Antique Patina How to Achieve

[SHEETMETAL]

Hello Fellow Woodies
Does anybody know how to put an antique patina onto an Oregon table to?
A mate of mine had me put a table top on an old Singer treadle sewing machine base for the purpose of selling at the local markets.
He phoned me last night, complaining that he can't sell it because I looks too new.He s suggesting I remake the top in oak, I don't want to go to all that trouble . The Oregon top is finished with alternate coats of orange oil and beeswax.

Any sugestions?

Gerard

[Xanthorrhoeas]

If your friend wants the top to look old you could distress the Oregon Pine.

Antique furniture fakers and others who like the patinaed look have used all sorts of techniques to make surfaces look old.

One suggestion: Because the pine has softer early wood bands and harder late wood bands you can either flame the top with a gas torch, which will char the wood, then brush with a wire brush to remove the softer early wood. That makes the Oregon look weathered. If you then wax it with a black wax it will have an aged look.

As well as the above suggestion distressing can involve beating the wood surface with chain, abrading and beating it with hammers. Afterwards, seal the surfaces again and use the black wax, which will accumulate in the depressions to accentuate them and help to make the timber look old.

These techniques obviously damage the surface so you would need to be sure exactly what your friend wanted before taking such drastic steps.

Good luck.

[rob streeper]

Hi Gerard,

There are a variety of ways to artificially darken wood.
All should be tested and adjusted on a scrap of exactly the same material as the top you intend to darken.

Tannins can be used. Given you have pine you must first work some tannin into the wood. Darkening with potassium dichromate is optional.
See: http://www.shellac.net/Dichromate-Tannin.html
Another source of tannins is tea, black tea is a pretty rich source. Again you can use it straight or you can accentuate the effect using ferrous acetate to the point that the wood turns black. See http://www.labellenote.fr/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=79&mnuid=313&tconfig=0

You can also use dyes. There are many products around, See http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/128486/Transtint-Dyes-Dark-Mission-Brown.aspx, and http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/148606/General-Finishes-Water-Based-Dye-Medium-Brown-Pint.aspx for example.

I read years back that during a period when distressed furniture was popular manufacturers were beating on completed pieces with chains to simulate the kind of damage caused by years of use.
I'm sure that there are many other tricks out there.

Cheers,
Rob

[rob streeper]

I just ran across this on the Project Gutenberg website, copyright free so don't worry. It has some interesting information.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17935

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Another good reference http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43500/43500-h/43500-h.htm

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