I was looking for a way of updating our dark stained pine dining table to a more rustic grey, aged wood look. Lots of internet research showed various methods of achieving this, but I decided upon a mixture of tea, wire wool and white vinegar. Without going into too much boring detail, the wire wool and vinegar react with the natural tannins in wood and the tea adds more tannins to softwood (hardwoods such as Oak have more tannins and don’t need the addition of tea or coffee).
What You’ll Need
- 500ml Jar
- Fine wire wool
- White vinegar
- Electric orbital sander
- Lime wax
Method
- Make the vinegar and wire wool solution. Fill a 500ml glass jam jar 3/4 full with white vinegar. Carefully tear apart 2 or 3 of the wire wool bundles and place in the jar. Leave for at least 24 hours, but ideally 1 week or more for a more dramatic change. The longer you leave the solution, the stronger the reaction and the darker your finished stain will be. You’ll notice that the wire wool will start to rust inside the jar. I have a solution in my garage which is over a year old and the wire wool has disintegrated completely, leaving a dark brown stain.
- If you’re using new wood, move to step 3. If you’re upcycling an existing piece, sand it back to the bare wood, removing all traces of stain or varnish to an even finish.
- If you’re wood is a hardwood, move to step 5. If you’re using a softwood such as pine, make 500ml of black tea using 3/4 tea bags and leave to cool.
- Brush the cold tea evenly over the wood and leave to dry.
- Next, brush the wire wool solution over the wood. For hardwoods, you’ll see the change immediately, for softwoods, the change is less noticeable immediately, but does enhance over the next 24-48 hours.
- If after 2 days, the finished effect isn’t dark enough for you, repeat steps 3-5. You might find that you only need to add the tea solution again and not the vinegar. It is very much a process of trial and error depending upon the type and age of wood you’re using.
- Once you’re happy with the colour, finish the wood with lime wax to enhance the aged look and grain of the wood.
I’ve used this method on a wooden finial I bought from Zara Home (above) and it worked really well. I also used it on an oak console table, but learned the hard way that oak reacts more intensely to this process and it turned out too dark, which meant that I had to sand it back and start again!
I also used it on the industrial shelving unit in my son’s bedroom here; where I wanted a richer brown tone, rather than an aged grey look. I left the solution to develop for 4 weeks before using it and the results were just what I wanted.
Lydia x
