[cricket515]

This is a prime example of leaving things the way they are. I was ready to hang my wood boards yesterday and decided they didn't look aged enough so I soaked some steel wool in vinegar. I don't know what made me do it without a test spot but they didn't turn grey like everyone said, they turned more like a nice cherry wood color. I fee like crying. Any ideas how to fix this?

 

[cricket515]

Ehhhhh. So I got a spray bottle with water and a rag and cleaned them up. They look almost good as new, errrr or old. Lesson learned.

 

[Ski0204]

Did you brush on some strong tea before the vinegar/steel wool mixture? The 2 react giving an aged gray look. Here is a link to instructions that I have used and had great results:http://www.xrestore.com/pages/aging.htm

 

[TheMonsterSquad]

Yeah a couple things you might try.

1-This method works by reacting with tannins in the wood. If you use a softwood like pine or cedar, you'll want to paint the wood with tea first to give it sufficient tannins for the reaction to work.

2-Some steel wools come with an invisible wax-like coating that makes it so the steel never really dissolves properly into the vinegar. To address this, I actually put the steel wool on my grill, added some lighter fluid and lit it up briefly to melt off the coating. After this the vinegar solution worked fine.

 

[cricket515]

Good tips. I had originally stained it once with a weathered oak stain. I guess the reaction with that particular stain made it reddish.

 

[Eerie Erie Haunts]

Yeah a couple things you might try.
2-Some steel wools come with an invisible wax-like coating that makes it so the steel never really dissolves properly into the vinegar. To address this, I actually put the steel wool on my grill, added some lighter fluid and lit it up briefly to melt off the coating. After this the vinegar solution worked fine.

I just wash the steel wool pads with dish soap. Not as flashy, but it works.