Question Fellas: I need a fairly easy and effective way to distress 8’ 2x4 studs I’m cutting down to make a big frame for a picture collage thing for the roommate. I haven’t distressed wood before. Any video links or anything would be helpful. I was hoping to make it out of old barn wood but couldn’t find any quickly I need to get this made in the next several days.
Woodworkers Thread
- Thread starter AgronAlum
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Built this for my wife a couple months ago... Is this the distressed look you're thinking about?
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I'm not into the distressed look but here are a few techniques. I have never tried any of these. https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/distress-wood-furniture-painting/
I've done a rub on finish were you soak steel wool in white vinegar overnight and then wipe the vinegar on. I wish I could find some pictures of it. It doesn't look like much when you first do it but after a couple days it turns grey and looks like it came off a 100 y/o barn.
Home Depot sells “ghost wood” which is distressed (I’d wager that their standard lumber is distressed too!). Think it comes in browns and greys. It looks pretty good.
Is that after you let the stain completely dry? I don't plan on using any poly or otherwise given what this will be used for. But if I did, would I do the Vinegar between the stain and poly?
When I did it I only used the vinegar on the wood (pine). I didn't use any stain or poly to protect it. It took about 3 days for it to turn grey and as far as I know it stopped changing color after that. It's at my sisters house and I haven't been down there for a while to look at it.
Oh gotcha. Well that makes it even easier then. I think I will give it a shot. Do you rub it on with the grain I’m assuming? Lightly brush or more pressure like your sanding it?
I just used a rag wipe it on with. Since you're basically dealing with vinegar it's pretty thin to start with.
Here's what I've done in the past:
- Use a wire brush wheel on a drill or angle grinder, wear away the wood all over. You want to make deep grooves into the wood in this step to create relief.
- Beat up the wood with hammers, knives, nails, etc
- Stain the wood using a dark brown stain
- Lightly brush over with a lighter color (white/gray)
- Sand away any areas with excess white/gray paint and re-stain with brown or black
These pictures were just plain old pine 1x4s from the home store except for the lettering which was painted MDF.
Thanks. I really like that look. I don’t know that I will do that for this particular project because I’m crunched on time and if I screw it up I’m gonna be in a hell of a pinch with the lady. I plan to keep this in my back pocket though. I already have an idea for its application.
The longest part is waiting for the stain to dry, which for me was an overnight thing. I did this project over a weekend, for example. Using the wire brush to wear away the wood is a nice step that not everyone mentions. It gives it a much better aged look and a lot less "fake aged" compared to just treating the bare wood. It can also create the appearance of old saw marks on the wood given the circular nature of the grinding. You can kind of see that effect on the bottom of the second photo I posted.
But yes, do what works best for your particular project. Good luck!
I did a few things
1. Had a old saw blade for my table saw... bent one tooth to leave saw marks
2. Hit it a bunch with an old chain
3. Wire brush on my angle grinder (this is the most impactful as it removes softer wood, but leaves harder grain). That process makes it look like it's 50 years old and weathered.
4. Stain with a dark stain
5. Sand it, which exposes the raised grain left by angle grinder
6. Stain it with a lighter colored stain to get the contrast.
7. Clear coat
I wouldn't use as dark of a first stain next time, but the contrast between the two did turn out well
I used Osmo Polyx Oil for this finish in my dusty garage and am really impressed.
The table was sanded to 320 initially.
1. Buffed in Osmo with a white pad.
2. Next day sanded with 400 then buffed in a second coat of osmo.
3. Next day sanded with 600 then buffed in a third coat of osmo.
4. Next day buffed in Osmo cleaner/ wax with a white pad, waited 30 minutes a buffed with a microfiber cloth, done.
I really want to try doing a table like sometime. A lot of them I see are overkill on the epoxy but when you do it like you have there they look great I think.
I like the look of black epoxy with black walnut. My daughter wanted blue/ green with alot of bling. I told her she can choose the colors for her end table with what's left of the slab.
