Steel wool vinegar

I've used the method of tea and steel wool in vinegar and like it a lot to age things. Hold up just fine.

Grade #0000 Steel Wool
Vinegar
Mason Jar
Oh yea- a couple of tea bags too!

1.) Tear off some steel wool and put it into a mason jar. Then pour the vinegar in to about 3/4 full or so and screw the top on. Exact measurements aren't important. I'd say I used a very small handful of steel wool.
Then let it sit for at least 24 hours.

2.) The next day, brew tea in a separate jar and "paint" it onto the wood. I used 2 tea bags since I was aging several pieces of wood. It's also okay if the tea becomes cold. Tea has tannic acid, which will react with the steel wool/vinegar mixture.

3.) After the tea has dried, paint the steel wool/ vinegar mixture onto the wood. You'll see the color start to change immediately. I'd say that it takes about 30 minutes to completely change. The wood will smell like vinegar afterwards, but you can wash it off with water once it's dry.
Below you can see the difference between the treated vs. untreated wood~

Different types of wood react differently to this treatment as well. The pine (top) turns a grayish-brown while the redwood (above) eventually turns black. You can see how it turned black on the top right (beside the pine). For some reason the picture above makes the pine look almost grayish blue

... make the grey color that my wife wants for the live edge dining table… - ChrisRand

Click to expand...

Wife has been bitten by the dreaded Grey wood design craze? So sorry for you.

+ Bandit - Varathane offers several different grey colored stains. Minwax and SW also have grey wood stains. These OEM solutions will provide the most consistent results.

Making grey wood artificially is very hard. The challenge is wood has amber tones, and this tone is PITA to remove or cover up. Making grey is so hard due color variations in difference species, the OEM wood stains do not color wood with classic dye/pigment combo, but they put color on top of the wood with heavy pigment levels; just like a paint. Making the challenge even harder, any top coat added to grey must be water white, or the color shifts into a dirty wood look. Which means you must use a WB top coat, and test your entire finishing schedule to avoid surprises.

I spent several weeks and too much money making buying samples of various grey stains for a SWMBO project once. After several months of preponderance, she finally decided against grey; which was fine by me.

IMHO - If you want grey wood, leave it outside for couple of years; or simply buy some weathered barn wood and skip the hassles of faux weathered wood.

Best Luck.

I recently completed this cabinet for my fishing gear. Material is reclaimed pine from an old barn. All 1X12 stock; some of it was a true 12" wide when I started working it. All boards were weathered on one side.

I used the steel wool/vinegar for stain (aka "iron acetate").

Exterior:



Interior:



The exterior of the cabinet is 100% from the weathered side of the boards. The interior was a mix, but was largely fresh surfaces from planing the non-weather side of the boards.

The weathered sides tended to come out much "greyer" while the interior surfaces of fresh wood had more of a brown tint.

I've used iron acetate on many pieces over the years. I use it when I'm looking for a rustic or "country" style finish. I put a poly topcoat over these pieces. Here's a headboard I completed from the same stash of barn boards:



I've learned a bit over the years about using iron acetate. Most of these experiences mirrored some other mentioned above.

- I put one pad of #000 steel wool into a quart of vinegar. I use regular white distilled vinegar from the grocery store; cheap stuff is good. I let it soak three days. I used #000 because I didn't have any #0000 on hand when I mixed it up. I have let the stuff soak for much longer, but if it goes for a week or more, I think it gets very messy with no improvement in performance.

- After the soak is done, I pull out the remains of the steel wool pad, and then pour the liquid through a coffee filter into a clean container for storage. It can be used immediately, and I have used it successfully several weeks later. However, it needs to have been strained before storing it for any length of time.

- As mentioned by several people above, the coloration of the iron acetate depends on the reaction with tannins in the wood. Different species have different levels of tannins. As Vicki said, I used a strong brew of black tea to coat the pine wood cabinet prior to applying the iron acetate. I didn't use any tea on the headboard. I don't know why the headboard darkened so much, but it did. I think the tea helped even the color on the pine cabinet, both inside and outside. For tea, I use regular Lipton's tea. No need to go all fancy.

- The topcoat on the headboard is Minwax Poly that I diluted to a wiping poly. The headboard continued changing color over time as the poly yellowed a bit and seemed to draw out a rust color onto the old paint around cracks on the bare wood surface. I don't know how the poly will change over time on the fishing cabinet because I just completed it in February.

- If you want a stronger reaction from the tannins, you can use powdered tannins like those used for winemaking. That is available from a fermenter's supply house or online.

- I like iron acetate because it's a relatively safe product. You can use it with your bare hands, but be prepared for staining of the skin. I use nitrile gloves.

- Recommend you try a test piece first before putting the iron acetate on your actual project. As mentioned by others, the actual color may vary board to board. I really do think the use of the tea helped even out these color variations.