Make new pine look like old pine?

[David Turner]

Placed an ad for "wanted, old pine" but the chances of finding any are pretty slim. (without driving 100's of miles) Has anyone perfected a finish that makes new pine resemble old pine?

David Turner
North Raleigh

 

[bob vaughan]

The word "pine" can mean different things to different people. Siding? Furniture? Paneling? Moulding? Each application can have a different surface color/texture. Was the pine stained in the first place? A few more qualifiers will help narrow the responses to your specific situation.

 

[Jeff]

Perhaps "reclaimed pine lumber" would be more descriptive.

1. Wanted: A pile of weathered pine boards with random dimensions? Preferably with no metal, nails, etc. Skip planed is nice or do you want it really rough right off of the building?

2. For making X, Y, or Z? Want about 20, 40, 80, 100 bf?

Here's a place in Pittsboro, NC that can probably help. Their niche is old pine flooring but they'll do one-off customer orders to your specs too.

http://www.heartwoodpine.com

These folks are in Virginia and may be willing to help.

http://www.appalachianwoods.com/lumber/heart_pine_lumber.htm

 

[David Turner]

Bob:

The client gave me a picture out of a magazine of a plate rack she wants built. It is a light pumpkin color and has very little visible grain (not heart pine or yellow pine) and you can see some knots in one side. I don't think it was stained, it's the color of pine when it ages.

Jeff:
Thanks for the suggestions.

David Turner
North Raleigh

 

[Jeff]

Pics would be helpful along with dimensions or a reference to her magazine photo.

I Googled "wood plate racks" and got bombarded with examples.

 

[bob vaughan]

Sounds like someone used clear white pine. Its a creamy smooth pine with little or no grain figure. Its also not so easy to fine. Clear sugar pine is also nice, but expensive.
Orange shellac used to be the finish of choice on a lot of pine I've seen.

 

[dancam]

I've used tea stain followed by a very light sanding after dry and then a coat of 1 lb amber shellac. If it needs to be darker follow with add'l coats of Amber shellac. When you have desired color top coat with 1 coat of de-waxed shellac and then any other protective top coat. I've used satin poly followed with a 0000 steel wool rub down and then paste wax.

I've made a few blanket chests and finished with the above recipe and they turned out great. Unfortunately I've not retained any photos.

Dan C.

 

[Roy G]

I got some white pine from the Hardwood store to make some trim. This was quite a few years ago when I got it and I remember it as being pretty white. Recently I needed a piece of wood and found a scrap of the pine. It had become a light orangey-tan. I have heard references to pumpkin pine, which may be white pine after it ages. This scrap was not out in the sun so it just aged in the dark of my shed.

Roy G

 

[DannysBoy]

ferrous acetate

 

[Jeff]

ferrous acetate

= iron(steel wool) + vinegar. That's for ebonizing wood with enhanced tannin content = black.

Been there, done that in a chemist's life and it won't be a "pumpkin" color.

 

[DannysBoy]

I heard old, not pumpkin. And FA will Hardly turn pine black with the amount, or lack of, tannins present. Just gives pine a slightly dulled back, beaten down look. Nothing like it's reaction to oak, though a very similar effect comes in play when you dilute the #### out of it and put it on oak.

That's all. But no. No pumpkin.

= iron(steel wool) + vinegar. That's for ebonizing wood with enhanced tannin content = black.

Been there, done that in a chemist's life and it won't be a "pumpkin" color.

 

[TENdriver]

David, 25 years ago during the "pumpkin pine" craze, I'd use a seal coat followed by a "cherry" stain. Gives the right color, no blotchy areas and predictable outcome.

That came to mind when you said the sample had no grain. The seal coat causes that.

I can shoot a picture of a finished piece if that helps.

BTW, Connor's recipe gives a dirty gray appearance like an old barnwood. If you go back a few years, I had a similar discussion about using vinegar stains to get an orange color.

 

[TENdriver]

 

[David Turner]

TENdriver:

My client likes the look of the pine color in your picture.
Can you share what sealer you used and at what dilution?
What name brand of cherry stain?

Thanks,
David Turner

 

[TENdriver]

David, 25-years and "old-heimers" erased the specific brands.

I believe I used a "sanding sealer" followed up by a pigmented "cherry stain" that I didn't attempt to remove the excess stain. I left most of the stain to get the full color but did wipe with a coarser cloth (along the grain) to add back some artificial graining since the sealer will lessen the contrast from natural grain.

If I were to do this today, I'd try the tea dye followed by a very diluted shellac coat to seal the pine and eliminate blotching. I would still use a pigmented cherry stain for color and a little grain. I used the pigmented stain more as a glaze than simply wiping on and removing excess.

This was very simple and worked pretty well. I will add that I'm a fanatic about sanding, whiskering, and sanding more. The end grain can hold the pigment so I made sure it was very smooth.

 

[TENdriver]

David, I would add that I'm aware of and very interested in using the tea followed by garnet or orange shellac. I've never used it but if someone can confirm the color, that could be a better option though what I did does work.

Also, Google NYW episodes on You-Tube as our man Norm also did almost an entire season on pumpkin pine pieces. Better part of an entire episode was dedicated to his recipe.

 

[Jeff]

Here's a recent thread that's better consolidated in this discussion about "pumpkin" pine (108 views, 0 replies).

https://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=62674

Dancam used the tea solution followed by a few coats of amber shellac but he didn't save any pictures so we're "in the dark" and back to experimenting with that combination. I have pure tannic acid (tea bags on nuclear steroids) and EWP so I may try a few one-off experiments out of curiosity.

Here's another one by Glen Huey with 3 ingredients: a sealer, a stain, and amber shellac topcoats (BTW, that's not dewaxed shellac).

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/te...ner-would-love

 

[dancam]

Here's a video using off the shelf stain that gives a pretty good look on pine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZO_3yBolyg

 

[Jeff]

Dancam used the tea solution followed by a few coats of amber shellac but he didn't save any pictures so we're "in the dark" and back to experimenting with that combination. I have pure tannic acid (tea bags on nuclear steroids) and EWP so I may try a few one-off experiments out of curiosity.

Fiddling & diddling with the ideas today and some scrap wood in the shop. It's Lowe's "high quality" pine stuff whatever that is.

Tannic acid dissolved in distilled water (1oz powder/1 cup water). The solution is almost a reddish-brown and doesn't look that much like tea bags in water, but it's a real concentrated solution.

​

After the tannic acid solution, looks about the same after one coat or 2 coats. It's not "pumpkin pine" orange yet, kinda brownish, but surprisingly not real splotchy for pine without a sealer coat to begin with. It was sanded (100, 120, 150) to begin.

​

2x freshly made dewaxed amber shellac (1# cut). I don't see much difference, but it doesn't look bad to my eye.

​

 

[bob vaughan]

Nicely done.