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Fictional ‘incidents’ give a piece a believable back story. In Part 1 I gave an overview of creating an aged look for new pieces of furniture, and discussed mechanical wear. The second prevalent [...]

Adding wear and tear to a piece is like writing a convincing tale of fiction. It’s your day off. So, you go into your shop to make a new piece of furniture. How do you want it to look …

New hardware is often way too shiny for my taste, so I chemically “age” it. If the metal is raw steel, I use standard gun bluing. But if it’s plated with zinc, I turn to Super Blue, a [...]

Add centuries of wear and tear to your projects using a tested formula that’s simple and safe – no open flame! This is the furniture finish that fooled our local auctioneer, a man with 30 years [...]

Cracking, crazing and physical wear have specific causes and remedies. Everyone who buys, sells, works on or collects old furniture, or who has some in their house, has to be concerned with [...]

Discover how (and when) to give old, deteriorated finishes new life. As finishes age, they deteriorate. First they dull, then they begin showing small cracks (called “crazing”). The culprit of [...]

Distressing or aging wood can come in many forms, whether it's a color change or physical wear. Here some tips for achieving different effects.