Pickled Barrel is all about rustic looks, and that included distressed wood for sure. But do you have to scour your area for old wood to get the look you want? The answer is no, you don’t! You can achieve a perfectly distressed look for planked walls and other applications with new wood. Today’s post is going to show you how! {Hint, it’s really easy and uses a simple household ingredient!}.
Believe it or not, the main ingredient you need for distressing new wood is some simple household vinegar. White vinegar, to be exact. You also need:
rags
spray bottle
work gloves
safety glasses
dust mask
The first step to age new wood is to mechanically distress it. If you’re looking for a weather beaten look, you can replicate that on new wood by something as simple as beating the wood with a chain. The chain produces nicks and scratches that are present on naturally aged wood.
To achieve the appearance that comes from years of exposure to sun and weather, this is where vinegar comes in. A few hours before starting on the wood, fill a spray bottle halfway with white vinegar. Now take one steel wool pad and shred it up. Put the shreds into the spray bottle with the vinegar. Set the bottle outside in the sun for 3-4 hours. After it has sat in the sun, spray the vinegar onto the wood and let it dry. Repeat until you achieve nearly the shade you want. Try out a test piece before doing all the wood, and keep in mind that over time the wood will continue to age, so stop when the wood is just a little lighter than your desired hue.
To achieve a darker gray look, first spray the wood with black tea, and then follow the steps outlined on the previous slide for the vinegar. Black tea adds tanins to the wood that will react with the vinegar to produce a darker aged hue. Finish off your project with a light coating of paste wax. To make nicks and scratches stand out even more, work a dark paste wax into them before finishing with light paste wax.
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