Country Woodworker

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.

Thank you! I appreciate the warm welcome!

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

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

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

The links should work now! sorry about that.

The links should work now! sorry about that.

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