How to Oxidize (Age) New Wood & Get A Vintage Look

When it comes to home decor, vintage is definitely in. But if you have ever done some DIY woodworking projects, you'll know it can be hard to obtain that aged wood look. You can either buy pricey "barn wood" from a boutique lumber supplier or let your new lumber from Home Depot sit in the backyard, exposed to the elements for a couple of midwest winters. OR you could use this easy, inexpensive method for aging your wood in just under a week.

What You'll Need

For this product you'll need a few household items from your pantry and garage:

- unfinished, untreated, and sanded wood
- white vinegar
- #0000 grade steel wool
- large (24 oz) glass jar
- black tea (~10 bags)
- disposable paint brushes
- 400 grit sandpaper

Creating your oxidation solution is straightforward. Take a roll of steel wool and tear off bits into your glass jar. Pour in the vinegar until your jar is full and cap the jar with the lid. Oxidation of the steel wool will take about 4-5 days in my experience. In general, the longer your solution can oxidize, the darker your wood color will be. I tested my solution on some pale pine wood after 3 days and it had a nice dark yellow hue to it. After about 6 days of sitting, the solution produced a dark gray. Because every wood will react differently, I would recommend testing your solution on scrap wood to see what kind of hue you'll get.

To help give your wood more definition and properly prep it, you'll want to brush it with a some strong black tea. I brewed some rather strong tea with 10 bags in 2 cups of boiling water. As you can imagine, the tea will slightly stain your wood, but it will also give your wood grain more of a pop. I also discovered that the black tea gives the wood a nicer finisher when you finally apply your oxidation solution. If you skip the tea step, and just use oxidation solution, the wood ends up looked just dirty and not aged. There's just something about that tea that gives the wood a more refined look - sort of how British accents make things seems more sophisticated.

When you're wood is dry from high tea, and after the oxidation solution has sat for 4-5 days, your wood will be ready to get "the look". When you crack open (not literally) your jar, there will probably still be steel wool floating in the solution - that's ok. If you leave the solution sitting long enough, eventually all steel wool remnants will dissolve. And you can save the solution for future projects. Using a foam brush, paint on the solution. The wood will almost instantly turn gray, and over the next 10 minutes, it will get even darker.

After the wood has dried, give it a light sanding with 400-grit sandpaper. This will help lighten up the stain and even out the color. The more you sand the wood, the more you'll remove the stain (obviously), but it can produces some unique variations in the grain - up to you, but again, be sure to experiment on some pieces before applying to your final project.

For the finish, I use a clear semi-gloss Poly Whey Furniture Finish from Vermont Natural Coatings. This is a really easy-to-use finish with low odor, quick dry time, and it feels great to the touch. I can't recommend it highly enough, and you have it shipped right to you from Amazon. I like to lightly sand with 400-grit sandpaper after each coat to keep that super smooth feel, and I would recommend applying 3 coats of this finish.

So what will you build now that you know how easy it is to get this vintage wood look? I've got a few projects up my sleeve, and when you think about, the sky's the limit. Imagine building your own farm or a little box for holding those bathroom towels that you're not suppose to use - whatever!

Let me know if you have any ideas in the comments below, and I would love to see what you build.

#woodworking #DIY #woodstain

[GadgetsandGrain]

It takes into account most of the great questions you've left over the years (and that I just didn't think of at the time). Let me know what you think.

[debbymccormack]

Your son will always remember being in the workshop and spending time with you. That's priceless!

[danalaniz]

Very nice. I tried the steel wool method but wasn't very happy with it. Your video has inspired me to try again. So cool that you include your son in the work. My dad did that with me and I still remember it at 70 years old. Thanks for posting!

[hrlnmlclm]

My kind of tutorial. Less talk, straight to the point demonstration.

[elizabethmole-daren]

I used your method to age the new wood used ti repair the playhouse I made 30 years ago. It worked perfectly.
Thanks

[am]

Excellent vid, and I really like the written method in the link.
I am really impressed with the finished colour. Here in the UK, Pine is the most commonly available timber. It’s hard to make look good, but your presentation has changed that for me. Many thanks.🇬🇧

[michaelkidd]

This is the BEST tutorial I've ever seen! He doesn't waist a second! Thanks man!

[Pamsmith]

LOVE that your little son is right there beside you. Way to be a great Dad! Oh, and thanks for the great distressing tips :)

[nelsonw]

Nice work. Straight up and simple. One thing I learned from experience is that if you leave that SOS pad in the vinegar for > a week it turns to rust and you get a messy rust coating on your boards that doesn't look like anything and doesn't really clean up. In other words, throw that stuff out after a week if you have leftover. Cheers

[Robocoppat]

finally someone who explained the wood aging process in lamens terms. GREAT video and Great Job. and tell your son he did a great job. consider me a subscriber.

[wsksklyn]

Best tutorial using this technique so far. Can't wait to try it out. Your young assistant is adorable.

[danalaniz]

This is just the color combination I was looking for. Looks so much better than others posted online. Thanks a lot.

[TheOldElement]

Your little guy reminds me of the days in the shop when I was a young boy. Epic job on making a video and memorys that will last a life time!

[mydesignstutorials]

Are you Serious? This is the BEST Stain tutorial. Been looking for an alternative process. Will check out your other tutorials. Pretty sure I will subscribe. Thank you, thank you, thank you. P.S. and thank you for just “getting to the point”.

[guyh.]

Great video! Wow! What a finish! As was said earlier, less talk more show. The thing that I REALLY LIKE is the written description & instructions you've added. Kudos!

[michigangirl]

So here's what happened when I tried this today. When I put the tea on first and THEN the vinegar/steel wool mixture, it turned a dark gray. When I put the vinegar mixture on and THEN the tea, it turned a rustic, barnwood brownish gray color. I tried it on a piece of Ikea unfinished pine (a shelf that was delivered damaged, which made for great stain testing!). My vinegar mixture was made two days ago, so tomorrow I'm going to test it out again and see what happens.

[viennagriffin]

So glad I came across your tutorial. I was about to spend more money than needed at the hardware store on stains. You explained the procedure thoroughly and I can't wait to do my dining room table top with this finish. Great job to you and your son.

[danabeeproductions]

Thank you~Am building a pallet coffee table for my niece. This is EXACTLY what she likes in colour. Got the industrial casters and we will knock this out of the soccer park!

[artsmith]

I just bought a cheap entertainment center I'm going to use as a kitchenette counter in the man cave I'm building that has a color similar to this. Plan to install pine Waynes coating. Now I have a plan for the wood treatment.

[tim-hill]

Perfect! I just bought new 2x6 tongue and groove pine for a desk top. I wasn't too happy with getting new pine, but now I can't wait to use it!