*The Brambleberry Cottage*: Tips and Tricks Tuesday #6 - How to Give the Appearance of Age to Wood

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE DETAILS FOR ALL THREE NEW LINKY PARTIES HERE AT THE COTTAGE!

Welcome to the sixth Tips & Tricks Tuesday linky party here at the Brambleberry Cottage.

There were several really great tips shared last week. Let's recap, shall we?

A little bit of everything had the perfect tip for keeping the white flour–that you typically coat your baking pan with–off the chocolate cake you're baking. A dusting of this ingredient will do the trick.

Yum, yum! Beth Anne @ The Thrifty Ba gave us a terrific family tip for making delicious steamed crabs. We'll be right over Beth Anne!

And we'll need something cool and refreshing to drink after we polish off all those delectable crabs and chocolate cake. So let's pop on over to Heather's Our Life in a Click and have a tasty treat from the fun fruity fountain she created.

Thanks for the tips ladies!

Now it's time for another Brambleberry Cottage Tip and Trick.

The Yankee and I found this cute table some time ago.

Well, actually just the table base. It was missing its top, drawer, knob, and casters.

The chippy green paint and timeworn patina on this beauty were just to good to pass up–even though she was missing a few key components.

Of course, our barns were the perfect places to shop for the missing pieces.

Among the piles of beadboard, trim, spindles and balusters, windows, doors, hardware, and miscellaneous cool junk, we also have stashes of old wood...and even a number of old table tops.

It just so happened that we had a top that could be easily cut down to fit this lady–and a drawer constructed with the leftovers.

The only problem was that at some point in its history, the solid oak-board top had been covered with laminate. The laminate was removed, and the top sanded, to reveal the beautiful wood beneath.

Yet, there was still some work to be done to make this piece worthy to take its place atop the charming vintage table.

Besides looking too new after all the sanding, the wood lacked the patina and character of old wood–though it actually was about fifty years old.

Center stage...pigmented glazes.

Note the uneveness in the wood's color–above. We knew the glazes would help to tone down that uneveness and unify the look.

The first step was to wipe a heavy coat of white glaze all over the top, its sides, and the drawer face, and then immediately wipe it all off.

Once it was dry, the orbital sander–with 150 grit paper–was used to take a good bit more of the white off.

Remember the pickled woods of the late 80s and early 90s? That's what the finish looked like at that point in the process.

The next step was to apply a black glaze using the same procedure as outlined above with the white.

Once that glaze had dried and been sanded, an additional step was added.

A wire brush was pulled back and forth over the top to remove more of the black glaze and expose some of the white that had been deposited in the pores.

The trick to this step is to apply light pressure and go with the grain. This is not a procedure we would ever apply to a fine antique.

Since this piece was a rustic farm table, this step was crucial for getting the aged look we were after.

Note the sharp contrast in the grain now. Both white and black make their appearance.

A few coats of our favorite sealant–sanded with 220 grit paper between coats–a set of vintage casters and a vintage glass knob and our beauty was as good as old.