translucent layers of the coloring matter.

Surface decoration by glazing, among other things, opens up wide opportunities for experimentation, as it allows you to apply translucent layers of coloring composition of various colors, obtaining unique shades.

Thermal and chemical wood processing

These methods can be called related, since the destruction of the upper layer of the tree occurs almost without mechanical influences. These are more dangerous methods than the previous ones, so processing should be done in the air and in compliance with safety measures.

The essence of firing lies in the fact that soft fibers are destroyed when exposed to open fire. To do this, the surfaces of the workpiece are fired with a flame of a blowtorch or a special gas burner to a depth of 3 mm. With surface firing, the effect of aging will be negligible, with deeper firing it will be more pronounced. The master at the same time regulates the process depending on his taste and needs.

After charring the top layer, a metal brush or a nozzle on a drill is put into action, scraping off the carbon deposits until the desired color and texture is obtained. Such wood can not be painted, because it will already have dark and light areas. The final processing consists in sanding and varnishing the product.

With the chemical method, antique wood decoration occurs in the process of exposure to alkalis or ammonia. To do this, you can use aerosols for cleaning stoves or a sewer cleaner. It is necessary to familiarize yourself with the composition of the product before use, it must contain alkali

Particular attention should be paid to precautions when working with it.

Once on the surface of the tree, these chemicals "burn out" some of the soft fibers, while painting the tree gray. After treatment, all surfaces are washed with water and covered with a weak solution of table vinegar or citric acid (1 tsp per 200 ml of water), removing alkali residues.

Dried products are subjected to brushing and staining, if necessary.

Processing wood in the above ways will help the owner to decorate the interior of an antique apartment himself, without investing a lot of money and without spending a lot of time on it. The availability of materials and tools for processing allows both a sophisticated carpenter, a beginner, and even a woman with imagination and skillful hands to engage in this type of creativity.

Furniture made of wood aged over the years is able to create in any interior a certain atmosphere of time connection, continuity, fabulousness and unique comfort. However, it is not at all necessary to wait half a century for a beautiful wooden table or chest of drawers that you purchased or created yourself to acquire such a unique look - there is a special technology for aging wood for this. And today we will tell you about.

Aging a tree is a rather slow and painstaking process. It consists of mechanical processing of wood and subsequent work with paints and varnishes. To begin with, furniture (or a wooden board from which you are going to build something) needs to be treated with a metal brush - but do not rush to think that this is aging - you just need to scratch it a little and give texture to its surface. Rough and massive furniture is most suitable for brushing, which, in principle, is able to convey the real beauty of natural material, and not quite suitable, which is made of wooden lamellas and is somewhat “skinny” - after texturing it will look somewhat sad.

According to many experts, it is this superficial approach to wood aging that forms the attitude of some people towards furniture treated in this way, as about furniture after a fire. In addition, the combination of aged wooden products and stone elements, ceramic, or artistic forging in the interior of the house is a stylish and win-win option that allows everyone who will be in this room to touch the time, to feel like in another time period of history.

Under natural conditions, wood aging occurs under the influence of wind, moisture, sunlight, temperature changes. And how to do what nature takes more than one decade, in a couple of days, how to artificially age a tree?

How to age a tree Wood sanding

In production conditions for sanding wood, there are special machines that provide for both the speed of wood feeding and the removal of wood dust. However, for an ordinary amateur, such equipment is an expensive thing, and not really necessary. Of course, if you intend to engage in aging wood professionally, then it is better to purchase a brush machine, but the easiest option for grinding will be a grinder or a drill. It is only desirable that they have the ability to adjust the speed.

In principle, the process of brushing wood is represented by three main stages:

1. Rough selection of soft fiber wood;
2. grinding;
3. Polishing.

Each of the stages needs a separate brush. The first stage involves the use of a metal brush, it is also called brushing. However, when working with it, small scratches can also remain on the annual tree rings themselves, which are not so easy to get rid of during subsequent processing. Therefore, it is necessary to adhere to some rules:

1	First of all, the brush should only be driven along the wood fibers - otherwise, the rings themselves can be damaged and spoil the natural pattern of the tree.
2	The speed at which the metal brush moves and the pressure on it should be approximately the same - otherwise pits may result.
3	When working, the light source must be marked on the side at an acute angle so that the light beam is directed across the wood fibers - this will allow you to better observe the surface being worked on.
4	Do not press too hard on the surface to be machined - the motor is overloaded and the risk of premature tool breakage increases.
5	The speed of the brush revolutions should not exceed 3,000, the most optimal option is 2-2.5 thousand revolutions, otherwise it can simply scatter in different directions.
6	Work must be carried out in goggles, and do not forget to protect your hands with gloves, because small pieces of metal bristles from the brush sometimes fly off several meters and can injure. You also need to remember about respiratory protection and dust removal - when carrying out such work, even eyelashes are covered with wood dust, imagine what will happen to the lungs.
7	If the brush is new, then it must be “run in” - otherwise, the wood blank will “wash” too much.
8	You only need to work in one direction - only rotation. It is better not to turn on the reverse at all, because this will literally “destroy” the metal brush.
9	Another important point - the moisture content of the tree should not be higher than 15%. Otherwise, the result will not be a textured surface, but a “hairy” one.

By the way, when working with solid wood, for example, oak or, it is necessary to remove dust, because dust particles of these wood species are considered carcinogenic and can lead to lung cancer.

To obtain a better finish and get rid of excess "lint", you will have to use another brush - a grinding disc made of polymer-abrasive material. If so, to make it clear - plastic (nylon) with the most common grain size equal to 120.

The abrasive brush is universal. It is characterized by a delicate surface treatment. Its use completely eliminates the metal brush, especially if you need to handle the product delicately, or if you intend to avoid scratches that remain after metal brushes.

Thermal aging

In fact, this is a complex processing of wood.

Stages of work

First
- firing over the entire surface or in a separate area. This is necessary to remove all the "pulp" and a clearer manifestation of the structure, growth rings, knots, cracks.

Second
- mechanical restoration. With the help of a metal brush, carbon deposits are removed. In addition, it allows you to achieve the most pronounced relief of the tree.

The third
(optional) - wood stain impregnation. Depending on the breed, this often results in a greater texturing effect. A single coat is sufficient.

Fourth
- applying varnish. If the aged wood looks great, then it is better to use a colorless varnish. Its task is to protect the material from the negative effects of the atmosphere. In some cases, additional tinting of wood is made with varnish, but already in color.

• The author in practice used different sources of open fire and in the process of training came to the conclusion that the best option is a gas burner. If you work with a blowtorch, it is difficult to achieve a uniform flame. As a result, during aging, tan marks appear on the tree, which are quite difficult to level, and sometimes impossible.
• Before proceeding with surface treatment, it is necessary to “fill your hand”. Therefore, at first it is desirable to gain at least a minimum of experience by practicing on junk lumber. There will always be some kind of wood waste on the farm.

How to age a tree We prepare the material

To begin with, before aging a tree, it must first be prepared. First of all, for brushing, it is better to stay on soft wood, or wood of medium hardness, which has a pronounced woody texture. It can be, for example, spruce, or pine. These breeds are distinguished by the fact that their soft fibers are often formed in spring and summer, and during this period the annual rings of the tree grow fastest, so the fibers are more “loose”. Wood with a uniform and almost undefined texture, such as beech and maple, is not suitable for aging.

Before starting work, the surface of the tree must be carefully prepared. All dirt and possible defects are removed, it can be a trace of fat, sweat, other stains - the fact is that they can appear when applying a tint solution. Any wooden products must be processed unassembled, regardless of their size - this way you will reduce time costs and get it with a brush in all places, thereby ensuring the uniformity of the aging effect.

How to age a tree Finishing an aged tree

The final stage of the story about how to artificially age a tree is tinting. With its help, the shade of wood changes by several tones. Then patination is done - this is the process of emphasizing the unique wood texture with special solutions that penetrate into the wood pores that opened during brushing. As well as craquelure, which allows you to achieve the effect of cracking, and varnishing.

After the wood is brushed, it looks like new, but has a textured, embossed surface. To give the tree an aged look, it is covered with various compositions, and dark shades give the most natural aged look to the tree.

The aged look of wood is given by the right play of colors. Those parts of the elements that have soft wood (these are depressions, pores, etc.) can be unevenly painted in darker shades, and the hard part (ridges) in lighter ones. True, today the opposite options are gaining more and more popularity - with ridges of a dark shade and troughs of a light one.

The easiest way to tint wood is to generously apply a dark wood stain to the surface and immediately wipe the treated area with a wide rubber spatula or an ordinary rag. The fact is that, theoretically, the stain is absorbed faster by a softer surface, and more slowly - on the ridges. True, in practice it has already been proven by many experts and amateurs that this is not always the case.

Therefore, you can stop your attention on a slightly more complex technique of aging wood with color. To do this, after the stain has completely dried, the ridges are processed with fine sandpaper.

But this method requires subsequent processing of the wood with varnish, or special colorless impregnations, because the top layer of the wood loses its protective coating.

Another option is to use paints in two contrasting shades. First, the surface is completely painted with the first color, then the second is applied. While the second coat dries, it is necessary to run a wide rubber trowel over the wood to remove excess paint and open the ridges of the first coat.

This is what you learned about how to age a tree with your own hands
. Yes, this process is not so simple and easy, but as a result you will get unique, hand-made decor elements that hide a piece of your soul, the beauty of time, but at the same time are highly durable.

The specifics of processing various surfaces

It is better not to grind the edges and corners of the workpieces at all, especially if you do not intend to varnish the finished product after processing - they will constantly cling and even chip off.

On seats, countertops and other horizontal surfaces, you should not make too deep a relief, because later it will be much more difficult to clean them - spilled drinks, small crumbs from food and other “garbage” will get stuck between the fibers.

In order to prevent dust from getting between the fibers and constant clinging of the rag during surface cleaning, it must be sanded with an abrasive brush and fine sandpaper.

And the last stage of brushing is polishing or fine grinding. It is performed using sesal or other synthetic brushes. Fine sandpaper, abrasive sponges, metal wool are also suitable for this. Dust from the treated surface must be removed with a wide soft brush and a vacuum cleaner.

Craquelure technique

A significant effect of surface aging is given by the creation of cracks in the coating, or the craquelure technique. In this case, a network of cracks is artificially created in the upper layer of the coloring composition, through which the base or the base layer of the coloring matter is visible. The craquelure technique is unusually beautiful and can be of various types: one-step, two-step, multi-component, etc.

The easiest to perform is the one-step technique for creating artificial cracks in the layer of the coloring composition. For it, you will need two different colors of the dye and, of course, a colorless craquelure varnish. As the first layer, you can choose bronze, gold or silver shades, which will give the surface a sophisticated look.

After applying the first layer, it is important that the surface is completely dry. Then, quite abundantly, transparent craquelure varnish is applied.

Unlike the first layer of the coloring composition, one should not wait for its complete drying, after 45 minutes you can safely apply the second layer of color. It is best to use acrylic paints for applying the second layer.

Moreover, it is important to dilute them with water and achieve a not too thick consistency. However, the coloring composition should not be strongly diluted with water either, since the cracks will be much larger.

You can somewhat speed up the drying process of the coloring composition by using a conventional or building hair dryer. A day after the surface has completely dried and a network of artificial cracks has formed on it, it is recommended to fix the coating with shellac or acrylic varnish.

Quite interesting is the technique of microcracking, that is, the creation of a network of microcracks on the stylized surface, which form a thin web. In general, this technique is very similar to that described earlier, although there are some features. For example, as a base, a transparent primer must be applied to the surface, and after it has completely dried, a colorless craquelure varnish is applied. When dried, a network of small cracks from one millimeter in size forms on the surface. If desired, for protection, a layer of patina, paste, or oil paints can be applied to the coating.

How to age a tree Brushing a tree

The term brushing comes from the English word “brush”, which means “brush” in Russian. Otherwise, this technique is called wood tekturirovanie, that is, with the help of a brush, a tree is given a texture, or relief, which is typical for old wooden products.

At the primary stage of brushing, soft fibers must be removed from the solid wood. This can be done in several ways - light aging involves the creation of a barely noticeable roughness on the wood surface, or rough (deep) aging, in which irregularities can have a depth of flesh up to 2-3 mm.

Larger details, for example, ceiling beams, or wooden poles, can be completely pre-treated with an ax - you can put notches, trim the edges, and don’t be afraid to spoil something - because no one knows except you what should be the result. Such processing allows to give the product a deep microrelief of the surface, the depth of irregularities in which will be up to 2 cm.

Also, when aging a tree, the fate and “traces” that appear over time from the “work” of various bugs are necessary. Before finishing, they can be imitated with a drill or drill. In addition, you can apply such simple threaded elements as, for example, pigtails - in the end you will get a Scandinavian-style product.

List of sources

• koffkindom.ru
• lkmprom.ru
• hagga.ru

Due to the fact that wood has been used for the construction and decoration of housing almost from the very beginning of time, today there are many different, at first glance, even strange and illogical methods of wood processing. Different processing methods have different goals: in one case, you need to protect the wood from decay, in the other, to make it more fireproof, just change the color or give it a more expressive shade.

Important Points

Recently, such a type of processing as wood aging has become increasingly widespread. Artificially aging a tree is quite simple, and this is usually done solely for a decorative purpose, because after aging the wood of the interior or exterior, the house or furniture made from it looks like antique, old and worn by time. In the eyes of connoisseurs and aesthetes, the aging of wood gives buildings and finishes more value.

A sample of furniture using the technique of "aging" wood.

Several more or less simple techniques are known for artificial aging. They can be made independently, having a basic set of tools and substances for wood finishing.

Materials and tools that come in handy to age a tree with your own hands: a brush with metal bristles (or circular), sanding skins, antiseptic and solvent, as well as dark and white glaze, sponge or foam rubber.

Painting after removing soft fibers

This is one of the easiest do-it-yourself wood aging methods, which consists in first treating the required surface with a metal brush. Wood has a structure that is treated unevenly, because in winter, spring, summer and autumn, when the corresponding annual rings are formed in the pillars of wood, its plant vessels develop unevenly.

A metal brush thus removes soft fibers, while harder ones remain, since they are more resistant to mechanical stress. This causes a change in the relief surface of the wood, which is emphasized by further painting.

One of the wood aging techniques is called throwing.

Before making the processing of a wooden surface with a metal brush, they first pass through it with a sandpaper. Only after sanding is brushing performed.

Instead of a regular metal brush, you can also take a circular one, which will require a special nozzle from a grinder. It is important to remember that wood brushing is carried out along the fibers, so they are easier to remove.

The formation of wood dust during the processing of wood is inevitable, so it must be removed with a special brush or brush, observing safety so as not to injure the hand and not bring a splinter under the skin.

After that, the wood is coated with two layers of glaze. A translucent dark composition is applied to the surface, and then removed by soaking with a sponge. After that, the surface can be varnished, left in this form, or treated with a light translucent glaze and also wetted with a sponge.
In the second case, a pattern is created in the “à la Provence” style, which is often used for ceilings and floor beams, for example, in basements or attics, thus creating an atmosphere of antiquity.

Multi-layer processing

In order to give the wood an even more antique look in the interior and at the same time look like it has already been worn out enough, multi-layer painting is best suited for aging.

Even before the start of painting the wood, they try to make the surface as embossed as possible, damaging it with various tools, for example, self-tapping screws, hammers, and saws. This creates the effect of high wear of wood.

Already with a relief, the wood surface is covered with a layer of ground paint until it dries completely. When it dries, a fairly thick layer of dye is applied on top, which can be used as tinting paint or antiseptic color compounds, which gives the wood even more protection.

It is better to use more liquid compositions for applying paint, which spread well and provide an even layer. After the paint has dried, the second stage of mechanical aging is carried out with the help of tools.

At the second stage, the damage must be applied carefully so that they are small. This damage layer is also covered with a white translucent glaze, which, unlike the primer, can be unevenly layered to create the desired embossed effect.

Lacquer gives an aged surface an even more noble look.

Further, after drying, the top layer of white glaze is completely torn off with a metal brush. This allows you to give the wood a relief look with a fairly contrasting color pattern.
The quality of the aged surface depends on how well the white glaze has been diluted. It is recommended to mix it with white spirit in a ratio of 1 to 1 before aging the tree.

Other Methods

The fastest way to age a tree at home, which does not require much effort, is to age the tree with a brush and one type of glaze. First of all, a metal brush is used again, with which in the longitudinal direction it is necessary to scrape the grooves on the surface.

White glazing gives this surface an antique look. Surface finishing is carried out with a brush.
By this method, it is possible to obtain a bleached wood surface, for which the effect of aging is provided by processing with a stiff brush.

Video: wood aging master class