Tutorial for the Prim Lovers - aging wood

In honour of my 100th post I thought I would share one of my favourite prim secrets with you...

One of the most frequent questions I have been asked since doing this is how to age things... this method works especially well on old cutting boards or hard wood... this does not work on soft pine

This is the board that I will be working on... note the colour now

I purchased this at a thrift store for a couple of dollars...

LET'S GET STARTED

put something down on your work surface this will get messy...

Tip: I use an old shower curtain as a drop sheet

STEP #1

give your board a light sanding to open up the pores 

this is our secret weapon... Ebony (black) stain

STEP# 2

apply the stain liberally with a sponge brush

let it soak in for a few minutes

Tip: put your board on a couple of scrap wood pieces to prevent pooling

it will also make staining the sides much easier

STEP #3

wipe excess stain off with a cotton rag

don't forget your rubber glove

after wiping the stain... hmmm doesn't look very aged to me... too perfect

now we get the big guns out... an old ice pick and hammer...

STEP #4

give the board a few whacks with the ice pick and hammer... this will depict worm holes... we are talking really old wood here people

add more stain on top of your holes... let it soak in for a bit

viola...now you have some authentic looking worm holes...

do this randomly over the whole board...

STEP #5

take a hammer and whack it all over with both the head and the claw part

restain - be sure to work the stain in the holes

wipe clean

 Tip: I would normally do this first but for this tut I wanted to show you the difference with and without... consider this step frustration therapy

now let's have another look at the before

and the after... beat to death and restained

I also sanded the edges and anywhere you think it should have some wear and tear

close up... now doesn't that look much better than a plain ole boring board

let's try another one

a $2.00 thrift store find

using the same method as above... could you tell the difference between this and an antique one

I have seen these in antique shops as high as $45.00 for the old ones

I hope this answers your question on how to age wood

this is just one method but the easiest and quickest.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask I will be more than happy to help you.