Distressing wood

[Marc1]

On 4/15/2017 at 9:03 AM, littleblacksmith said:

I wonder what a stiff block brush would do.

                                                                                                                  Littleblacksmith

Distressing or ageing wood works if the wood has two different strata, one soft and one hard. Softwood, real soft like poplar or weeping willow, does not have this. Brush it with a wire brush and all you get is a series of scratches in the wood. Spruce and douglas fir have natural hard and soft rings and there you can scrape off the soft and get the harder rings to stand out and give the drift-wood effect if you brush along the fibres. What burning achieves is a differential burning. The softer rings turn to coal quicker than hard wood rings and so you can brush off the charred softwood off and get a much better effect. 

[notownkid]

I've made many coat racks as you say with both used and new RR spikes over a number of years, from 2 to 12 spikes and until today never thought about pictures?  I use 5/4 x 4 #1 pine sanded and stained a med. dark poly stain 6-8 coats steel wool between coats 

anyways I tried distressing once and pounded the thing with an old chain looked ok but never did it another.   I never build on speck and usually for friends and relatives for very special occasions.   

[JHCC]

1 hour ago, notownkid said:

anyways I tried distressing once and pounded the thing with an old chain looked ok but never did it another.   I never build on speck and usually for friends and relatives for very special occasions.   

What's the old saying? Vermonters don't buy antiques -- they sell them!

[notownkid]

1 hour ago, JHCC said:

What's the old saying? Vermonters don't buy antiques -- they sell them!

beat them to death then sell them as antiques, down country folks never know the difference.  We can make anything into an  antique take an old piece of furniture shoot it a few times with a black power gun hit it a few times with a hatchet and tell them it's from the French & Indian war, Revolutionary War or from the St. Albans raid during the civil war.  With the modern science a bit harder to get away with now.  " Family history says My great, great,  great grandmother  pushed it against the door to hold the Indians out during a raid in 1755."    

[Marc1]

Ha ha, reminds me of a hippy friend of mine who used to make "antiques" and flog them off at a hippy market. He made a rather nice chest and was heavy on detail to make it look old, including punching small holes on the base like borer holes.

A customer soon showed a lot of interest and was about to open his wallet when he turned it around and saw the fake borer holes. He refused to buy for fear of infesting his home with borers and no amount of reassurance that it had been gassed convinced him and he left. The next day the chest was up for sale again this time the holes had a good dose of putty.

[pigpen60]

Well I did a test board with the torch and wouldnt you know it the wife liked and I had to use it! I throwed 4 spikesin the forge and bent them, then I soaked them in vinegar to clean them up a bit. I then warmed the spike up again and put some wax on them to seal em. I then drilled them for 1/4"-20 threads and mounted the spikes to the board. Now the photos have a yellow look I think its the room lighting. The shaking is all me and I had to use the ceiling to steady.

[JHCC]

That's really nice, pigpen60; good work. 

Now all the Damascus makers are going to be asking "How did you get the 1084 and 15N20 wood to stick together like that?"

[pigpen60]

Ancient machinist secret!

[John in Oly, WA]

On ‎5‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 11:35 AM, JHCC said:

Now all the Damascus makers are going to be asking "How did you get the 1084 and 15N20 wood to stick together like that?"

You gotta grow 'em that way. It takes years.