""Aging" real wood (fences, planks,etc)" Topic

Just wondering about any tips to "age" real wood such as matchsticks and tiny planks used for colonial fences, pig pens, and houses.

What I have been doing is a light coating of light gray paint with a few dabs of darker or lighter paint, but there is room for improvement.

Thank you in advance.

A solution of steel wool dissolved in white vinegar can be used to artificially age and weather wood.

Shoe polish and alcohol is another weathering solution

Wow, so you just dip it in the solution?

@ Dave.

Great tip. I'll try it out on the weekend.

I do not think the aging recipe will work on matchsticks
I would paint them a dark brown or black base coat
Then coat with light grey with a touch of brown (VJ German camo light is ideal for mixing in)
Then ink with W&N Peat Brown or something similar to bring out grain (you may need to artificially add grain if wood is too smooth with a scraping of some sort)
Finally dry brush with pure light grey

The aging recipe works very well on matchsticks. I've used it for years with model railroad scenery.

Wood stain?

I soak toothpicks and matchsticks for a minute in wood stain for building fences or log bunkers. Really easy and works ok.

Suggest you wash the steel wool with some detergent to get the oil off, otherwise it wont start to rust. The resulting solution reacts with the tannin in the wood; it'll turn oak, and vegetable tanned leather black. Less tannin in the pine, so it wont get as dark. Larger pine boards might get splotchy grey. Do a search on "vinegaroon dye" link

I painted these grey then dry brushed white and green for moss color.

[URL=http://s219.photobucket.com/user/tjm3/media/Disposable%20Heros/Picture022.jpg.html]

Doing some ACW terrain bits at the moment. Trotter notes a good method that I am using, undercoat black, paint brown then shade/drybrush lighter brown and final step drybrush light grey.

I am doing this for roof tiles, bridges and fences.

Purchased some toothpick handmade fences from a mate. They were made over 20 years ago from fresh wood. I can tell you that even after that time they don't age. Mind you they haven't been outside. Guess could stick a box of matchsticks on the roof or somewhere secure outside for 6 months?!

I paint with a dark or mid brown, then dry brush with a lighter brown, then finally dry brush with a light grey and irregular wash with a green ink can help give the effect of moss/weathering.

I paint mine before I glue them. Otherwise the smears of white glue are smooth and spoil the effect of the rough wood.

Dark brown base soaked through, drybrush with white when not quite dry, so I don't have to mix any colour.

painting or staining might be your best bet. The vinegar and steel wool or rusty metal/ iron oxide (known as the "swamp cooler" method) will work depending on how much tannic acid is in the wood. Matchsticks might or might not eork well.

I'd stick with a gray black paint scheme with a little brown or tan to be sure the colors work out for you.

Also, as mentioned, thinned stains – thin with rubbing alcohol (but use quickly) – can be very effective. And you can use varied tints to get that look. One of the techniques used by Master Model Railroaders.

Recently I soaked some craft matchsticks in a mix of glue, black paint and water. Used about 1 part glue, 1 part black and about 20 parts water. So far it is working nicely. I'm planning on hot gluing them together after they dry since I'm doing a huge batch. May do a little dry brushing after. I will try to post some blog picks soon. I'll have to try the steel wool and vinegar trick. Them model railroaders do know some tricks for aging!

Isopropol alcohol and a few drops of black India ink. Mix it up and spray it on with a small spray bottle.
Drybrush a lighter color after it dries.

Model railroad trick.

Aged wood isn't brown, it's grey.

Here's a tip from another railway modeller – use this stuff.

link

It does exactly what it says.

I soaked my tooth picks in a water and black ink solution, they come out a light grey and looked ready to use.

Great thread!

Daubere Isn't that just alcohol and ink?

Actually aged wood is various colours. It is worth looking at wooden structures to note how it ages. Greys predominate but there are others too from very dark browns to lighter tans.

Try grey and black thinned acrylic's also…..cheap as chips.

Good point, 138SquadronRAF. One can see that on the walls of old wooden buildings, where the wood that is lower down, hence less well protected by the eaves, is greyer than the wood that is higher up.

Using alcohol as a thinning agent is a very good idea for wood. It thins acrylics just fine, and the alcohol helps the wood absorb the pigment while also outgassing rather quickly.

FWIW, I have very successfully used denatured alcohol to thin acrylic paints such as The Army Painter and Vallejo for airbrushing. Keep some alcohol to hand and use it right away through the airbrush between colors to prevent buildup, but otherwise it works like a champ.

gray wood if near a seashore seems pretty common but I've seen very, very old wood still maintaing a rich brown color – but far from ocean wind and salt spray