Weathered Wood

[FrankEV]

I needed some weathered wood (like what you see on beach houses or old barn wood) for an Intarsia project, but could not find anything locally, and did not want to spend big bucks to order on line.   Doning some research I came across this "Varathane Weathered Wood Accelerator" product and decided to give it a try on some cheap (but their premium grade) cedar fence slats from Lowes.   It Works Great.  $14 on Amazon.

It is supposed to work on any wood.  I suspect it is nothing more than a more sofistcated version of and ebonizing solution that a lot of us make and use.  My homemade solution did not work as well on the Cedar.

Spread it on, let it dry for an hour or so and it does its magic.  A good solution for making rustic frames, or like I'm doing, making a Plaque style Backer for an Intarsia piece.

 

Hope some may find this info useful.

 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2025 by FrankEV

[barb.j.enders]

Thanks for doing the research.

[TAIrving]

Looks good Frank - thanks for sharing.  

 I see they have weathered gray, aged brown and charred black versions.  The charred black probably is like the ebonizer we use.  

It would be interesting to see how this stuff works on other types of wood.

[rjweb]

Interesting, now lets see what you are making, RJ

[Denny Knappen]

That is very interesting.  As a framer, we always have customers looking for weathered barnwood frames.  I will not work on old barnwood because of the possible mold.

[FrankEV]

6 hours ago, TAIrving said:

Looks good Frank - thanks for sharing.  

 I see they have weathered gray, aged brown and charred black versions.  The charred black probably is like the ebonizer we use.  

It would be interesting to see how this stuff works on other types of wood.

When time permits, I'll do some sample testing on various pieces of wood. 

The Ebonizing solution we use works well on Walnut to get a good solid black, but on pine, it just turns it a muddey brown.  Out solutions need to have tannens added to work better on woods that hane low tannen properties.

I can see a use for this on wood pieces cut for Intarsia that requires a Grey color as it does not hide the wood grain.   

[FrankEV]

5 hours ago, rjweb said:

Interesting, now lets see what you are making, RJ

Just posted my Belem Lighthouse in Intarsia/segmentation area.

[dgman]

12 hours ago, FrankEV said:

I needed some weathered wood (like what you see on beach houses or old barn wood) for an Intarsia project, but could not find anything locally, and did not want to spend big bucks to order on line.   Doning some research I came across this "Varathane Weathered Wood Accelerator" product and decided to give it a try on some cheap (but their premium grade) cedar fence slats from Lowes.   It Works Great.  $14 on Amazon.

It is supposed to work on any wood.  I suspect it is nothing more than a more sofistcated version of and ebonizing solution that a lot of us make and use.  My homemade solution did not work as well on the Cedar.

Spread it on, let it dry for an hour or so and it does its magic.  A good solution for making rustic frames, or like I'm doing, making a Plaque style Backer for an Intarsia piece.

 

Hope some may find this info useful.

 

 

 

I used that product on the stable of a large Nativity I did a few years ago. I used pine for the stable. I was happy with the results.

[OCtoolguy]

Very nice Dan.