[morrows]

hi everyone,
anyone can advice on this...my misses just bought a oldish pine sideboard.there is a nice texture on a wood,its not flat and smooth,its more like 3d effect where the knots and harder fibred parts popping out over the softer part of wood.any idea how this can be done?i assume they used some kind of chemicals to soften the softer fibres and the wash them off or remove them mechanically using steel wool or some kind of brush?possibly strongly concetrated caustic soda can be used,i would say...
any advice on this technique will be much appreaciated.thanks martin

 

[Steve Neul]

Caustic soda won't give the wood the texture you want. It will give it a green color to it that you could get with dyes easier than putting a salt on it. The easiest way to get the texture you want is to sand blast it. Another way is with a flex sander or wire wheel.

 

[phinds]

+1 on the sand blasting idea as the most likely to get the results you want and to have the best control over the results

 

[morrows]

i know that caustic soda will change the color of the wood,depends what sort of wood it is,but this can be sorted to apply hydrogen peroxide to get rid of the unwanted color and than stain it.the sideboard is made around 1920-1930 I would say they didnt have sand blasters I assume:smile:.anyway...I just tried to put some concetrated caustic soda on piece of scrap wood left it for 20 mins and then brushed it with brass brush,its not the same but very similar,probably better way is leave it to dry and sand it with sponge or steel wool,will give it to go,see what sort of result can I get.thanks for the advice anyway.

 

[Steve Neul]

At one time I had a dip tank for stripping furniture. The chemical I used was the sodium hydroxide. It would easily strip paint off wood and veneer if there was any. I mostly used it to strip paint off of European stain glass windows for a antique dealer. After soaking for about an hour I would take the windows out and rince the paint off with a power washer. It cleaned the wood very well however I can't say that it gave it any texture.

Sometimes wood was hand planed with a more concave blade or a draw knife to give it a more rustic look. The sandblaster will work though. It will just need a little finish sanding with a fine paper afterwards as some of the grit and texture will embed into the wood.