# Making new pine look old



## Forbes

Does anyone know how to make a new piece of pine look old? The main problem is killing the yellowish colour in new stuff. Old pine tends to a whitish grey. I don't think that just putting a stain on can take away the yellow. Would I have to bleach it first? Or leave it out of doors for six months? I believe there are some commercially available products to do this, and old recipes, but would like to hear if anyone has had success with any of them. Another difference with old pine is generally that the softer grain has shrunk more than the harder grain, but it may be asking too much to reproduce this effect in new stuff.

Being new to this forum, I don't know if this question has been discussed before, or if it is possible to do a search on previous topics. Thanks, in anticipation, Forbes


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## Tusses

you could try caustic soda - same as they use for funiture / door stripping. It burns the wood and gives it the antique look.

antique pine only looks the way it does because its been stripped , as nearly all pine furniture was painted back then. Pine was the MDF of the time 

any unpainted antique pine would be very orange by now !


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## BradNaylor

Tusses is quite right - a mild solution of caustic soda will give new pine that old 'just been stripped' slightly grey-brown look.

Similar results can be obtained using a water-based antique pine stain - one that will raise the grain slightly and leave the wood a bit rough. Morrells do a good one.

The pine can be 'distressed' by lightly hitting it all over with a bunch of keys and softening the edges unevenly with a sanding block.

A good quality wax such as Briwax, Fiddes, or Morwax in the required colour can then be applied with a shoe brush or a sponge. Any excess should be wiped off immediately to prevent smearing and the finish buffed up between coats. 2 or 3 coats is normally enough to give a nice deep shine that looks like well maintained old wood.

Cheers
Dan


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## Forbes

Thanks Tusses and Dan for the caustic soda suggestion. It sounds like nasty stuff though, I'll have to kit myself out with a set of protective gear before trying it. But how mild a solution should I use?


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## Tusses

its the same stuff you chuck down the drains ! not too bad really

pair of marrigolds - and maybe some safety specs and you'll be sorted.


get yourself a test peice of scrap pine and have a play. strength will equal time ... so if its weaker you just leave it longer .

oh ... and NEVER add water to the soda ! always the soda to water  (another experiment in the waiting :lol: )


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## eggflan

Forbes , I use this water based stain ebay link Then i seal it with a med brown briwax , this gives an aged look but may be a bit dark for what you want, i water this down by 4 parts water to 1 part stain so it goes a long way belive me  20 ltrs for the price of 5 :wink: , you could try a lighter wax such as the antique brown briwax this gives a paler finish or even a clear wax . I used to get bottles of used stripping solution from my local dip & strip man this is caustic based and i still watered it down as it was too strong for what i needed ,but i do most of my finishing in my kitchen and the wife stopped me from using it and the Hannants stuff is very user friendly and smell free  8) Hope this helps if you only need a small amount pm me and i will mail you some so you dont have to buy a load that you wont use ...


Mic..


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## Ironballs

If you want the wavy look on the grain then you could try rubbing it down with wire wool, this will remove more of the softer wood between the grain.

With my old doors in the last house I gave them about 3 or 4 coats of briwax after being dipped to remove the paint


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## matt

You could take it to be dipped at your local pine stripping outfit. You'll have to pay but you'll get the genuine caustic soda treatment. 

I used to stain pine using light oak stain but rub it on very dry using a tightly balled piece of cloth. The trick is to not let it soak in too much, just colour the surface. It's not bad - takes out the yellow that you describe.


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## Ironballs

You do need to be careful with dipping doors though, the quality varies between companies and some doors react better to it than others. It can break the old glue down in the doors and if you leave them unsurfaced too long you can get very bad warping and shrinkage


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