Wood brushing. Brushing wood with a nylon brush on a grinder. Tools and materials for processing

Do-it-yourself wood brushing is an interesting technology that allows you to artificially age wood. IN normal conditions this process occurs very slowly, the patterns are formed over several decades. IN winter periods darker stripes appear, while summer is characterized by relatively light, loose fibers. However, now you can achieve a similar effect at home, without overpaying for expensive aged wood.

Brushing wood - what is its essence

The main purpose of this process is to give an ordinary wooden surface an artificial antique effect through tooling. Light soft fibers are removed, which makes the wood visually older, and a kind of original relief appears, characteristic only of fairly old trees. Depending on the goals pursued, the depth of surface treatment can vary significantly. Thus, the depth of roughness and irregularities can reach 2-3 mm, when it is necessary to recreate the effect of deep rough aging.

Unlike natural aging, brushing wood helps improve the strength of wood, its durability, and also prevents the development of rot and damage from fungal growths or insects. All this is achieved through the use of special antiseptic solutions and compositions to protect the wooden surface.

You should know that not all tree species can be subject to artificial aging. For example, wood with a uniform, dense structure is extremely undesirable for this process. Therefore, some species, including teak, alder, beech, maple, will be quite problematic to age.

It is best to use softwood. Unfortunately, pine, which is the most affordable, cannot boast of a beautiful and unusual pattern, so even brushing cannot greatly improve the situation. If you take larch or spruce, the effect will be simply excellent; you will be able to obtain unique rich textures of patterns at home.

It is also worth remembering that before proceeding directly to brushing, the wood must be prepared for this process. First of all, the material should be as smooth and even as possible; there should be no nicks, irregularities or other defects. Humidity should be within 10-15%, otherwise the fibers will only tear during processing, forming small pile, and artificial aging will not be achieved.

Brushing at home - what tools will you need?

When doing brushing yourself at home, you will need a small list of available tools. First of all, these are brushes, which are rather rough disc-type brushes, the bristles of which are made of steel or brass. To obtain uniform processing, experts recommend buying brushes that are similar in shape to a roller, as well as with a wider end side.

The main work is carried out precisely by brushing, the task of which is to remove the largest part of the fibers. Naturally, the surface after such treatment remains too fleecy and rough. To improve the appearance of the surface we need nylon synthetic brushes. A special feature of such brushes is abrasive powder of various fractions, which is fused into the thickness of the plastic. The cost of synthetic brushes may be unpleasantly surprising, but it would still be very advisable to purchase them, since they eliminate and remove fine lint that interferes with polishing and painting, and besides, the wood looks much prettier after treatment with such brushes.

Next, brushes with natural hard bristles, for example, made of coarse wool or sisal brushes, come into play. They are used to polish the surface. This stage of brushing is not mandatory, but if you want to achieve the maximum quality of wood, then polishing is indispensable.

If necessary, you can use electric tools, for example, an angle grinder or drill. However, working with brushes is more advantageous in the sense that you can completely control the force of pressure and the direction of stripping. In any case, do not forget to purchase anti-dust glasses, as well as gloves, since when sanding, a lot of small fluff will get into the air, which can harm your eyes.

Brushing technology - main stages

So, all necessary tool purchased, wooden boards lie in front of us. Let's start brushing.

All surface treatment technology is carried out in accordance with this scheme:

metal brushes to remove soft fibers
Sanding cleaned wood using synthetic abrasive brushes
Painting with special solutions that help give a visual aging effect
Wood polishing and varnishing.

Step 1. Preparatory work. We check the tree with which we have to work. If it is too wet, it is necessary to dry it, but if it is too dry, then, on the contrary, moisten it, since with dry wood the amount of waste, sawdust and dust increases significantly. At this stage we will use a wire brush. It should be remembered that only soft fibers must be removed. If the brush is so hard that it even touches hard fibers, the tool should be replaced immediately. Movements are made at low speed along the direction of movement of the fibers.

Step 2: Sanding. Now we need an abrasive brush with which we will polish the wood. Carefully pass over the cleaned surface in order to remove all remaining fibers and eliminate roughness. As a rule, this does not require much time; it is enough to carefully sand the wood several times to achieve the desired result.

Step 3: Polishing. To give the brushed treated wood a polished look, we use sisal brushes. It is worth noting that this tool allows you to achieve a unique decorative texture of the wooden surface. Fine grain may also be required sandpaper for polishing the material. After completing all the work, we once again carefully remove all debris, dust, and dry the surface.

Step 4. Painting. Beautiful decorative look may result from gilding, painting, patination and other effects. If you apply several layers of stain to wood, you can observe the appearance of beautiful contrasting textured images. Products are also brushed with gold paints, which look original in microcracks and depressions. After applying the paint and its complete drying, the surface will need to be polished again. This is due to the fact that during painting various irregularities and roughness may appear, including paint sagging, but polishing will completely eliminate these defects.

Step 5. Varnishing. Coating with various compounds to protect the surface, increase its durability and reliability. If parquet boards are brushed, a special one is required parquet varnish, allowing you to maintain the basic positive consumer qualities of the floor throughout its entire service life.

Wood aging technique – where is it used?

Brushing falls into the category of relatively simple processes, which are available to absolutely everyone. For this reason, this technology has found application in many areas of human activity. Brushing is most popular in the production of interior items and room decoration. Living rooms and halls, decorated with wall panels, mantels, columns, and visual furniture, look very beautiful and original, creating warmth and comfort in the room.

Furniture deserves special mention, as manufacturers are increasingly trying to use brushed wood elements and structures. Moreover, using this method you can make absolutely any furniture, be it a closet, shelves, chests of drawers, beds, etc. The only limiting factor in this case is imagination and creativity.

Finally, we note that due to its availability and demand, broaching is often performed at home. In these cases, you should never forget about safety precautions. Therefore, you should work with tools very carefully, especially if you work with a drill or other power tools. All processes are carried out in special equipment - safety glasses and gloves. Sometimes you may even need a respirator if the amount of dust in the air is too high, or when working with antiseptic solutions.

Brushing a wood surface is original way make the tree more beautiful, unusual and attractive. This trend in the field of room decoration is gaining more and more fans both among designers and ordinary apartment owners, since the process of artificial aging is very simple and accessible to everyone. You just need to spend a little time and effort to get luxurious furniture or a chic antique-style ceiling.

Brushing wood is its artificial aging, produced carefully, painstakingly and sometimes taking a lot of time and effort. But looking at the end result, we can confidently say that it’s worth it. This is exactly the case when “old age” brings extraordinary joy and transformation! Creates coziness, comfort, harmony with nature.

Purchasing antiques, furniture, kitchen utensils, antique finishes, antiques, mirror and picture frames has always been an expensive and costly endeavor. Only collectors, celebrities and wealthy people could just buy a table from the last century, a baby's cradle, chairs, etc., paying huge sums of money.

But the years change, technologies change, but the craving for antique accessories and utensils remains unchanged. Now everyone can afford the luxury of living in an old Russian mansion, with cracked, seemingly shabby walls, beams, and furniture from those times, sun-bleached by age, wooden benches And dining table made from natural aged wood. And all this thanks wood brushing process.

We constantly feel a craving for something new, observing the natural, natural processes of aging wood, the visual end result, the demand for such items, people decided to achieve a faster process of extinction of the life of wood and invented their own technology of artificial aging with a fairly short period of time.

Photo 1. Regular larch planken wood

Photo 2. Aged planken wood grade BC (C)

Photo 3. Primer with pigment for brushed larch

Photo 4. Finish painting of brushed planken wood with varnish

So, why do you need wood brushing?

Currently this is fashion trend, with a mass of followers, with genuine envy and desire to have such things in their homes. Designers are those representatives who do not limit their fantasies and ideas within certain limits. They create masterpieces of art, their appearance reminiscent of exotic varieties of trees, worth fabulous investments, but in fact they are quite affordable and ordinary materials, for anyone who wants to buy them.

Wood brushing technologies are capable of any transformation and color from dark chocolate to gray-green, as if covered with dust and mold from age and time, with visible veins and cracks, roughly hewn, with chips or eaten away by beetles, with gold embossing or silvering, with noticeable wood pores and even imitation of cobwebs, any tones and colors.

Photo 5. Finished wood brushing

The process of brushing wood has found recognition in the manufacture of “antique” furniture, the creation of a certain decor, when taking into account the interior of restaurants, cafes, antique stores, museums - huts and even in the decoration of apartments, houses and floor coverings– parquet.

Brushing literally translated from English means "brush" or "cleaning". And for us this is tree structuring. IN natural conditions aging occurs over a long period of time, under the influence of sun, wind, rain, and the surface of the trunk wears unevenly, so the less durable layers dry out and fall out, leaving hard, deep layers.

Natural phenomena By aging wood, they undermine its vitality, while brushing technology, on the contrary, increases the strength, reliability and durability of the material.

Tree varieties with a pronounced texture pattern and fibrous structure, with medium soft wood in hardness, such as Siberian larch, oak, ash, walnut. The effect and flawless appearance, brightness and clarity of contrast are based on scraping out the softer layers and completely removing them.

Photo 6. Aged larch plank

But we would like to note that WITHOUT subsequent coloring or tinting, the brushing process will seem unfinished, scanty, and completely tasteless.

There are several methods of artificial aging

Mechanical restoration

The whole process consists of:

pre-treatment of the top layer with metal brushes;
sanding with coarse sandpaper or a polymer abrasive brush;
by applying paints or stains to complete the look
aged wood;
varnish coating in several layers, and before each new layer, sanding with fine sandpaper is required.

The work is done manually or using an electric drill, brush router, machine with various devices, in the form of brushes: aluminum, steel and copper, as well as synthetic bristles for polishing and grinding the surface.

Rough processing

To remove soft fibers, make movements according to their growth. Try to maintain the same “speed limit” for the entire surface of the tree. To avoid damaging the pattern of annual rings, Don't put too much pressure on the brush, to avoid the formation of deep scratches and pits.

Craftsmen, to create a style and era, resorted to rough processing by applying notches and chips on the surface of the product. This practice is used only on large, bulky items. We use similar experience in working with planken and imitation timber to create decorative panels for interior decoration.

Don't forget about lighting when working - direct the light across the fibers.

Photo 7. Stage 1 - pre-treatment of the top layer with metal brushes

Photo 8. Rough processing of the top layer - “Before” and “After”

The workpieces are dried to a moisture content of 14–16%. In other cases (when the wood is soft), you can not use metal brushes, but use a universal one made from polymer-abrasive components.

How to Sand a Textured Surface

Sanding removes “rags” and residual lint. If there are protruding parts on the surface of the material, then hard grinding is prohibited; this can ultimately lead to damage and broken parts; use soft aluminum or abrasive brushes. When sanded, the wood surface acquires a pleasant tactile quality.

How to age wood by painting

Well, when we have given the desired surface relief, reminiscent of past centuries, it is necessary to consolidate and strengthen this by applying paint. Say what you want, but fresh wood, even with traces of burnout and decay, looks somehow ridiculous, as if it was not completely burned. They will help us radically change the appearance of the surface various colors and shades. The wood will take on a completely different, chic and presentable look, the contrast between the layers will amaze you!

Photo 9. Applying a primer with pigment to aged larch

Most affordable way- This use of stain, followed by wiping with a rag. The whole effect is that the composition is instantly absorbed into the soft fibers, when the hard layers do not have time to be saturated with paint. When a pattern is revealed, it takes on a stunning pattern and texture. If you wish, then add any paint, gilding, silver, just be sure to treat the surface with a spatula or rag, this will remove excess paint.

If you decide to make shelving, tables and countertops from aged wood, so that debris and crumbs do not get into the cracks and holes, treat the surface with a transparent putty, but only after treating it with a stain-primer.

Final finishing - polishing and varnishing of the surface

To give the surface a finished and finished look, you need last stage finishing involves applying wax, varnish and final polishing. For application, regular acrylate varnish is suitable (an excellent option), and if you are ready to implement bold ideas, then professional craquelure varnish, which produces many small cracks, into which we subsequently manually rub paint or coal dust and that’s all, you can congratulate you on creating a unique design.

Several photographs of the finishing layer of varnish applied to aged larch plank wood in grade BC (C)

Photo 10. Varnishing the surface of aged larch

Photo 11. Finish painting of aged wood with varnish

Chemical method

They are produced to facilitate the process of removing soft fibers, practically without the use of mechanical force. Chemical solutions have the ability to dissolve or soften wood fibers. Acids and some alkaline compounds are used. If you use products with a high concentration of active substances, then do without further use of brushes, just apply and rinse off the solution in several passes.

Work on this method must be carried out under open air, as harmful and pungent odors are released.

All further processing is carried out in the same sequence as during mechanical finishing.

Safety comes first

Mandatory protection of the organs of vision and smell by special means protection;
wear gloves;
observe safety when working with power tools from electric shock and rotating elements of mechanisms.

We will be glad if our article was useful.

The result of which is a change in the appearance of the joinery product. Wood that has undergone such processing acquires appearance old product. In other words, this is the process of artificial aging of the mentioned material.

Antique

A completely reasonable question may arise: “Why is all this necessary? After all, a new product is always better than an old one.” But only those who have never seen products made from brushed wood can ask this question. The texture of old wood is very expressive, and furniture made from it looks great highest degree spectacular. They help create a special style and are an integral part of interiors stylized in the feudal era. Brushing wood makes it possible at the beginning of the third millennium to produce furniture that could decorate the knightly castles of the times. Therefore, this technology is very promising and in demand in the carpentry market. Entire log buildings are often subjected to artificial aging.

Technological features

The desired effect is achieved by treating the material with special metal brushes. The very name of this technological process derived from English word"brush", which means "brush". Brushing of wood is achieved due to the fact that the rotating metal tool selects softer fibers located throughout the surface of the tree between the annual rings. After processing, a textured natural surface remains. The special expressive possibilities of wood are revealed during its subsequent processing and tinting coatings. Brushing technology is quite complex and time-consuming. But the achieved result fully justifies the effort expended.

Wood brushing: tools and equipment

Aging a wooden surface by hand is very difficult. Ideally, wood brushing is carried out using a machine specially designed for this purpose with a set of replaceable cylindrical brushes of different hardness. But such equipment is not cheap; a machine like this costs about a thousand dollars. If professional equipment for some reason is not available, you can use an angle grinder or a drill with a set of wire wheel brushes. Of course, to ensure the technological process, you need a special room with a workbench and clamps. When mass producing carpentry products with a brushed surface, exhaust ventilation is required.

Brushing wood at home

Many are not indifferent to carpentry Craftsmen have tried aging wood at home. Despite the complexity of the process, it is quite accessible. A master who works for himself even has some advantages over professionals - no one rushes him. But brushing wood with your own hands requires, in addition to patience and qualifications, also the possession of at least a minimal tool base. You need a set of metal brushes and devices that give them rotation. The drive can be either stationary or manual. It should be understood that it makes sense to brush only wood with pronounced growth rings. There are types of wood that do not make sense to process in this way. These are primarily beech, maple, alder and teak. Annual rings are most clearly expressed in varieties such as ash, larch, oak and walnut. Or in such exotic ones as merbau and wenge. It should be understood that it is impossible to achieve the desired result with brushing brushes alone. An expressive texture is achieved by alternating brush and abrasive tools. A sanding machine is passed over the surface and after applying the tint, this makes it more contrasting. At the end of the process, the product is coated with varnish. The coating can be either glossy or matte.

Safety precautions

Wood brushing involves the use of various types of electromechanical equipment. Its moving parts rotate at high speed and can pose a serious danger. To avoid injury, workplace must be formatted accordingly. The workpiece to be processed must be securely fixed with clamps or a stationary vice. During the brushing process, a lot of dust rises into the air, and sharp elements fly off from the wire brushes at high speed. Therefore, you should protect your respiratory organs with a respirator, and your eyes with special impact-resistant glasses. And, of course, this type of carpentry work should be performed outside of residential premises. As already mentioned, the use of exhaust ventilation is highly desirable.

Brushing (or structuring) is a technique for decorative finishing of wood by artificial aging. The process of processing the material is not particularly difficult, so every home craftsman can brush wood with his own hands using step by step instructions specialists and instruments suitable for the procedure.

Technology and Applications

The brushing procedure is used to give the wood a vintage look.

The main purpose of brushing is to give ordinary wood appearance of ancient material by processing with tools. During surface treatment, soft fibers of a light shade are removed. After this, the surface becomes embossed, which is inherent in old wood.

The extent of soft tissue removal varies during treatment. Depending on the purpose, the depth of roughness imparted can be from 0.5 to 2–3 millimeters. Deep processing is carried out when they want to give the effect of deep aging. The hard surface of the wood is exposed and the beautiful texture is revealed. It is optimal to treat the surface to a depth of 0.5 to 1 millimeter.

Natural aging of wood reduces the strength of the tree. Artificial brushing helps increase the strength of lumber and prevents rotting and fungus formation. Such properties are given to wood by treatment with special antiseptic compounds during the process.

To emphasize the relief, after removing soft fibers, the surface is coated with compounds that impart color. The wood is painted with shades of two tones to make the relief stand out as much as possible.

Brushing is a popular method of processing interior wood. Designers use it in the following cases:

in the manufacture of stairs;
in furniture production;
when processing floorboards;
in the manufacture of finishing lining.

Only wood species with a multi-layer structure are subjected to such processing. An excellent result is obtained after brushing larch, spruce, and oak. The structure of these species allows you to obtain unique rich patterns of living wood.

Varieties with an implicit structure are unsuitable for brushing: cherry, maple, beech, alder, birch, teak. The fine-fiber structure of the wood of these tree species does not allow for a layered effect, so brushing cannot achieve decorative effect.

Types of brushing

To obtain a more textured surface, a mechanical brushing method is suitable.

There are two ways to process a tree to reveal its structure:

Mechanical. The wood is treated with a special tool that removes soft fibers and devices for polishing the surface.
Chemical. Consists of wood processing special compounds(alkalis, acids, etc.) that corrode soft fibers.

The use of these types of brushing allows you to achieve different results. The mechanical method produces a textured surface, while the chemical method produces a smoother surface.

One of the techniques used by craftsmen is a combination of chemical and mechanical processing. Chemically carry out rough processing of wood, removing soft fibers. Further finishing and polishing is done mechanically.

Burning

Brushing by annealing gives the surface greater strength

One type of brushing is burning wood to remove soft tissue. The wood is burned blowtorch or a gas torch, then washed and coated with oil polishing compounds.

With this brushing option, there is no need for subsequent tinting of the product, since the wood acquires a dark shade. If desired, burnt wood can be coated with colored stain.

Wood that has gone through fire and water becomes not only beautiful, but also more durable. It is practically not subject to rotting or damage by insects, so it is often used for finishing facades and building fences. There is no need to paint such a fence, since the burnt boards do not change their quality for decades.

Modern designers use fire-treated wood for interior decoration and furniture making. Not everyone likes things that look like they were left after a fire, but they look stylish and very unusual.

Tools for DIY brushing

The process of artificial structuring of wood is not complicated if you use the right tool for it.

Brushes

When choosing a mechanical brushing method, you cannot do without brushes.

A brush-brush is a special tool for mechanical brushing by hand. These are rough metal brushes with steel or brass bristles. It is preferable to choose a tool with a wide end, similar in shape to a roller. This shape will allow you to evenly treat the surface.

The thickness of the wire is chosen depending on the type of wood. The pile should be 7–10 times thinner than soft fibers. Brushes with straight bristles are preferable to curly ones. If necessary, the ends of the wire are cut off - this technique allows you to make the brush more rigid.

Brushing removes most of the soft fibers from the wood. Surface roughness is removed with special nylon brushes with abrasive powder pressed into the bristles. Sanding with synthetic brushes removes wood hairiness, preparing the surface for subsequent polishing and painting.

The cost of synthetic brushes for brushing is quite high, but it is advisable to purchase them. They allow you to thoroughly prepare surfaces for final polishing and get the job done efficiently.

For final polishing, brushes with wool or sisal bristles are used. They give the surface maximum smoothness and a finished look.

After rough processing, the wood must be dried before final cleaning and polishing. Polishing a wet surface will raise and break small fibers, which will ruin the appearance of the material.

Machine tools and machines

A brushing machine will be needed if there is a large volume of wood to be processed.

If it is necessary to process large volumes of material, it is advisable to use brushing machines. Specialists who carry out mass processing of wood use stationary brushing machines. They come complete with round brushes for step-by-step processing of the board:

made of steel wire - for primary processing;
made of synthetic pile - for intermediate cleaning;
from sisal - for final polishing.

The most popular models of machines and special machines:

FESTOOL RUSTOFIX RAS 180 milling cutter with a set of brushes.
Makita 974 machine, equipped with nylon and abrasive brushes. The disadvantage of this model is the difficulty of processing corners.
Grinding machine Felisatti AGF 110/1010E. A more advanced model for processing smooth and uneven surfaces. This model comes with a metal and nylon brush.

When choosing a specific model, you need to consider the possibility of purchasing additional brushes of a suitable design.

Purchasing a special machine for performing one-time work is impractical, since home craftsmen use grinding machines for smooth surfaces and angle grinders for processing joints to process wood. To equip grinding machines, special brush attachments are purchased, similar to those intended for machine tools.

Brushing stages: step-by-step instructions

Consistency and correctness of actions during wood structuring is a guarantee of obtaining the desired result. Violation of recommendations will lead to damage to the material. In general, the process consists of wire brushing the board, sanding and polishing.

Scheme of work home handyman next:

Preparatory stage. Before starting work, the surface of the board is checked for moisture level. If it is too wet, you need to dry it. Too dry - moisturize.
Treatment with a hard brush. At this stage, it is important to evaluate the selection of bristle stiffness. For processing efficiency, it is important to ensure that the brush removes only soft fabrics wood without disturbing the structure of solids. Having selected the optimal hardness depending on the type of wood, you can begin roughing. The surface is treated along the direction of the fibers. If processing grinder, the rotation speed is adjusted on a separate sample.
Sanding with a synthetic brush. The abrasive brush is designed for high-quality processing wood With its help, all fibers and roughness remaining after roughing are removed. As a rule, one or two passes over the surface are sufficient. Movements, as in roughing, are performed along the fibers. At this stage, you can make the surface more decorative by deepening some of the grooves with a chisel.
Wood polishing. The final stage of grinding is to make the surface smooth. Perform the work with a sesal brush or fine-grained sandpaper. Careful polishing makes the surface perfectly smooth.

Video: Do-it-yourself wood brushing

Staining is the final touch in the wood brushing process

Coating the surface of brushed wood with paint or a tinting composition gives it a special decorative effect. Painting is carried out with a brush or sponge. During the process, carefully monitor whether the fibers rise. If fibers are noticed on the surface, it is additionally sanded with fine-grained sandpaper.

The simplest painting option is stain treatment. It quickly penetrates into the soft layers of wood remaining on the surface without affecting the hard fibers. The result is a relief structure that is particularly decorative.

Wood coated with a golden or silver coloring substance has an original appearance. Pigment particles get clogged into depressions and microcracks, which subsequently glare in the sun.

An interesting coloring technique is the arrangement of tones, repeating the play of light and shadow on the relief. The recesses are painted in a dark tone, the ridges in a light tone. Painting is carried out as follows:

A richly dark varnish or paint is applied to the entire surface.
The coated surface is wiped with a sponge or rag, removing paint from hard fibers where it has not yet been absorbed.
If large areas are being painted, wait until the applied layer of varnish has dried, and then treat the surface with a petal disk with a grain size of 400 to 800. The bulges after this treatment are highlighted, then they are coated with colorless or light varnish.

Another coloring option is to cover the top tier with dark varnish and the depressions with light varnish. In this case, apply dark varnish to the surface and dry it well. Then apply the light composition and remove its excess with a rubber spatula. As a result, a dark substrate appears on the ridges.

Having certain skills in working with wood and using suitable tools, you can do brushing yourself and get excellent results. Products made from structured wood are highly decorative and give the interior an exclusive, expensive look.

Do-it-yourself wood brushing is interesting technology, which allows you to artificially age the tree. The natural aging process takes decades. But now, with the help of special tools, we can achieve this effect can be done at home quickly and without significant material expenditure. Aged material is ideal for decoration in classic, vintage and rustic styles.

Do-it-yourself wood brushing: how the process is carried out

Residents of modern cities increasingly prefer styles with a clearly emphasized individuality when decorating their premises: classic, vintage, rustic and country.

The main detail of such interiors is wood. Thanks to this material, the design of the room acquires uniqueness and unique charm. But for a classic and vintage style, wood in its original natural form is not suitable. In this case, aged wood, which has a more attractive and noble appearance, is best suited. This material is suitable for making any decorative element: a vintage lamp, a wooden chest of drawers, stylish doors and window frames, fireplace lining.

Under natural conditions, the process of aging wood drags on for decades, since the original patterns on the surface of the wood are formed slowly and unevenly. Therefore, this material is rare and expensive. But among modern technologies There is a simple and quick way to artificially age wood. This process is called brushing. Interest in this method is shown not only by lovers of elite vintage furniture, but also by those who want to diversify the interior interior of country houses.

Do-it-yourself aging of wood (brushing) is a decorative technology for processing wooden products, during which a artificial effect antiquity. The method gets its name from the English word brush. The aging process is also called wood structuring.

The artificial brushing method is based on the difference in hardness of the layers that make up the wood. During the work process, the soft light layer is removed. As a result, the areas become embossed, which gives the material a special appearance, characteristic only of fairly old trees.

The depth of brushing the board depends on its purpose. If it is necessary to create the effect of deep aging, then the depth of irregularities and roughness can be up to 2-3 mm. Deep wood relief is not recommended for flooring, otherwise the coating will get very dirty and difficult to clean. The optimal depth is 0.5-0.8 mm.

Wood aging methods: basic information

Used to structure wood special tools and methods. It is based mechanical restoration wood using special metal brushes that remove the upper soft fibers. Thanks to this, the hard surface is visible more clearly, forming a beautiful relief. But this is not the entire process of wood processing.

To emphasize the appearance and make the structure more distinct, the material is coated with special paints that have natural shades. Coloring is carried out unevenly: the depressions become more dark color, and the surface texture is light. This makes the relief more noticeable.

Helpful advice! In order for artificially aged material to be as similar as possible to wood that has aged naturally, it is necessary to paint it gray. In this case, the paint, even before it dries completely, must be smeared from the relief surface. This will create the effect of a tree that has stood in the open air for about 10 years.

It is better not to use wood with a fine-grained and unclearly defined structure, since the brushing method is ineffective for such species. The following trees are not suitable for aging:

maple;

alder;
cherry;
birch;

Both soft and hard woods are suitable for aging wood. The main requirement is that the material has a clearly defined texture and that layers of different hardness are visible. Wood brushing is best done on the following species:

pine;
ash;
nut;
larch;
wenge.

It is preferable to use coniferous wood for artificial structuring. The most affordable is pine. But this tree does not have a beautiful and unusual pattern. And, unfortunately, brushing the pine will not greatly improve this situation. If you use larch and spruce, the result of using the method will delight you with a unique pattern and rich texture.

Aging technology allows you to create unusual textures that are suitable for interiors of different styles. Structured wood is used to create decorative elements, furniture, and flooring. Brushed furniture looks unique and very beautiful.

Do-it-yourself wood aging: benefits of brushing

Unlike the natural aging process, wood structuring helps to increase the strength of the material and its longevity. Brushing also prevents the material from rotting and damage from fungi and insects. This occurs due to the use of special antiseptic agents to protect the wooden surface.

The result of brushing is an excellent appearance of the material, meeting the latest fashion trends. Using a variety of woodworking tools and equipment, you can get a lot of exclusive items and interior details. At the same time, an artificial imitation of exotic types of wood will be created, the cost of which is significantly higher than the original price of the lumber used.

Woodworking tools: brushes, machines and machines

At first glance, the process of artificial structuring may seem very complicated. But the method of brushing wood with your own hands is the most affordable and easiest way to visually age natural material. Even an inexperienced master can do this.

To complete this task you will need a minimum of equipment. In addition, brushing technology allows you to achieve excellent results both manually and mechanized. Depending on the chosen method, the master will need different tools.

Brushing wood: toolfor manual processing

During work, you will need certain tools for brushing wood.

Metal hand brushes are used to roughly remove soft fibers from the surface of the part, while leaving the hard ones intact. They are used for primary wood processing. The stiffness of the bristles depends on the length of the wire: the shorter it is, the stiffer the bristles. At the first stage of processing, it is better to give preference to a brush with the stiffest bristles. It is desirable that the brush has a wide end part and is close in shape to a roller. This shape guarantees a more uniform processing of the wood.

A hand chisel is a tool that can be used to make deep longitudinal grooves of various curvatures in wood fiber. With skillful use of this tool, you can obtain maximum realistic material by applying deep cracks.

Coarse sandpaper for polishing is used to highlight the texture of the material, making the natural pattern more clear. To achieve an optimal result during work, it is necessary to move the sandpaper along the fibers with pressure. By using paper with different grain sizes, you can get grooves of different depths and degrees of expression.

Bulgarian equipped special nozzles for brushing wood, used on initial stage for roughing and finishing wood. At the beginning of the work, a metal brush attachment is used on the grinder to brush the wood, at the final stage - with copper or sisal bristles. Nowadays abrasive-polymer brushes are very popular. This tool makes it possible to selectively remove soft fibers without affecting the hard ones.

Helpful advice! If you don’t have a high-hardness brush, you can use a grinder to trim the pile. This will make the bristles harder. When selecting brush bristles, it is necessary to take into account that the bristles are 7-10 times thinner than the soft fibers of the wood. It is better to use a brush with straight bristles. When working with an abrasive-polymer brush, it is necessary to ensure that the surface of the wood does not burn when the robot operates at high speeds.

After the first stage of processing, experts advise burning the wood using a kerosene burner. A gas burner is not suitable for this type of work.

Firing with a kerosene burner will help complete the following stages of work:

remove small wood fibers;
dry the top layer of wood;
emphasize and highlight the natural structure of wood.

Process automation: machines and machines for brushing wood

Mass production of artificially aged wood requires speed. Some stages of wood processing can be mechanized, which will simplify the work of obtaining aged wood. To do this, you will need drills with variable speed control and special brushing machines.

Let's look at the most popular models of specialized equipment for structuring wood.

Festool rustofix ras 180 stripping router or brush machine for brushing wood. Along with this tool, you can buy brushes for brushing wood. They come in three types:

steel wire brush for primary processing of boards;
synthetic bristle brush for intermediate sanding;
sisal or hair brushes for polishing the back surface of the product.

The Makita 974 sander is used for brushing wood. But during work, difficulties may arise with processing areas at the corners of the part. Therefore, at the joints, it is recommended to use a special angle grinder with different attachments or use a nylon brush attached to an angle grinder for brushing. This brush is highly wear-resistant and allows you to process the ends, edges and contours of parts with complex shapes.

The Felisatti AGF 110/1010E grinding machine is suitable for processing both smooth and uneven surfaces. Nylon and metal brushes are included with the tool.

Helpful advice! It only makes sense to buy a wood brushing machine if large volumes of work are planned. Brushes for brushing wood can be purchased either with the machine or purchased separately.

How to age wood with your own hands: technologies

The aging process opens up for the master the broadest opportunities by changing the structure and color of different types of wood. Before proceeding directly to structuring, the wood must be prepared. The material for brushing must be free of defects, nicks and irregularities, and the humidity must be 10-12%, but not more than 15%. If the wood does not meet these characteristics, then the wood fibers will tear during processing, and a beautiful result from structuring will not be obtained.

Let's take a closer look at the process of aging wood at home. Working with the material can be divided into several stages.

Before starting work, you must complete primary processing details, namely: moisten the tree. This will prevent dust from spreading throughout the room during operation.

Next, you will need a hand brush for processing. Depending on the hardness of the wood, we select the hardness of the metal brush for roughing. The bristles of the tool should easily remove soft surface fibers, but should not damage hard ones. It is necessary to move the brush in the direction of the fibers.

If you decide to automate the processing process using a brush for brushing wood on an angle grinder or sanding machine, then it should be remembered that the movements are carried out along the fibers. It is necessary to move the tool with such intensity that the fibers are effectively scraped out.

You need to be careful when choosing the speed: too fast a brush speed can lead to baking of the wood. When using hand tools, this problem does not arise, but more effort is required. Also, manual processing will take time.

Helpful advice! It is better to select the speed on a separate small sample of wood. The optimal number of revolutions is 1500-2200, but it may differ for different breeds.

Then we carry out the initial grinding of the part. To do this, we use a polymer brush with an abrasive applied to it. This stage will remove roughness and fiber fragments from the surface of the part. Having removed everything unnecessary, you can evaluate how deep and high-quality the structuring of the wood is. If necessary, the grooves can be further deepened, making the structuring more distinct.

At the next stage, you can think about decorative design details. To do this, use a chisel to make indentations and grooves of arbitrary shape in different places on the part. In appearance, they will resemble cracks that appeared naturally.

Next comes the final polishing. To do this you will need a sisal or hair brush. This wood tool will give the detail a finished look, fully revealing all the decorative texture. When manually processing, instead of a brush, fine-grained sandpaper with an abrasive surface is used. It will allow you to create a perfectly polished surface of the workpiece.

Then the wood needs to be well dried. It must be completely cleaned of dust and thus prepared for further painting and varnishing.

The use of stain will age the product by creating contrasting textured patterns. Applying liberally and quickly removing excess will allow you to paint over parts with soft fibers and leave light areas with hard fibers. Soft fibers quickly absorb paint, which means they become dyed, while hard fibers do not have time to absorb the pigment during this time, so they remain light. Wood painted with gold or silver paint looks especially beautiful.

Against the background of the natural color of the wood, this pigment creates reflections on the surface of the part in the sun. This gives the product original decorativeness and luxury. The product will look especially presentable if the wood is patinated - painting over the deepest cracks with a darker paint.

At the final stage, the product is polished again to remove roughness and irregularities that appeared after painting.

Helpful advice! Varnishing is carried out on completely dry and cleaned wood. To paint brushed parquet, you must use a special parquet varnish. This will allow the finished coating to maintain its presentable appearance and performance characteristics for a long time.

Brushing wood: features of chemical structuring of wood

Brushing with chemicals is rare, even though the use of chemically active compounds greatly facilitates the process of artificial aging of wood. To carry out chemical treatment of wood, you must have special knowledge and ability to work with chemicals. In addition, the method has a drawback - it is not always possible to easily purchase the necessary reagents.

For the chemical structuring of wood, acids are needed: hydrochloric and sulfuric, alkali and ammonia. Reagents applied to the surface of the material corrode soft fibers. The master can only scrape off the unnecessary wood.

Stages of chemical brushing of wood:

Surface grinding and removal of dirt.
Apply a thin layer of chemicals to the surface of the part. During chemical structuring, it is necessary to monitor the evaporation of the reagents. If necessary, it is recommended to reapply them.
When Chemical substance will work, that is, it will soften the outer fibers, the part must be rinsed under running water and the remaining reagent must be removed with a soft bristle brush.
Next, the wood must be thoroughly dried, painted or varnished.

The availability and demand for brushing allows you to perform this method at home. When structuring wood, it is imperative to adhere to safety regulations. You should work with tools and a wood brushing machine carefully and carefully. All artificial structuring processes must be performed in special protective clothing, glasses and gloves. If antiseptic solutions are used during work or too much dust accumulates in the air from the wood, then you should work in a respirator.

Brushing a wooden surface is unusual way make a wooden product more beautiful, unusual and attractive. This method is very popular among interior designers and ordinary people, since anyone can perform artificial aging of wood. It takes a little time and effort to get luxury furniture or a chic original ceiling, stylized in antique style. For a better effect, you can patina the furniture.

Artificial brushing of wood: cost of work

The main task of brushing wood is to create and emphasize the unique texture of the surface of the board. The result is a material with a clearly visible pattern. natural material. The procedure is suitable for many types of material. The cost of standard brushing is 350 rubles. per sq. m. When ordering additional painting, the cost increases. The price of the work depends on the type of wood chosen, as well as on the size of the board.

The cost of each stage of artificial aging is usually calculated separately. You can order sanding separately or just impregnation. The most profitable option is a full brushing service from the beginning of work to the final coating with the purchase of material. It is possible to perform artificial structuring from your material.

Workshops that brush wood carry out an individual calculation of the cost of processing depending on the type of wood, the size of the product and the list of services.

Brushing is performed on any type of wooden materials:

bar;
lining;

planks;
block house;
planks.

Scope of application of wood structuring technology

The structuring method is very popular in the manufacture of interior items and room elements. Such wooden products will become an original addition to classic and vintage interiors. In addition, the advantage of brushing technology is the ability to independently create exclusive items. In addition, this method falls into the category of simple processes accessible to everyone.

Brushed boards are used to decorate fireplaces, shelves, columns, wall panels, and aged wood is also used as ceiling beams. This material creates a unique ambience for living rooms and halls, cafes and restaurants. The interior design is filled with aristocracy and luxury, and aged wood creates warmth and comfort in the room.

Looks stylish and sophisticated wooden furniture using brushed elements. Artificial aging and patination of wood with your own hands allows you to make absolutely any furniture: cabinets, chests of drawers, pegs, beds. The use of brushed elements in furniture and interior design has no restrictions or prohibitions - it all depends on your imagination and creativity.