White oak finish - make it look old/beat up

[duc916]

I am restoring a old cart that is made from white oak. I need to add some new boards and want to age them. I have looked around the internet and see articles about fuming, dye, staining, etc. I am not a woodworker so I want to keep it simple. Any good way to distress or make some white oak boards look old?

 

[pepi]

Hit with a heavy chain, 1 inch or bigger links, scorch it.

 

[TONE]

Have my wife vacuum around it. That should ding it up perfectly.

 

[Ss95003]

Have my wife vacuum around it. That should ding it up perfectly.

now that is funny.

 

[astroracer]

The easiest way to do this is to pick up some gel stain that is close to the existing woods color. Pick up a COUPLE of colors. Do a few test samples on drops and mix and match the colors until you get somethng that matches. If there are any other colors in the mix they can be matched in the same way.
I just did this on an antique bed I rebuilt. Took a bit of T&E but it came out nice.

Trying out colors and mixes.

All done. It looks even better now because it's been a little over a year since I completed it and using some furniture wax and polish has blended all of the colors together.

Mark

 

[Alan Douglas]

There's a discussion running now on the Old Woodworking Machinery forum. Given the rough nature of the project, one of their suggestions of using vinegar and steel wool would probably work well on white oak.

http://owwm.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=159452&p=1077623#p1077623

 

[smedly]

Not sure exactly what you are looking for, but this was a new pine panel.

Beat with chain, wire brush and awl
Stood on board when it was on gravel, then some rebar
Painted it black
Sanded and scraped the paint
Burned it, which was easy to get carried away
Stain and poly.

I wasn't reall going for a "weathered" look which uses some other techniques, I wanted it to look used.

With the poly

 

[RivennHewn]

Ammonia fuming is a traditional way of finishing oak.

Build a tent over the piece, and place open containers of ammonia in the tent.

How much, and how long you leave it varies the finish.

Lots of info on the interwebs

 

[duc916]

Thanks for the help. I like the fuming and vinegar/steel wool look

 

[cabin fever]

vinegar, and steel wool works good. Then hit it with a butane torch (lightly)

 

[TheModelAGuy]

Great ideas, looking for a way to age new wood in an old pickup

 

[PugetDude]

Stay away from the burning. It doesn't make new wood look old, aged or antique, it just looks like someone took a torch to it. You can do a better job with some judicious distressing, then a careful dye/stain application.
Finish it , set it up, then hire Tone's wife to vacuum around it for the lived-in look.
Good luck, post pictures of the finished project.

 

[rburke65]

Have you tried you tube?

 

[404]

Ammonia fuming is a traditional way of finishing oak.

Build a tent over the piece, and place open containers of ammonia in the tent.

How much, and how long you leave it varies the finish.

Lots of info on the interwebs

And put the ammonia dishes on camp stoves under the tent.
This goes back to 1900 at least. Sometimes an entire room would be done with hot ammonia vapor to darken the look. They sent a little kid in to light the burners..

 

[justanengineer]

Some of you fellas have funny ideas about what age and distress look like in wood.

JMO, but I'd leave the lumber in the back of mine or a buddy's pickemup for a week or three along with a rusty chain or two and a few blocks of hardwood. Let things bang around a bit and get sun bleached, rotating frequently then stain.