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Aging balsa wood



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 21st 04, 03:54 PM
Metis Artist
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Default Aging balsa wood

Does anyone know how to stress balsa wood so that it looks like timber used
in rafters or railway ties?
Thanks
Tania


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  #2  
Old August 23rd 04, 12:47 PM
Steve Burns
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For small pieces artists pastels do real neat things to new wood. You
can get some fairly cheap at most craft shops. It is timeconsuming for
large stuff or when you have lots and lots of little things.

Metis Artist wrote:

Does anyone know how to stress balsa wood so that it looks like timber used
in rafters or railway ties?
Thanks
Tania

  #3  
Old August 23rd 04, 07:01 PM
Chuck
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On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 14:54:06 GMT, "Metis Artist"
wrote:

Does anyone know how to stress balsa wood so that it looks like timber used
in rafters or railway ties?


I have used balsa and basswood in similar applications, and stressing
them is easy and fun. You'll want to try a little experimentation,
though, before you commit to aging your good pieces.

Assemble a few items like:
Very Coarse sandpaper
Fine Sandpaper
Wire brush
Pliers
Utility knife
Scratch awl or punch (a nail will work, too)
These will be your distressing tools.

You will also want some acrylic art paints in browns, grays and maybe
some dark red.

You first want to knock the sharp corners and edges off the items
you're going to distress. But make sure that you do this after the
pieces are assembled. The idea is to make it look like natural wear
and tear. If you put together a table out of boards, only the outside
edges and tops of those boards are going to be worn, not the edges
that are against one another.

Okay, since balsa and basswood,... (I MUCH prefer basswood for
building, if you can get it. It takes detail better, is harder, but
not too hard, can be glued and nailed with less splitting and takes
finishes more evenly than balsa.) Anyhow, since they have little grain
of their own, you are going to need to give them some grain. You can
use any of the following for this: VERY coarse (25-50 grit) sandpaper,
a wire brush, the grippy part inside of a pair of pliers, or even the
teeth of a comb, if you are using balsa. You want to firmly drag the
item over the surface of the wood, inscribing a series of parallel
lines (these don't have to be straight, and often look better if they
are a bit wavy) along the length of the wood.

You might also want to put some "knots" in the wood, depending on your
application. For this, you can use the tip of a ballpoint pen, with
the point retracted. You don't have to make it deep, just a shallow
ring, pressed into the wood will represent a knot nicely. You can
also put insect holes in the wood by using the point of your awl or
nail, and poking it randomly around the surface of the wood. But
remember, as in all things, "Less is more." You don't want to use all
the techniques on every piece of wood, because it will look contrived.
Except for the graining technique, that is, because all of the wood
would have grain.

After your wood is sufficiently abused, it's time to color it. I've
found the easiest way to do this is to make a wash of acrylic paints,
watered down with water. You can do this in small batches or large,
depending on your needs. I just usually use a small container, put
some water in it and start adding drops of pain of various shades of
brown, gray and red until I get the desired color, by testing it on a
piece of the same wood and then drying it with a hair dryer or heat
gun, to make sure of the final color.

Where you have created knots in the wood, take an indelible marker in
a dark color and put a dot of it on the knot. Knots are always darker
than the surrounding wood. A good way to determine what colors you
want to use is by looking at the wood around you. Drive around the
countryside and look at exposed, weathered wood. Look in antique shops
at the color of old wood, and in the rafters of old houses and barns.
Inside woods tend to darken and outdoor woods tend to lighten,
eventually turning a light gray.

Using these tools and others you may come up with on your own, and
some experimentation, you should be able to come up with some nice
rafters, railroad ties and bulding lumber. Most of all, have fun!



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Chuck *#:^)
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