How to age a tree?

Wood is known for being one of the most aesthetic materials widely used to decorate our homes. At the same time, in its pure, unprocessed form, it does not look so pretentious, which means that it needs special processing to acquire aesthetic notes. Aging is one of the most popular methods of woodworking and deserves special consideration.

Some interior decorating styles literally require decorative antique wood furniture and finishes. This requirement is relevant for most classical trends, including baroque and rococo, as well as for rustic styles, where there may not be too much decor as such, but the same tabletop, floor and ceiling beams should look old.

When there are no originals, imitation comes into play - the tree just needs to be aged. Today, this can be done even with your own hands and at home, which is used by many skilled owners who want to see antique decor at home. The variety of options for how exactly to process the surface allows you to transfer not only color, but also texture, even turning a new board or wall into a hundred-year-old.

Each method of aging wood requires its own tools and materials, but in all cases, the first thing to do to artificially increase the age of wood surfaces is to thoroughly clean them. Regardless of whether the tree was painted, varnished or unprotected with anything, the top layer must be removed - it has already worked its way.

Depending on the size of the workpiece and the fineness of its parts, we will remove the top layer with chisels or a small ax, a plane or an angle grinder (grinder) with brush-type nozzles, or even just a manual steel brush. You can use a very "old-fashioned" method, armed with ordinary sandpaper, only it should ideally be taken with several grain sizes: with large for primary and small for final cleaning.

In most cases, aging involves the application of liquid formulations to the surface of the workpiece or even its full impregnation with the substance used. Accordingly, in the process of creating the desired effect, paint brushes and soft-bristled brushes, as well as a dense sponge for blotting the surface, will come in handy.

The variety of aging methods available not only provides a lot of wiggle room, it also hints that different methods give different results. To clearly understand exactly how the finished result will look like, you need to confidently navigate the techniques, so now we will consider each of them separately.

The name of the method comes from the English word brush, and it would be much more widespread if it was suitable for all types of wood. The method is good for coarse oak, larch and spruce. It is not suitable for trees with a finer structure. The result in this case is achieved by etching soft fibers with a stiff metal brush.

Before this, the wood must be wetted to avoid the formation of pungent dust that gets into the nose and eyes. As a result of this treatment, the surface will become very textured, after which it is necessary to remove burrs and potential splinters using sandpaper.

It's time to cover the treated surface with a protective layer, but not with a plain paint - it does not allow you to enjoy the result. Instead, either oil, varnish, or wax is applied to the product and waited for solidification. Painting to enhance the effect is possible, but it will be difficult - the grooves should be lighter than the protrusions.

This method is a bit similar to the previous one thanks to the use of two-tone paints, but it differs already at least in that it is not picky about the type of wood - even pine or cherry can be processed. To begin with, the product is slightly smoothed with sandpaper and painted in a kind of "traditional" tone for wooden furniture, without bright modern shades. When the layer is dry, you need to paint the accessory on top of it again, but now with a slightly lighter paint.

After it dries, too, they proceed to processing the product with fine-grained sandpaper or even a hard sponge in order to create scuffs that imitate the old history and repeated repainting of the thing. At the finish, varnish is applied.

Another way, completely not picky about the original material, be it oak, pine or aspen board. This aging option is also good in that it does not require the use of any complex tools - in fact, we will do with improvised things.

To begin with, the wood is sanded to obtain an even surface. Further, the product is painted in one color - you can not try to bring the tone to the ideal, applying the paint in a sweeping and uneven manner. Next, you need to wait for the bottom layer to dry and rub it with wax - even an ordinary candle is suitable for this purpose, which must be pressed tightly. It is not necessary to cover the entire product with wax, but only to apply separate lines that will simulate abrasion - if the lower layer was chosen dark, the wax marks will be clearly visible.

When the second layer of paint dries up, you must carefully wipe the craft with a rag - the wax will come off, and with it the top layer of paint, revealing a different tone. If the “shabby” product looks the way it should, you can apply varnish on top, but the most diligent craftsmen consider it necessary to add a third layer for maximum aesthetics.

To complete the task, we need two types of stain at once - one based on water and white spirit. The method does not even involve preliminary sanding, although, if you want, you can combine it with the same preliminary brushing. First, the surface is treated with water impregnation, which is then washed off with a soft sponge, deliberately skipping corners and edges. When the product dries, apply a second layer of stain, already on white spirit, letting it stand for a whole night.

The dried craft is primed with a special primer, filling the grooves in the texture with a brush or even a soft sponge. After the primer has hardened with the same brush, rub in antique wax - a mixture of mineral, beeswax and vegetable wax. This coating provides both aesthetic and protective effect.

The following method will seem very simple at first glance, but it will require a neat and skillful hand. It is used only for aging furniture that does not differ in relief, and for work you only need an old and very hard brush, as well as a water-based dye.

In the simplest version, the brush is dipped in paint and held along the fibers without pressing. Due to this, it leaves an intermittent mark, very similar to the marks characteristic of old furniture used for many years.In this case, shades are usually chosen similar or at least not strikingly different. You can go even further, first painting the product with the basic tone and only then doing the described above.

One of the most "lazy", but no less effective methods is rinsing. The essence of the method is extremely simple. - to begin with, we take the aged product and paint it in any color that we want to see as the main one. After that, the paint must be allowed to dry, but not so that it is reliable and final - the dye layer must still remain vulnerable.

Next, the master should arm himself with a rag and, in an abstract manner, make neat attempts to erase the paint. Please note: we are not trying to completely wipe off the paint in the chosen place, but only imitate the wear.... When you decide that's enough, you can leave the surface alone and let the paint dry.

The essence is about the same - paint, but do not let it dry to the end, only here the removal of the dry paint is done not with a wet rag, but with a spatula or scraper. Experts advise walk the tool along the seams - then the "scuffs" will be plausible and logically explainable.

This approach allows for uneven lightening of hard and dark woods, which is perceived as burnout and fading. Ordinary soda, which will become our main tool, should be applied precisely to the tree, because old paint or varnish must be removed with sandpaper or in any other way.

Next, you need to mix the solution in a bucket - soda mixed with water to make it very thick... The resulting mass should be applied to a horizontal surface and left to dry, ideally in the sun. Six hours later, when the solution dries up, it must be thoroughly scraped off with a metal brush, making sure that no soda remains on the wood. Don't worry about scratches - they only enhance the color and effect of old age. After that, wipe the surface with a damp cloth and, if you want, repeat the procedure.

With this method of processing, gloves cannot be dispensed with, and in some cases a mask to protect the respiratory tract will not hurt. First, let's prepare a solution for aging - for this you need to get steel wool or an ordinary metal sponge, grind them into a glass jar and pour vinegar. Vinegar will begin to corrode the metal and darken from this. - the longer the reaction takes place, the darker the shade will be. On average, the liquid will reach its condition in a few hours, but be guided by your taste.

After the tea product has dried, apply the resulting vinegar solution and let it dry now - it will not take much time. Finally, the wood is varnished or waxed.

This method requires special care from the master - even protective glasses will be needed. The way is good speed of execution, but relatively dangerous by the occurrence of a fireso be careful. Before aging, the surface can be either just smooth (without paint and varnish), or pretreated using the brushing technique.

It is not difficult to describe the task - in different places, bring a blowtorch or gas torch to a wooden surface, provoking a darkening of the material. Do not get carried away, because with prolonged firing at one point, the likelihood of fire increases significantly. Work pointwise, not aiming to create a specific pattern - then the "old" wood will look natural.

If you want a brighter pigmentation, provide it in several approaches - this is more correct in the interests of fire safety. Burn the brushed surface even more accurately, with very quick movements. Upon completion of work, cover the product with varnish.

Finally - a subtle technique that ages not so much the wood as the paint with which it is painted. In this case, the product must be painted twice, and with dyes of different colors, necessarily very thick. Many craftsmen advise to use acrylic paint for the bottom layer, and the front layer for the outer one. If of the two shades one is clearly darker than the other, then the one that is darker should be below the bottom.

So, first we paint the product with a dark layer and let it dry completely. After that, using a brush, you need to cover the painted product with ordinary PVA glue - be sure to move in one direction, but do not pursue the goal of smearing the surface with glue evenly, since it is in the unevenness that the whole trick is.

Inside this film, a part of the glue should remain in a liquid state, and a second layer of paint is applied on top of it and dried with the same hairdryer. As a result of such manipulations, the glue crust will begin to crack, and it turns out that the paint on the product looks very cracked and unreliable. Do not worry, it will not fall off from this - the dye lays down well on the dry glue, and the PVA itself will not fall off. You can fix the result and protect it from external influences with a finishing coat of varnish.

Using visual examples, you can get an idea of ​​what the different methods of tree aging look like.

• The first photo shows a typical example of popular brushing, which is very easy to identify by its characteristic fibrous grooves. It cannot be asserted with absolute accuracy, but the characteristic dark marks give the impression that, in addition, the master also burned the wood, which resulted in a real quintessence of old wood.

• The second photo illustrates typical staining manipulation results - characteristic "gaps" with missing paint indicate that the specialist used the method of rinsing or aging "a la Provence". Some of the boards show that they were even painted in two layers, and although it took a lot of time to achieve the effect, it turned out great.

• Finally, in the third example - "craquelure", which is not yet very well known among ordinary people, therefore it just needs to be illustrated. The antiquity effect is so catchy that it might be better to apply it to smaller items like a picture frame. However, it’s hard not to admit that the decor was amazing.

See below for how to age wood.