Hello everyone.  I'm looking for some help trying to match a blackwash looking finish that is on several used benches that we purchased.  They were bought and sold for weddings several times before we came purchased them.  We are building more of them but having a hard time matching the finish that was used.  I think the finish has an almost gold color with black streaks.  I realize they are several years old and the finish is weather faded and well wore.  Looking at the bottom of the bench it looks like it was put on with a rag maybe and appears that it was put on in one step looking at where the finish ends.  I have tried several stains with black paint wiped over but it can't quit get anything close to match what they did.  Does anyone recognize this finish that could spread some light on what it is and how to reproduce it?

Thank you. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K4LNeoHnQlfHapFY0mPTQhuP79wpXjTW/view?usp=sharing 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OyumTx_w6pLbNO9WDxTP4anm6KJQcdMg/view?usp=sharing 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oOeUe2ZlLwh2pWBTcEvBgHkv1X5Jr8ZC/view?usp=sharing

Welcome aboard Country.

None of the links you posted were available - access denied.  Can you repost with the pics?

Can you take a picture of the finish and post it here. I can't get to what you want us to go to.

3 hours ago, Cal said:

Welcome aboard Country.

None of the links you posted were available - access denied.  Can you repost with the pics?

The links should work now! sorry about that.

3 hours ago, Cal said:

Welcome aboard Country.

None of the links you posted were available - access denied.  Can you repost with the pics?

The links should work now! sorry about that.

Welcome to The Patriot Woodworker!

If you only have a few of those benches, it may be easier to just sand them down to bare wood, stain them and the new ones you are building your color of choice.

Hi John.  That is true.  That would insure they would match better.  But I have 18 of them that we rent throughout the year.  Everyone loves how they look.  I just haven't been able to duplicate it.  We think the benches were built around 10 - 12 years ago.  I was hoping this look was a blackwash trend of some kind back then that someone would recognize.

Thank you,

Shawn

Welcome aboard. I think you are also looking weathering and patina on the finish. That is very difficult to duplicate. It does look very much like a iron oxide or steeped ammonia finish.

 

The Iron is done with steel wool or similar metal even nails allowed to rust and use the liquid.

Ammonia was a finish used in craftsman style and must be done outside with ammonis under a tent of plastic or something to keep the fumes in , also called fuming.

Hi Gerald.  I think you're right.   The age and weathering is making it very hard to match.  I experimented on a sample piece with iron oxide and black over it but the tone is off just enough.  I'm not familiar with the steeped ammonia option.  I will look into that.  Thank you,  Shawn   

I am hoping that @Smallpatch will be back to share his thoughts.

 

My thoughts - the gold coloring may be the grain in the lumber choice in the original benches, looks like they may be southern yellow pine.  What type of wood are you using for the new benches?  A different wood will give very different results, even if you happened upon the right recipe.

Looks to me like the legs were just a one coat brushed or wiped on finish.  The tops, though look like a lighter base coat may have been used.

These are rustic, correct?  Get something close and be happy with it

 

Cal is right about different woods will give you different end results..

 

Why not make each bench a completely different color.

 

Most likely a glaze was used for the color and the wood contributed to the many differences of color tones.

 

And a possible way they did it using the glaze was to wipe on a certain color, then rub off all that will come off using rags then wait an hour or two then use a different glaze only here and there  and not a solid application then rub it all off and keep repeating this procedure until many shades can be seen then pretend you knew what you were doing.

 

Even the dryness of the wood will give you a different tone as to wood just cut from a live tree.

 

If you want that many benches to look the same you will have to start with all the same unfinished woods to begin with plus it would help if all the woods are dried down to the same percent.

 

Only one color is seen under that bench but more colors could have been applied here and there and none was wasted like the first color for they were just highlighting in a few areas! 

 

 

I believe if I were tasked to doing this many benches I would use all the colors of a glaze for no large group of people will all like the same colors anyway.

 

Cal and SmallPatch, both of you bring up very good points.  These are supposed to be very rustic looking benches anyway.  There is even some slight variation between the 18 benches that I'm trying to match.  I think at this point I should just settle for close enough and call it good.  I wanted to get some perspective from your knowledge to make sure I wasn't missing something.  It is rare that I come across something I just can't quit put my finger on how it was done.  Thank you, Shawn     

Belated welcome to The Patriot Woodworker @Country Woodworker. Glad you found us and jumped right in with a challenge for the collective talent here. A lot of great responses to your question(s). Perhaps @kmealywill also stop by when he  has the chance and offer additional ideas. Good luck.

 

BTW, we love pictures, so hope you come back with your completed projects to share the results or just hang out around the virtual workbench. 

Thank you!  I appreciate the warm welcome!  

Matching a finish is one of the most difficult things to do in finishing.  Really the only sure way is to do some test boards.  The final result depends on the wood, the coloring added (chemical reaction, pigment, and/or dye), and the clear coat.   All of them affect the color.

 

I agree that the brown might be from SYP graining.

 

From the one photo (#3) of the bottom, it appears that the stain was a wipe on, not a fuming.  And it does look like SYP, but could be one of the myriad softwoods used for 2x construction lumber.

 

The whitish color may have been added by adding a light treatment of a white-ish glaze over top of a darker stain, lightly applied.  A glaze is a finish that is heavy in pigment and light in binder.   It's applied by brushing or wiping between coats of clear finish.  (Or, not in this case, over an opaque finish and under a clear finish)  One advantage of glaze is that it's ultimately manipulable as it has a long open time and you can even remove most of it or add more with a "dirty wipe."

 

Welcome! 

 

Beautiful images. In the first one it looks like a wipe of dark spirit shellac followed by a card scraper to get the effect. On the second it reminds me of using a paint brush dried almost to ruination from oil-based paint, and covering as best as one can. Two-three hits with slightly different shades of earthtones (mixed by eye).

 

The third pic shows the nicely intentional application. Faux-finishers have the tools i.e. the paint brushes for this effect. Almost like painting with tines of a fork? I've seen those brushes with the "tines", maybe at Michaels? (I know, Michaels. Arts & Crafts. I'm the guy in a disguise in the paint brush aisle, buying small brushes in 25-count bulk for touch-up & discard)

 

  

 

Hi Woodman.  I like your point of view.  It's kind of funny how my thought process has evolved on what I though was a very simple project.  When I purchased these benches and looked at the craftmanship I saw wood braces that were of random lengths and unsquared placement with screws misaligned and some sticking out and missing the brace completely.  So, I just had it in my head that these were made quick and cheap with a little stain and black paint wiped on with a rag for effect and done.  I wanted to add to the collection, so I built 10 more thinking I would stain and wipe some black paint on with a brush to match the streaks and be done also.  I even made several test samples to decide what stain to use.  That is when I really started looking at that old bench finish and found nothing in my huge inventory of stains would match it.  But, I thought my vinegar/steel wool iron acetate solution was pretty close.  You can see in the third pic my new bench in the background that is new lumber aged with the solution.  Then I tried wiping black over it and found the end result was not as close as I thought.  My finish looked like brown mud compared to that goldish black color on the old benches.  I did some more research online, tried a few more things to no avail.  I suspect whoever built these may not have been the most detail oriented in the construction as they were in creating a finish to look this way.  I realized I needed to reach out beyond my expertise and look at this a completely different way.    

Moved this topic to the Finishing Forum