How to make wood look like driftwood silver grey?

stoneaxe · Nov 10, 2022

I have a nice picture of the coast, and have made a frame of old douglas fir. The soft grain has been raked out with wire brush and buffed with a 180 gr bristle brush. Has a very nice look, but new looking. . Now I want to bleach it or whitewash-silverwash it with a stain.
The end goal is to have a nice silvery grey color. This frame is 3" wide stock, and overall about 20"x26".
Did some research, and bought the hydrogen peroxide and lye to make a bleaching solution.
However, I am concerned about toxicity, somewhat, ( outside application, gloves, goggles and respirator) and neutralizing it, a lot- I don't want the bleached frame to eat the artwork.
Are there "stains" out there designed to do this sort of thing without the tacky white-washed 1975 kitchen cabinet look?

steve-l · Nov 11, 2022

Oxalic acid. These crystals are inexpensive and safe to handle. Make a test.

gustafson · Nov 11, 2022

The 'pickeled' finish was popular a few years back, might be close to what you want.

henrya · Nov 11, 2022

steve-l said:
Oxalic acid. These crystals are inexpensive and safe to handle. Make a test.

This. ^^^^^
Easy to find - look for Barkeepers Friend at the grocery.

If you are still concerned with contact of wood or chemicals and the print, either seal the areas in contact or use some aluminum foil to separate them when you assemble the picture. I would just wash it well with baking soda and rinse.

stoneaxe · Nov 11, 2022

Oxalic acid will pull iron stain ,etc, out , but will not bleach the wood significantly. I tried on the fir- it was the first choice but did not work.

rdenney · Nov 12, 2022

Put it out in the sun for several weeks.

Rick “yeah, I know” Denney

dalmatiangirl61 · Nov 12, 2022

Vinegar and steel wool, wait a few days for steel wool to dissolve, wipe on, it gives an old barnwood effect. Try it on scrap first, you might not like it.

porthos · Nov 12, 2022

if you sandblast it the softer grain will dissipate and the harder grain will remain "proud". again, practice.

stoneaxe · Nov 13, 2022

dalmatiangirl61 said:
Vinegar and steel wool, wait a few days for steel wool to dissolve, wipe on, it gives an old barnwood effect. Try it on scrap first, you might not like it.

Used this on high tannin woods a lot- it will turn oak or cherry black. Not sure on the fir.

cyanidekid · Nov 14, 2022

bleach seems obvious, but might go too light too fast, and outgass over time.
acid has been the only thing others have so far suggested, but clearly the suggested chemistry is wrong for the desired result. the iron/tannin thing is how ink was produced for centuries, so wrong for the driftwood look. Oxalic didn’t work, as per the op, and barkeepers is great, but it’s an abrasive cleaner with a tiny bit of that, so no.
It will be interesting to see what works .
Just a thought, really not sure but perhaps jewelers pickle, sodium bisulfite might be a reasonably safe acid to employ for a test.

cyanidekid · Nov 14, 2022

Oh interesting, I just looked up how to neutralize bleach, and sodium bisulfate comes up (not -ite I misspelled/recalled there). So a bleach followed by “pickle” to neutralize.
It won’t take much acid to do that, so I’d make up a very dilute solution, like a half teaspoon of dry jewelers pickle to a quart of water.
you can buy jewelers pickle from many sources for small change (RioGrand is one).
Let it dry well, preferably in the sun, and give it the smell test to make sure it doesn’t smell of bleach.
If it needs a bit of lightening and evening out still, try a very dilute white flat wall paint to give it a “lime rubbed” look, let dry, and a bit of bowling alley wax. I actually haven’t done it, but it sounds plausible..

Scottl · Nov 14, 2022

Micromark sells Age-It Easy to weather wood on models such as on scale railroads. Don't see why it wouldn't work on a picture frame.

dalmatiangirl61 · Nov 14, 2022

stoneaxe said:
Used this on high tannin woods a lot- it will turn oak or cherry black. Not sure on the fir.

I've only tried it once myself, it was on a light colored butcher block work bench, wood type unknown, did not like it so stained it a dark oak color. Seen a few vids recently where the Engals Coach Shop guy used it to match new wood with old weathered wood.

Comatose · Nov 16, 2022

STAIN: STORM

STORM AGING WOOD STAIN is not a traditional pigmented stain, but instead reacts with the tannin in wood to unlocks its natural beauty and colors. It is a VOC free, water-based interior...

www.weatherwashcoatings.com

This will take maple from maple colored to a silvery grey in one coat. Don't put on more than one coat, and pour from the container to a smaller container for brushing (so reacted tannins don't accumulate)

Haven't tried it on fir but it should work.

stoneaxe · Nov 16, 2022

Comatose said:
STAIN: STORM

STORM AGING WOOD STAIN is not a traditional pigmented stain, but instead reacts with the tannin in wood to unlocks its natural beauty and colors. It is a VOC free, water-based interior...

www.weatherwashcoatings.com

This will take maple from maple colored to a silvery grey in one coat. Don't put on more than one coat, and pour from the container to a smaller container for brushing (so reacted tannins don't accumulate)

Haven't tried it on fir but it should work.

Hmm. Thanks! That may be just what I need. I will get a quart and try it.

stoneaxe · Nov 19, 2022

Have not tried the aging stain yet, but did try the vinegar and steel wool on fir- the soft grain turned a pleasing gray, the hard grain remained a pinkish color.

trevj · Nov 24, 2022

Seems to me, the driftwood color is mostly salt and sunshine, no?

I'd look at spraying the frame down with Peroxide, as you started, and sitting it on the roof for a while to weather out.

Dunno that there really IS a way to speed things up so much.

stoneaxe · Nov 27, 2022

Tried a varathane weathering/aging stain (clear, apparently some version of acid and iron), turned the sample a gray brown- as opposed to vinegar and steel wool solution, which turned the fir a gray blue.
Then tried a wash of lye and HP, which worked pretty good to lighten the fir, but in some areas seemed to leave a bit of yellowish bleed. Then tried two washes of HP, which left the fir a pleasing light amber.
Then I put the picture in to see how I liked it, decided it was OK, and did the frames with the peroxide wash x2 and a top coat of oil- figure if it does need to go lighter or change color, a top coat can be applied. I know the oil will yellow some, but since the pic has a lot of blue in it, the yellow amber cast on the frame looked OK.
I had some left over metallic glaze that was some kind of acrylic base, tried that on some samples rubbing it in till most was gone from the raised grain and it looked pretty good, but a bit glitzy- maybe diluted with a flat white or gray it would tone it down.
Sometimes driftwood will have a somewhat shiny look because the wood can get worn along the grain, leaving long reflective fibers.

Bill D · Nov 28, 2022

I remember reading about a antique forger who made his chairs then buried them in a compost pile to age them. I think he also put then in the surf line at the beach for a while as well. I am guessing this was around 1920, may be in England or New England.
Bill D

rimcanyon · Dec 27, 2022

Cabot's Bleaching Oil. It has been off the market about 5 yrs, but some HW stores may still have old stock. It takes a few years to fully bleach the wood.

The replacement, Cabot's Bleaching Stain, is heavily pigmented, no bleaching action at all, but it looks similar if you want a quick solution.

How to make wood look like driftwood silver grey?

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