Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Making beech look old?
Sandor in Boyds, MD
>This talk of skew rabbets has reminded me of the few that I have that I tuned. One was bowed left to right pretty good, so I made it into a 1" from a 1 1/4" wide plane. In doing so I planed both sides to fresh wood.
So is there a treatment to artificially age beech to look like its been around 100 years? Fuming, TSP, bleach?
I know its only cosmetic as the plane works well now, but I would like to make it look like the rest of the till.
Thanks,
Sandor
Re: Making beech look old?
Todd Hughes
>What I use and have found out works good and is probably the easiest is just get a can of cheap black spray paint. Spray it on the wood and then wipe off befor it dries.This is usualy all you need but if you want it to look even better apply a coat of dark Brie wax and then rub with an old rag....Todd
Re: Making beech look old?
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>Fuming won't work because there is very little tannic acid in beech. If Todd's forumula seems too easy (I've seen him use it, and it does work), you could try any of the formulas and procedures for making maple look old, since beech's working properties are very similar. However, most of them are sealing finishes, which might be a distinct disadvantage in a hand plane.
You might want to kick it around the shop floor, spill coffee on it, hit it with a ham and cheese and mayo sandwich, leave it laying on your sharpening bench for a week or two, under a spider web and then bury it in the back yard under the compost heap for a couple of days. I'm only half kidding. Antique dealers do things like this all the time to make furniture look old.
Cat pee. DAMHIKT.
David Barnett - Venice, Florida
>
Brie wax???
Ron in Kokomo
>OK Talk
Re: Brie wax???
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>What you do, see, is you boil a pound of brie and skim the scum off the top of the water, then let it dry. This is your basic brie wax.
No, no, just joking! Joking! It's a brand of wax; look in the product listings of any of the online tool porn and finishing supplies sellers, like Woodcraft.
Re: Brie wax???
David Barnett - Venice, Florida
>Or BriWax, maybe. Or maybe just really really ripe Brie or Camembert. Maybe Todd lets the mayo go until it doubles as silicone caulk.
Lye or Drano might work. See the articles in
Garrett in Victoria
>WoodCentral's Articles and Reviews under Finishing.
Cheers, Garrett
Potassium bichromate
Frank D. in Montreal
>It works better with high-tannin woods but it still works with beech (which has more tannic acid than, say, maple). It's a traditionally used here in Quebec as a size coat as well as on its own to give color underneath a clear finish. Don't know if you can get it easily (here it's available at finish suppliers) but if you do just be careful because it's somewhat toxic.
IIRC, it's 'dichromate' -- ?
Clay C in Miami
>I've only ever seen potassium dichromate used on mahogany, but it may 'do' other woods too - but, whatever you decide, let us see before-and-after shots, OK?
Clay
Re: IIRC, it's 'dichromate' -- ?
Jim DeLaney, Austintown, Ohio
>it IS BIchromate.
I've used it on cherry and birch, as well as mahogany.
It's both
Dan Donaldson
>It is known by both names;-)
Darn...
Frank D. in Montreal
>I just paid Jim ten bucks for nothin'... ;)
more than "somewhat toxic"
bill tindall
>This is actually one of the few chemicals proven to be carcinogenic. If one uses it, do get a MSDS sheet and read it. What I don't know is whether the di, bi, or just plain-chromate survives after it is put on the wood. It may convert to its much less hazardous form after exposure to the wood. But if not, then any operation on the wood that generated dust containing chromate would be a serious issue.
On Poplar
Dan Moening in moistening Sacramento.
>I used Potassium Bichromate on Poplar recently.
Turned the wood a muted shade of green not unlike the milk paint color of Dave Anderson's Plane till.
Oddly when first applied it was a beautiful gold nugget golden color.
On Poplar
Dan Moening in moistening Sacramento.
>A diluted Lye solution on Poplar will turn it an ashen grey color.
No idea about Beech.
Re: more than "somewhat toxic" *LINK*
Jim in Burlington On
>I put 14 years in with the Ministry of Enviroment in the 80's and 90's so I have a little more insight. I would avoid that chemical at all costs. The levels of Chromium in water and waste water samples were off the charts when plating companies and photo devleoping were discharging to the sewer. Way to toxic it could easily transfer onto skin thru finishes. Just think how much you try to avoid lead paint these days and it's certainly alot less toxic. Rant off
http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/p5719.htm
Thanks for the heads up guys
Frank D. in Montreal
>All my teachers ever said when I was shown how to use it (I've taken a few antique finishing courses) was "be careful it's poisonous". Makes me kind of mad. I won't be using it again.
Frank