[bman90278]

Hi, I'm building a realistic pirate treasure chest for my son. It's built using birch & pine. I was able to build this entire piece knot free, but the wood grain has some great character to it. I'm trying to make this treasure chest look very nice, but very realistic with a rustic or aged look.

I gave it 2 coats of shellac and sanded it with 150 between coats. The final coat has not been sanded yet. I was originally going to paint it, but now I'm leaning towards stain. I have Dark Walnut and Ebony stains which I've been trying out techniques using both together, applied at different times. I've used them both on non-shellac woods and shellac'd woods. Can anyone point give me advice or point me to a website with some pics and advice. I think I'm getting closer to what I want, but it still seems to need more to it.



Thanks in advance!

 

[bman90278]

I called MiniWax

I talked to MiniWax and they told me I would need to stick with paint since I've already used shellac. I guess I'm going to get some paints and go from there. I'm still open to some ideas or website links.

 

[TexasTimbers]

I can't really offer anything for you bman, just wanted to ask you to consider posting pictures of your progress. If you haven't taken any pictures yet, it's never too late!

 

[solidwoods]

My best way to make a rustic piece is to start with rustic lumber.
This is wormy white oak (kiln dried and high temp sterilized).

A really good all around old looking wood is Black Oak. It has lots of mineral stains, worm, grub holes (looks like the chest came from the bottom of the ocean).
These natural discolorations can't be Fauxed because they look natural.
Then antique it in top of that.
And Black Oak is cheap (if you can find it,, I sell it for about 1.50bf)

Obviously a little late for that.
But, I'd Faux antique by abusing the wood.
I use aniline dye, I put a base color on, top coat, abuse it, them put on a dark aniline dye color,, it gets into the defects you made but not into the wood because you sealed it.
I use a band saw blade welded into a circle to create lots of worm holes, and other items like cut nails for a recycled board look.

jim

 

[eastend]

forget what minwax said. - you can glaze over the sealed surface with pigment colors (Japan, Hull) for a more aged look. You can also try the pre-made glazes.

 

[clampman]

And after you're done with all that, you could always spray it with crackle lacquer, or parts of it.