Artificial aging of wood. Brushing wood: the main stages of artificial aging of wood Do-it-yourself brushing machine

Giving wooden surfaces an aged appearance by mechanical means - that’s what wood brushing is, in a nutshell. In fact, this is quite interesting and exciting process, which is practiced not only by professional carpenters and designers, but also by many who like to work with their own hands.

The tree has always occupied, occupies and will occupy a leading position among finishing materials, not to mention furniture and household items. That is why he is always given increased attention and preference. Aged wood goes well with any modern materials, giving the room uniqueness and originality.

What is the essence of brushing?

The natural aging process of wood occurs throughout long period time. The cut surface wears unevenly, the texture becomes uneven and somewhat wavy. Approximately this effect can be achieved if you treat a wooden product with special tools. When brushing wood, in its at a young age, soft fibers are removed, revealing the natural appeal of natural patterns in wood cuts.

Each product made of natural wood is unique and inimitable, thanks to the individual properties of each type of wood, moreover, of each trunk. However, not every wood species can be aged. Before brushing wood, you need to know about its flexibility. this method. So, it is best to age pine, oak, larch, walnut, ash, wenge. But for beech, maple, birch, cherry, and alder, this finishing method is practically ineffective. The wood of these species does not have a pronounced texture. It has little noticeable transitions between layers of different densities, or even none at all.

Brushing equipment

To an inexperienced person, brushing wood may seem like a complicated and inaccessible process. In reality this is not the case at all. You need to have a room for creativity, that is, a workshop, the necessary equipment and a little effort. To work you need to prepare:

sandpaper included in the set, with to varying degrees graininess;
a set of special brushes for brushing wood;
stain, preferably several shades to enhance color scheme;
Transparent wood varnish for final finishing of the product.

Some craftsmen prefer mechanized labor to manual labor. Therefore, instead of ordinary brushes, an electric tool for brushing wood, equipped with a set of brushes, is used. You can also use a home drill with a speed controller with special attachments. Each of the brushes has its own purpose:

a steel wire brush is needed for the main process - brushing wood with your own hands;
a brush with synthetic fiber bristles performs the first sanding;
A soft brush is necessary for final polishing of the surface.

It should be noted that it makes sense to purchase special equipment (machines or machines) to perform a large volume of work. If we're talking about In isolated cases, there is no reason to spend money on purchasing an expensive tool for brushing wood, and do the work manually.

How to brush wood correctly

The procedure for performing the wood aging procedure for manual and mechanized methods is the same. It is important to choose the correct rotation speed of the machine or adapt to the uniform movement of the brush. Since it is undesirable to brush wood at a high engine speed, you can bake the wood and end up with a defect that can no longer be corrected. Before starting work, it is recommended to pass the board through a thicknesser or sand it with a sander. Stages of aging boards:

The workpiece must be sprinkled with water to reduce the amount of dust. Then they begin the main process. The tool, mechanical, electric or manual, is moved along the location of the fibers with measured movements. For each type of wood, they experimentally select their own pace and mode of operation. It is important to thoroughly scrape the board and remove all soft fibers.
Next, brushing the wood with your own hands continues with a brush with synthetic bristles. Sanding should be done in the same order as hard processing was done - with movements along the grain of the wood. After sanding, the initial processing result will be noticeable. If the depth of the grooves seems insufficient, the process can be repeated. The main thing is not to overdo it, as you should brush the board carefully and accurately. At the same time, additional decoration can be done. Using a chisel, create artificial cracks and grooves that highlight the natural wood structure.
Final sanding is carried out with a soft-bristled brush or, if the work is done by hand, with sandpaper with the finest grain. The main thing is to make sure that the surface of the workpiece is absolutely smooth. This action prepares the tablet for final finishing. Upon completion of grinding, the workpiece must be cleaned of dust and dried.
The finishing stage is giving the product a touch of antiquity, grace, and nobility. This is where artistic talent comes in handy, if you have it. For this purpose, stains of different shades, gilding, and silver plating are used. For example, if you literally fill a board with stain and immediately remove the excess, then soft fabrics wood will absorb it and darken, but solid wood will remain light. It turns out a very beautiful effect.
The painting process ends with another polishing cycle after the paint has dried.

Varnishing of brushed wood is done last, when its appearance fully corresponds to the expected result. But before this, the workpiece must be thoroughly dried.

Sometimes, in order to speed up the process and make labor easier, acids, alkalis and other chemicals that corrode wood are used for brushing. In this case, steel brushes are not needed. The composition is applied to the surface of the board, then washed off, and so on several times. Such work will not bring much satisfaction, and it will cause great harm. You should work with chemicals in protective equipment and in the open air.

Where are products with brushed surfaces used?

Brushed wood looks appropriate in the interior of any style and architectural direction. With her participation, stylish decorative items are created. Planks with an aged surface are used to decorate sections of walls and ceilings; they fit perfectly into the lining of fireplace portals, ceiling beams, decorative and real columns.

Furniture finished with brushed details in combination with patinated metal, especially copper, always looks sophisticated and elegant. Very popular among connoisseurs of antiques and cabinetmakers wooden blanks, on whose appearance bark beetles have worked. It is impossible to achieve such an effect artificially. Therefore, products made from such wood are especially highly valued by experts.

Brushing is a popular technique decorative finishing wood, giving it a sophisticated antique look.

The procedure is performed using available tools, including a convenient grinder with a special set of brushes made of different materials. A nylon brush for brushing is a modern accessory that allows you to gently carry out processing, obtaining a beautiful wood surface that improves its texture.

The essence of brushing

Tree trunks have a multilayer structure, which, when cut, forms a peculiar pattern of fibers of different thicknesses and directions. Brushing, which is sometimes called stitching due to a lack of understanding of the essence of the issue, is sanding a wood surface with brushes using special devices or equipment. The term comes from the word brush on English. The process has nothing to do with brochures, which should be taken into account in colloquial speech.

Thanks to the brushing tool, fiber is selectively, more or less, removed from the surface of the lumber, creating a patterned relief. You can enhance the aging effect by tinting or staining wood cuts. Decorative treatment with brushes, mounted, for example, on a grinder, is used when finishing the following wooden structures:

flights of stairs;
floor coverings;
external parts of furniture;
elements interior design premises.

The best effect is achieved when brushing larches, various types of spruce, and oak. Wood with small fibers, such as cherry, birch, maple, and oak, does not form a beautiful pattern when sanded with metal and nylon brushes used as an attachment for an angle grinder or other tool. Even pre-firing or chemical treatment of such materials does not provide the effect of a layered texture.

Stages of work and tools used

To give a relief structure to a wood surface, you need a special set of brushes with bristles of varying density and hardness.

First stage of processing

At the first stage, a brush with hard bristles made of steel alloys or brass is used. The thickness of the villi varies significantly between various products. You need to choose a brush in which the diameter of each metal hair will be approximately 10 times thinner than the diameter of the soft fiber of the wood being processed. Straight bristles of a brush are good at removing loose components from wood, which are cut with metal scissors before attaching them to the grinder adapter to increase the efficiency of brushing.

If necessary, double brush products can be used, providing much greater speed and efficiency. If the bristles intended to remove soft wood fibers are rounded, the process will be worse.

Working with a nylon brush

At the end of the first stage of processing, the wood surface has a rough, rough look. To give decorative effect To level all excess relief, use nylon brushes for brushing wood, mounted on an angle grinder. They are available for sale in a wide range.

Nylon fibers differ in length, density, and the number or absence of abrasive particles pressed into the polymer. If abrasive grains are attached to a nylon base, you must pay attention to their grain size, hardness and compare the characteristics of the brushing brush with the density and structure of the wood.

Most commonly commercially available nylon products have hardness numbers ranging from 120 to 600. Values of 120, 180 and 240 are ideal for hardwood; Products with numbers 400 and 600 in the marking should be purchased for brushing soft wood lumber.

Craftsmen who have extensive experience working with grinders will improve surface treatment technology and use not one, but several nylon brushes. Sometimes, to save money, they buy previously used polymer brushes for brushing and attach them simultaneously to the adapter of the grinder. A similar technique can also be used when using new products, although it will cost much more.

Thanks to the expanded area of the fibers of several brushes mounted on the rotating shaft of the angle grinder, it is possible to thoroughly perform a large amount of work in a short time.

Nylon hairline can be fixed to a metal or polymer base. Experience shows that the plastic disc at the base of the brush creates fewer preconditions for hair breakage and ensures their flexibility, so these products last longer.

Finishing sanding

After two stages of processing, the wood needs to be slightly dried, and then the formation of the decorative surface is completed with brushes with wool or sisal hairs. If the master prefers at the final stage handmade without using a grinder, it can be done using sandpaper flaps with small abrasive grains. Upon completion of proper brushing, the surface will acquire a perfectly smooth, beautiful appearance.

Machine Applications

All three stages of finishing can be performed on special grinding machines or using other electrical equipment: grinding machines for flat or corner surfaces. Meet homemade machines for brushing. Making a full-fledged machine with your own hands, working like a thickness planer, is difficult and expensive, so they use the same grinder with several metal and nylon attachments.

Complete mechanization of work makes sense when large volumes wood that requires brushing. In such a situation, investments in the acquisition and operation of units will be justified. Common types of home repairs and construction work It can be quite successfully made into a grinder, which every master has.

Surface painting

Depending on the customer's wishes, paint or varnish is applied to the wood. Many people prefer coatings with silver or golden pigments, counting on the strong fixation of shiny particles deep in the wood texture. If the paint is applied correctly, reflections will appear on the wooden product in sunlight.

Some consumers like surfaces with dark, deep cracks, which are obtained by patination using special dyes. Lightened ridges of fibrous reliefs look especially impressive against a darkened background. Painting is usually carried out with brushes or a sponge, carefully observing the condition of the surface. If upon application paint and varnish products the fibers rise, which means the polishing process was carried out poorly and needs to be repeated again.

If you carefully carry out brushing, you can achieve beautiful products made of wood.

The method is based on the difference in hardness of the layers that make up solid wood. The cross section clearly shows growth rings, which are formed by fibers with different physical characteristics. In products, these layers form a pattern characteristic of each type of wood.

When the soft layer is removed, areas consisting of hard fibers become embossed, clearly appearing on the surface and giving the wood a particularly decorative look. Under natural conditions, this happens over time, when soft fibers are removed as the product is used. Brushing allows you to visually age the wood and give it texture in a carpentry workshop.

Do-it-yourself wood brushing: artificial aging of wood

This wood structuring technology is suitable for use with soft and hard woods that have a clearly defined texture and obvious layers of different hardness:

pine
oak
larch
ash
nut
wenge

Wood species with a fine-grained and indistinct structure are unsuitable for brushing, since they do not have the necessary layering. These types of materials include wood:

maple
alders
birch trees
cherries

The use of brushing technology allows you to create original textures that look ideal in products for interiors different styles. Structured wood is actively used in manufacturing floors, furniture, elements of decorative finishing. Natural wood fits perfectly into any design, adding original touches to it.

Wood structuring equipment

Brushing is the most affordable and easy-to-use method, allowing you to quickly visually age natural material. This process can be carried out in a home workshop using a minimum of equipment.

This is one of the few technologies that allows you to achieve excellent results using exclusively manual labor. For this you will need:

metal brushes of varying hardness, which are used to roughly remove soft fibers from the surface of the workpiece

sandpaper of various grits for rough sanding and final polishing
stains and other means to give wood maximum decorativeness

varnish for opening the product at the end of the brushing process

The selected workpiece can be slightly moistened so that wood dust does not fly around the room. The first pass is carried out with a metal brush, the rigidity of which is selected depending on the hardness of the wood. The “bristles” should not damage the hard fibers of the material, but at the same time should successfully remove the soft ones. The movement of the instrument is carried out in the direction of the fibers, at a speed sufficient for effective scraping. Increasing the rotation speed of the brush can lead to baking of the wood, so it is necessary to select best option for each sample. When working hand tools This problem does not arise, but more effort has to be applied and much more processing time has to be spent.

By replacing the nozzle with a polymer brush with an abrasive applied to it, the part is initially polished, during which roughness and fragments of fibers remaining on the surface of the wood are removed. Having removed all unnecessary things, you can evaluate how deep and high-quality the structuring was done, and, if necessary, further deepen the resulting grooves. At this stage you can add decorative elements to finishing wooden products. Using a chisel, indentations of arbitrary shape are selected in different places of the workpiece. After rough sanding, they can be corrected and given the maximum natural look old cracks formed in the material.

The final polishing is carried out using a sisal or hair brush, which gives the part a finished polished look, fully revealing all the decorative texture of the wood. At manual processing The finest grit sandpaper is used to create a perfectly polished surface. Having smoothed the structured texture of the product, it is prepared for further painting and varnishing. If the wood was wetted before work, now it must be dried and completely cleaned of dust.
To give a particularly decorative look, the part can be painted, patinated, gilded and other finishing options. Using stain will age the product due to the formation of contrasting textured patterns. Copious application of the composition with quick removal excess allows you to paint over areas with soft fibers that absorb paint, and leave light areas of hard fibers that have not had time to absorb the pigment. Gold paint looks especially impressive when applied to microcracks and depressions against the background of the natural color of the wood. Such reflections of gold will give the product an original decorative effect. After treatment with coloring compounds, the surfaces are polished again to get rid of the roughness that arose during painting.

Varnishing is carried out on completely dried and cleaned wood. During production brushed parquet To open it you must use a special parquet varnish so that the finished coating can serve its intended period.

Brushing is a mechanical technique that allows you to most advantageously highlight and emphasize the original natural beauty wood material. For brushing work, it is recommended to use cuts that have a clear and bright structure. Ideally, the wood should not be too dense and uniform. Annual rings, a chaotic arrangement of fibers and various knots should be visible on the cut. The most suitable material The wood is larch, oak, spruce and walnut. It is strictly not recommended to subject fruit wood, birch, beech and naturally plywood to such treatment.

Basic brushing methods

Brushing wood can be done in two main ways - using chemicals and when using mechanical devices.

When using chemical method fibers are removed by treatment with special chemical compounds. They are based on ammonia and others that are dangerous to humans. chemical elements. The solution applied to the surface softens the wood and thereby facilitates the process of combing out soft fibers from it.

If you brush wood yourself, you must follow the following rules:

All work must be done indoors with good ventilation, and preferably in the fresh air;
It is necessary to provide yourself with additional protective equipment in the form of a respirator, thick rubber gloves and goggles.

If the choice fell on the mechanical processing method, then the fibers are cleaned using a drill equipped with a number of special brushes and attachments. When performing this process manually, you need a metal brush with durable metal bristles. They differ in the degree of rigidity and the size of the working surface. Small brushes are recommended for use when processing hard to reach places small area.

The essence of wood brushing work

This process is quite labor intensive. To make it easier, the workpiece must be thoroughly sprinkled clean water and move the brush with slight pressure in one direction strictly according to the location of the wood fibers. This procedure will have to be repeated more than once until you get the required depth of texture. Manipulations with a drill are carried out in the same way. Its use is necessary for deep brushing work.

After completing the first cycle of work, you need to go over the entire surface of the wood with a brush and flute in order to remove all the particles remaining in the recesses. Then you can begin work on decorating the wood.

Brushing wood with firing

On present moment Brushing and firing of wood is in great demand. He also applies to mechanical method processing. Before the brushing process, the surface of the wood is fired. After sampling the soft fibers, the texture acquires a pronounced appearance, which cannot be achieved without firing.

To carry out the firing process, a special apparatus is required that has high temperature. The most popular device is a soldering iron. It is compact and easy to use. Except of this device You can use various burners that are filled with gas and have a combustion temperature regulator.

The technique for burning wood is as follows. The switched-on burner must be directed evenly in one direction, without lingering in any particular area. After this, the already blackened wood must be sprinkled with water and left alone for 5-10 minutes. Then you need to work with an iron brush, moving strictly in one direction along the fibers, until the desired result is achieved. Wood after firing and brushing is still capable of for a long time maintain a pleasant resinous smell.

Brushing technology

Brushing can also be perceived as a technique for artificially aging wood. After this type of treatment, it looks more noble and respectable. The work is carried out using hand-held brushes or special brushes attached to an electric drill or grinder. The technology includes three main stages:

At the first stage, the softest fibers are removed. For this purpose, brushes with metal bristles are used;
The next step will be the grinding process using synthetic bristles with an abrasive coating;
The final stage consists of polishing the wood. This can be done using a hair brush.

The main advantages of wood processing using the brushing method

Further painting of wooden surfaces after brushing helps to highlight the textured surface: existing depressions acquire darker tones, and various ridges lighten. You can also resort to such a technique as patination. During this process, specially applied compounds penetrate deeply into the open pores of the wood and focus attention on the texture of the wood, creating the illusion of cracking on the outer surface.

Brushing the walls of a wooden private household allows you to achieve a number of advantages:

Originality and uniqueness appearance due to the pronounced diversity of recesses and ridges wooden surface;
Individuality of the building design, created through an artificially aged coating;
Functionality and versatility. Wood processed by brushing perfectly hides small defects that appear, which are clearly visible on a perfectly flat floor or smooth wall.

As we can see, the purpose of brushing is to highlight the natural beauty of wood. The walls of houses treated in this way look original and at the same time rare. Brushing work can be done either independently or with the assistance of specialists.

Video: Brushing - how to age wood

Do-it-yourself wood brushing is an interesting technology that allows you to artificially age wood. Under normal conditions, this process occurs very slowly; patterns are formed over several decades. IN winter periods darker stripes appear, while summer is characterized by relatively light, loose fibers. However, now you can achieve a similar effect at home, without overpaying for expensive aged wood.

Brushing wood - what is its essence

The main purpose of this process is to give an ordinary wooden surface an artificial antique effect through tooling. Light soft fibers are removed, which makes the wood visually older, and a kind of original relief appears, characteristic only of fairly old trees. Depending on the goals pursued, the depth of surface treatment can vary significantly. Thus, the depth of roughness and irregularities can reach 2-3 mm, when it is necessary to recreate the effect of deep rough aging.

Unlike natural aging, brushing wood helps improve the strength of wood, its durability, and also prevents the development of rot and damage from fungal growths or insects. All this is achieved through the use of special antiseptic solutions and compositions to protect the wooden surface.

You should know that not all tree species can be subject to artificial aging. For example, wood with a uniform, dense structure is extremely undesirable for this process. Therefore, some species, including teak, alder, beech, maple, will be quite problematic to age.

The best way to use wood coniferous species. Unfortunately, pine, which is the most affordable, cannot boast of a beautiful and unusual pattern, so even brushing cannot greatly improve the situation. If you take larch or spruce, the effect will be simply excellent; you will be able to obtain unique rich textures of patterns at home.

It is also worth remembering that before proceeding directly to brushing, the wood must be prepared for this process. First of all, the material should be as smooth and even as possible; there should be no nicks, irregularities or other defects. Humidity should be within 10-15%, otherwise the fibers will only tear during processing, forming small pile, and artificial aging will not be achieved.

Brushing at home - what tools will you need?

When doing your own brushing at home, you will need a small list of available tools. First of all, these are brushes, which are rather rough disc-type brushes, the bristles of which are made of steel or brass. To obtain uniform processing, experts recommend buying brushes that are similar in shape to a roller, as well as with a wider end side.

The main work is carried out precisely by brushing, the task of which is to remove the largest part of the fibers. Naturally, the surface after such treatment remains too fleecy and rough. To improve the appearance of the surface we need nylon synthetic brushes. A special feature of such brushes is abrasive powder of various fractions, which is fused into the thickness of the plastic. The cost of synthetic brushes may be unpleasantly surprising, but it would still be very advisable to purchase them, since they eliminate and remove fine lint that interferes with polishing and painting, and besides, the wood looks much prettier after treatment with such brushes.

Next, brushes with natural hard bristles, for example, made of coarse wool or sisal brushes, come into play. They are used to polish the surface. This stage of brushing is not mandatory, but if you want to achieve the maximum quality of wood, then polishing is indispensable.

If necessary, you can use electric tools, for example, corner grinder or a drill. However, working with brushes is more advantageous in the sense that you can completely control the force of pressure and the direction of stripping. In any case, do not forget to purchase anti-dust glasses, as well as gloves, since when sanding, a lot of small fluff will get into the air, which can harm your eyes.

Brushing technology - main stages

So, all necessary tool purchased, wooden boards lie in front of us. Let's start brushing.

All surface treatment technology is carried out in accordance with this scheme:

metal brushes to remove soft fibers
Sanding cleaned wood using synthetic abrasive brushes
Painting with special solutions that help give a visual aging effect
Wood polishing and varnishing.

Step 1. Preparatory work. Let's check the tree we have to work with. If it is too wet, it is necessary to dry it, but if it is too dry, then, on the contrary, moisten it, since with dry wood the amount of waste, sawdust and dust increases significantly. At this stage we will use a wire brush. It should be remembered that only soft fibers must be removed. If the brush is so hard that it even touches hard fibers, the tool should be replaced immediately. Movements are made at low speed along the direction of movement of the fibers.

Step 2: Sanding. Now we need an abrasive brush with which we will polish the wood. Carefully pass over the cleaned surface in order to remove all remaining fibers and eliminate roughness. As a rule, this does not require much time; it is enough to carefully sand the wood several times to achieve the desired result.

Step 3: Polishing. To give the brushed treated wood a polished look, we use sisal brushes. It is worth noting that this tool allows you to achieve a unique decorative texture of a wooden surface. You may also need fine-grit sandpaper to polish the material. After completing all the work, we once again carefully remove all debris, dust, and dry the surface.

Step 4. Painting. A beautiful decorative look can be obtained as a result of gilding, painting, patination and other effects. If you apply several layers of stain to wood, you can observe the appearance of beautiful contrasting textured images. Products are also brushed with gold paints, which look original in microcracks and depressions. After applying the paint and its complete drying, the surface will need to be polished again. This is due to the fact that during painting various irregularities and roughness may appear, including paint sagging, but polishing will completely eliminate these defects.

Step 5. Varnishing. Coating various compositions in order to protect the surface, increase its durability and reliability. If they brush parquet boards, then a special parquet varnish is required that allows you to preserve the basic positive consumer qualities of the floor throughout its entire service life.

Wood aging technique – where is it used?

Brushing falls into the category of relatively simple processes that are accessible to absolutely everyone. For this reason, this technology has found application in many areas of human activity. Brushing is most popular in the production of interior items and room decoration. Living rooms and halls decorated wall panels, mantels, columns, furniture from visually, look very beautiful and original, create warmth and comfort in the room.

Furniture deserves special mention, as manufacturers are increasingly trying to use brushed wood elements and structures. Moreover, using this method you can make absolutely any furniture, be it a closet, shelves, chests of drawers, beds, etc. The only limiting factor in this case is imagination and creativity.

Finally, we note that due to its availability and demand, broaching is often performed at home. In these cases, you should never forget about safety precautions. Therefore, you should work with tools very carefully, especially if you work with a drill or other power tools. All processes are carried out in special equipment - safety glasses and gloves. Sometimes you may even need a respirator if the amount of dust in the air is too high, or when working with antiseptic solutions.

Brushing a wood surface is an original way to make wood more beautiful, unusual and attractive. This trend in the field of room decoration is gaining more and more fans both among designers and ordinary apartment owners, since the process of artificial aging is very simple and accessible to everyone. You just need to spend a little time and effort to get luxurious furniture or a chic antique-style ceiling.