Garden Railway Forum

First thing to do is make some 'soup', I use an old coffee jar into which I have placed a few rusty nails and a wodge of wire wool, this is then filled with white vinegar and left with it's lid on for a few days.....


Next cut all the wood to size, I have a small bandsaw and usually rip old timber to the sizes I need but basswood sections work just as well. For this model I'm using oak for the framing and mahogony for the planks (these are from old scrap bit of furniture), different woods will react differently to the 'soup' so experiment. take one piece at a time and mount in a vice.


Remember that you only need to treat the areas that will be seen. Next take a drill mounted wire brush and attack the wood - in the pic I'm using a small brush in a dremel but I often use a larger 'DIY shop bargain bin' one in a standard cordless drill.


Turn the piece over and do all visible sides, it's easy to vary the amount of decay you put in. You should end up with something like this.




Now it's time to brush on the 'soup'. Use a largish brush and paint on a generous amount - don't expect any instant results, although depending on the type of wood and the strength of your 'soup' you may see some quick changes. In this case the 'soup' has been maturing for a few months and reacted almost straightaway with the oak (which has very high levels of tanin) but the mahogony just looked wet.


Now the fun bit - leave the wet wood on a tray and go have a drink, check the forum and go to bed! Next morning the magic should have happened........


Easy as that, and cheap
Cheers
Jez

genius, thanks

You could build a good looking old pirate ship with them

Thanks for sharing - good tips.

Cheers,

Tom

Very clever an the best bit for me and I expect others too Its Cheap

dizzysteamer

Another method which works..............

Buy (pauses for cries of "Shock!" and "Horror!") a bottle of Indian Ink from a craft shop. Take one of those little jars that jam and marmalade comes in when you go for an afternoon tea, almost fill it with water and add a brushful or so of the ink. Brush this on the wood. You may find it easier to experiment to get the right dilution, and you can, of course, use more than one coat to get your desired effect. If your trial comes out too dark, add more water. I also often distress the top plank of a wagon to get a "worn" look, and these days it's usually applied before assembly, as PVA or any other glue stops the mix from getting into the wood. I sometimes used to leave a plank out of the staining process, so it looked like the wagon had been repaired. Two examples here...........





.......... When I go outside tomorrow, I'll get my rake of Jurassic rubbish wagons out and get a picture.

Go to the bottom of http://mdlr.co.uk/ffstock.html for the "words and music".......

I like that technique, superb aged look

Thats so cool and very very cheap Jez... Thanks..