Giving wood surfaces an aged appearance by mechanical means is what wood brushing is, in short. In fact, this is a very interesting and exciting process, which is done not only by professional carpenters, designers, but also by many lovers to work with their own hands.
Wood has always occupied, continues to occupy 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 perfectly coexists with any modern materials, giving the room uniqueness and originality.
What is the essence of brushing
The natural aging process of wood takes place over a long period of time. The cut surface wears out unevenly, the texture becomes irregular, somewhat wavy. Approximately the same effect can be achieved by processing a wooden product with special tools. When wood is brushed at a young age, soft fibers are removed, revealing the natural appeal of natural patterns in wood cuts.
Each piece of natural wood is unique and unrepeatable due to the individual properties of each type of wood, moreover, each trunk. However, not every tree species can be aged. Before brushing wood, you need to know about its pliability to this method. So, it is best to age pine, oak, larch, walnut, ash, wenge. But in relation to beech, maple, birch, cherry, 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 completely absent.
Equipment for brushing
To an inexperienced person, brushing a tree may seem like a difficult and difficult process. In reality, this is not at all the case. You need to have a room for creativity, that is, a workshop, the necessary tools and a little effort. To work you need to prepare:
- sandpaper in a set, with varying degrees of grain;
- a set of special brushes for brushing wood;
- stain, preferably in several shades to enhance the color scheme;
- transparent wood varnish for finishing the product.
Some craftsmen prefer mechanized labor to manual labor. Therefore, instead of conventional brushes, an electric tool for brushing wood, equipped with a set of brushes, is fitted. 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 - do-it-yourself wood brushing;
- a brush with synthetic fiber bristles performs the first sanding;
- a soft brush is required for the final polishing of the surface.
It should be noted that it makes sense to purchase special equipment (machines or machine tools) to perform a large amount of work. If we are talking about isolated cases, then there is no reason to spend money on the purchase of an expensive tool for brushing wood, and to do the work manually.
How to properly brush a tree
The procedure for aging wood for manual and mechanized methods is the same. It is important to choose the correct speed of rotation of the clipper or to adapt to the uniform movement of the brush. Since it is undesirable to brush a tree with a high engine speed, you can bake the wood and get a defect that is no longer possible to fix. Before starting work, it is recommended to pass the board through a thickness gauge or work with a grinder. Stages of aging boards:
- The workpiece must be sprayed with water to reduce the amount of dust. Then the main process begins. A mechanical, electrical or manual instrument is moved along the location of the fibers in measured movements. For each type of wood, they empirically select their own pace and mode of operation. It is important to scrape the board thoroughly and remove any soft fibers.
- Further, brushing the tree with your own hands continues to be performed with a brush with synthetic bristles. Grinding should be done in the same order as the hard processing was done - with movements along the grain of the tree. After grinding, the initial processing result will be visible. If the groove depth seems insufficient, the process can be repeated. The main thing is not to overdo it, since the board should be brushed carefully and carefully. At the same time, additional decoration can be done. Using a chisel, create artificial cracks and grooves that accentuate the natural wood structure.
- Final sanding is done with a soft bristle brush or, if done by hand, with the finest grit sandpaper. The main thing is to make the surface of the workpiece absolutely smooth. By this action, the board is prepared 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, nobility. This is where artistic talent comes in handy, whoever has it. To do this, use a stain of different shades, gilding, silvering. For example, if a plank is literally poured with stain and immediately removed the excess, then the soft tissues of the wood will absorb it and darken, while the hard ones will remain light. The effect is very beautiful.
- The painting process ends with another polishing cycle after the paint has dried.
Varnishing the brushed wood is done last, when its appearance fully corresponds to the expected result. But before that, the workpiece must be thoroughly dried.
Sometimes, in order to speed up the process and facilitate labor, acids, alkalis and other chemicals that corrode wood are used for brushing. Steel brushes are not needed in this case. 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 the harm from it is great. Chemicals should be handled in protective equipment and outdoors.
Where products with a brushed surface are used
Brushed wood looks appropriate in the interior of any style and architectural direction. Stylish decor items are created with her participation. Planks with an aged surface are used to decorate sections of walls and ceilings; they fit perfectly into the facing of fireplace portals, ceiling beams, decorative and real columns.
Furniture finished with brushed details combined with patinated metal, especially copper, always looks sophisticated and elegant. In great popularity among connoisseurs of antiquity and cabinetmakers, wooden blanks, on the appearance of which bark beetles have worked. It is impossible to achieve such an effect artificially. Therefore, products made from such wood are especially highly valued by connoisseurs.
Do-it-yourself wood brushing is an interesting technology that allows you to artificially age a tree. The natural aging process takes decades. But now, with the help of special tools, this effect can be achieved at home quickly and without significant material expenditures. Aged material is ideal for classic, vintage and rustic decor.
DIY wood brushing: how the process is carried out
Residents of modern cities increasingly prefer styles with a brightly emphasized individuality in the decor of the room: classic, vintage, rustic and country.
The main detail of such interiors is wood. Thanks to this material, the design of the room acquires uniqueness and unique charm. But for a classic and vintage style, wood in its original natural form is not suitable. In this case, aged wood is best suited, which has a more attractive and noble appearance. This material is suitable for the manufacture of any decorative element: a vintage lamp, a wooden chest of drawers, stylish doors and window frames, fireplace cladding.
Under natural conditions, the aging process of wood is delayed for tens of years, since the original patterns on the surface of the wood are formed slowly and unevenly. Therefore, this material is rare and expensive. But among modern technologies there is a simple and quick way to artificially aging wood. This process is called brushing. Interest in this method is shown not only by lovers of elite vintage furniture, but also by those wishing to diversify the interior of country houses.
Do-it-yourself wood aging (brushing) is a decorative technology for processing wood products, during which an artificial antiquity effect is created for an ordinary wooden surface. The method gets its name from the English word brush - brush. The aging process is also called wood structuring.
The artificial brushing method is based on the difference in hardness of the layers that make up the wood. In the process of work, the soft light layer is removed. As a result, the areas become embossed, which gives the material a special look, inherent only in rather old trees.
Types of safe finishing materials for finishing premises, their specificity and features of use, prices.
Process automation: machines and machines for brushing wood
The mass production of artificially aged wood requires quick work. Some stages of wood processing can be mechanized, which will simplify the work of obtaining aged wood. This will require variable speed drills and special brushing machines.
Let's consider the most popular models of specialized techniques for structuring a tree.
Festool rustofix ras 180 scraper router or brushing machine for brushing wood. Together with this tool, you can buy brushes for brushing wood. They are of three types:
- steel wire brush for primary processing of boards;
- synthetic bristle brush for intermediate sanding;
- sisal or hair brushes for polishing the back surface of the product.
The Makita 974 sander is used for brushing wood. But during work, it may be difficult to process areas on the corners of the part. Therefore, at the joints, it is recommended to use a special angle grinder with different attachments or use a nylon brush on the grinder for brushing. Such a brush is highly wear-resistant and allows you to process ends, edges and contours of parts with complex shapes.
The Felisatti AGF 110 / 1010E grinder is suitable for processing both flat and uneven surfaces. The tool comes with nylon and metal brushes.
Helpful advice! It makes sense to buy a machine for brushing wood only if large volumes of work are planned. Brushes for brushing wood can be purchased with a typewriter or purchased separately.
How to age a tree with your own hands: technology
The aging process opens up the widest possibilities for the master to change the structure and color of different types of wood. Before proceeding directly to structuring, the wood must be prepared. The material for brushing must be free from defects, notches and irregularities, and the moisture content must be 10-12%, but not more than 15%. If the tree does not meet these characteristics, then the wood fibers will break during processing, and a beautiful result from structuring will not work.
Let's consider in more detail the process of how to age a tree at home. Working with the material can be divided into several stages.
Before starting work, it is necessary to perform the primary processing of the part, namely: moisten the wood. This will prevent dust from spreading throughout the room during operation.
Next, you need a hand brush for processing. Depending on the hardness of the wood, we select the hardness of the metal brush for roughing. The bristles of the instrument should easily remove soft surface fibers, but should not damage hard ones. It is necessary to move the brush in the direction of the fibers.
If you decide to automate the processing process using a brush for brushing wood on a grinder or sander, then it should be remembered that the movements are carried out along the fibers. It is necessary to move the instrument with such an intensity that the fibers are effectively scraped out.
Care must be taken when choosing the speed: too fast brushing speed can cause the wood to bake. When using a hand tool, this problem does not arise, but more effort must be made. Also, hand processing will take a long time.
Helpful advice! It is better to select the speed on a separate small sample of wood. The optimal number of revolutions is 1500-2200, but for different breeds it may differ.
Then we carry out the primary grinding of the part. To do this, we use a polymer brush with an abrasive applied to it. This step will remove roughness and scraps of fibers from the surface of the part. By removing all unnecessary, you can evaluate how deeply and efficiently the structuring of the wood is performed. If necessary, the grooves can be further deepened, making the structuring more distinct.
At the next stage, you can think about the decorative design of the part. For this, indentations and grooves of arbitrary shape are made with a chisel in different places of the part. In appearance, they will resemble cracks that have appeared naturally.
Then the final polishing is carried out. To do this, you need a sisal or hair brush. This tool for wood will give the details a finished look, fully showing all the decorativeness of the texture. For manual processing, instead of a brush, fine-grit sandpaper with an abrasive surface is used. It will allow you to make a perfectly polished workpiece surface.
Then the wood must be dried well. It must be completely cleaned of dust and thus prepared for further painting and varnishing.
Application will allow the product to age by creating contrasting textured patterns. A generous application of the composition with a quick removal of excess will paint over the soft fibers and leave light areas with hard fibers. Soft fibers quickly absorb paint, which means they are colored, while hard fibers do not have time to absorb the pigment during this time, so they remain light. Wood painted with gold or silver paint looks especially beautiful.
Against the background of the natural color of the wood, this pigment creates glare on the surface of the part in the sun. This gives the product an original decorative effect and luxury. The product will look especially presentable if the wood is patinated - painting the deepest cracks with a darker paint.
At the final stage, the product is polished again to remove roughness and irregularities that appeared after dyeing.
Helpful advice! The varnishing is carried out on completely dry and cleaned wood. For painting brushed parquet, a special parquet varnish must be used. This will allow the finished coating to maintain a presentable appearance and performance for a long time.
Wood brushing: features of the chemical structuring of wood
Brushing with the help of chemistry is rare, even though the use of chemically active compounds greatly facilitates the process of artificial aging of wood. To carry out chemical processing of wood, you must have special knowledge and skills in working with chemicals. In addition, the method has a disadvantage - it is not always easy to buy the necessary reagents.
For the chemical structuring of wood, acids are needed: hydrochloric and sulfuric, alkali and ammonia. Reagents applied to the surface of the material corrode soft fibers. The master only has to scrape off the unnecessary wood.
Stages of chemical wood brushing:
- Surface sanding and cleaning from dirt.
- Apply chemicals to the surface of the part with a thin layer. During chemical structuring, it is necessary to monitor the evaporation of reagents. It is recommended to reapply them if necessary.
- When the chemical acts, that is, softens the outer fibers, the part must be rinsed under running water and the remaining reagent removed with a soft bristle brush.
- Next, the tree must be thoroughly dried, painted or varnished.
The availability and demand for brushing allows you to perform this method at home. When structuring wood, it is imperative to adhere to safety rules. The tools and the wood brushing machine should be handled carefully and carefully. All artificial structuring processes must be carried out in special protective clothing, glasses and gloves. If during work antiseptic solutions are used or too much dust accumulates in the air from the wood, then you should work in a respirator.
Brushing a wooden surface is an unusual way to make a wood product more beautiful, unusual and attractive. This method is very popular among interior designers and ordinary people, since everyone can artificially age wood. It takes a little time and effort to get luxurious furnishings or a chic, original, antique-style ceiling. For the best effect, you can patinate the furniture.
Artificial brushing of wood: the cost of work
The main task of brushing a tree is to create and emphasize the uniqueness of the texture of the surface of the board. The result is a material with a clearly developed pattern of natural material. The procedure is suitable for many types of material. The cost of standard brushing is 350 rubles. per sq. m. When ordering additional painting, the cost increases. The price of the work depends on the selected type of wood, as well as on the size of the board.
The cost of each stage of artificial aging is usually calculated separately. You can order separately grinding or just impregnation. The most profitable option is a full brushing service from the beginning of work to the final coating with the purchase of the material. It is possible to perform artificial structuring from your material.
Workshops that are engaged in brushing wood carry out an individual calculation of the cost of processing, depending on the type of wood, the size of the product and the list of services.
Brushing is performed on any kind of wooden materials:
- bar;
- lining;
- strips;
- block house;
- planks.
Scope of wood structuring technology
The structuring method is very popular in the manufacture of interior items and room elements. Such wooden products will become an original addition to classic and vintage interiors. In addition, the advantage of brushing technology is the ability to create exclusive items yourself. In addition, this method belongs to the category of simple processes available to everyone.
Fireplaces, shelves, columns, wall panels, and aged wood are used as ceiling beams with brushed boards. This material creates a unique ambiance for living rooms and halls, cafes and restaurants. The interior design is filled with aristocracy and luxury, and the aged wood creates warmth and comfort in the room.
Wooden furniture with brushed elements looks stylish and sophisticated. Artificial aging and patina of wood with your own hands allows you to make absolutely any furniture: wardrobes, chests of drawers, pegs, beds. The use of brushed elements in furniture and interior design has no restrictions or prohibitions - it all depends on your imagination and creativity.
Vintage rustic style will never go out of fashion, because its main component - wood - always speaks of quality, practicality and aesthetics.
You can create original objects from wood with a unique texture that will find a place in a room of any style with your own hands using brushing. This technique will allow not only to artificially age the wood, change the shade and pattern, but also to increase its operational characteristics.
Briefly about technology
The name of this process for finishing wood comes from the English word "brush", because it is with the help of this device with stiff metal bristles or other similar tools that soft fibers are removed from the top layer.
The result is a smooth surface with pronounced tree ring relief. In the factory production, special machines with replaceable brushes are used.
The technology is similar to the high-speed aging of a tree, because time and surrounding phenomena affect the rock unprotected by the bark in this way.
The resulting relief of the material is emphasized due to uneven coloration: the resulting depressions are covered with a dark color scheme, and the rest of the surface with light shades.
To achieve the maximum resemblance to ten-year natural aging, it is necessary to paint discarded lumber in a grayish color, and then, without waiting for it to dry, wipe it with textiles. The use of silver or gold paint leaves traces in the depths of the grooves, subsequently sparkling in the sun.
Benefits of brushing
The technique of artificial aging using a wire brush is one of the most popular methods for finishing wood. This was facilitated by the following advantages:
- The originality of the pattern and texture of wood;
- Increasing its strength, resistance to decay, the negative effects of pests and insects;
- Updating the appearance of the material without compromising its performance;
- Creation of imitation of exotic and expensive breeds;
- The possibility of self-processing, allowing you to make exclusive vintage items at home.
Suitable tree
The technology of relief structuring is most effective when working with loose species with clearly marked rings: oak, jatoba, pine, kempas, walnut, poplar, fir-tree, wenge, larch, dussia, merbau, ash.
This technique is not applied to trees with a homogeneous trunk, fine-fibrous structure, and the absence of distinct layers, as it is considered ineffective. Therefore, for alder, beech, willow, chestnut, pear, birch, linden, apple, cherry, teak, elm, aspen, cedar and maple, artificial aging is not suitable.
Required tools
Wood processing technology is actually simple and requires not so much experience and skill as the availability of the necessary tools. These include the following items that can be found from a neighbor or purchased at a hardware store:
- Kerosene burner for pre-firing and drying the material, removing soft structures and emphasizing the natural pattern;
- Hand brush with metal bristles, with varying width and length depending on the degree of its hardness, serves to remove soft fibers;
- A chisel is needed to apply deep horizontal curved stripes and create natural rock cracking;
- Sandpaper with varying degrees of grain enhances the texture by delineating clear grain boundaries;
- Angle grinder with metal brushes, copper and sisal bristles or a special abrasive-polymer "Piranha" brush.
If there is an opportunity to buy special machines for performing regular or large-scale work, then the most popular and high-quality of them are the Festool Rustofix Ras 180 grain mill, Makita 974 and Felisatti AGF grinding machines.
Step-by-step instruction
The method of brushing a tree is simple, if you stock up on all the required tools, patience and strictly follow the step-by-step instructions:
- Prepare everything required;
- Moisten the wood with a little water to prevent excessive dust formation;
- Choose the stiffness of the brush, controlling the high-quality removal of soft fibers without disturbing hard structures;
- Rough by checking the tool;
- Get to work, guiding the brush only longitudinally, following the fibers;
- Change the rigid nozzle to a polymer one that has a special coating with an abrasive layer;
- Remove soft wood residues and roughness from the surface;
- Examine the result carefully. If the quality is not satisfactory, then repeat the steps;
- Structure the texture: deepen the previously made grooves and grooves, add new cracks with a chisel;
- Polish the product with a sisal brush or light-grit sandpaper to obtain a perfectly flat and smooth surface;
- Dry and clean the wood from dust, dirt and sawdust;
- Decorate the blank by painting it with a golden or silver color scheme;
- For an expensive look, patinate the layer by painting deep cracks with dark shades;
- Refinish the wood;
- Thoroughly wash, clean and dry the product;
- Cover with parquet lacquer, which is more wear-resistant, durable and glossy.
There is also a chemical method of brushing, which requires certain knowledge in the field of chemicals: acids, alkali, ammonia. Through the use of caustic agents, the soft fibers are quickly corroded, the remnants of which are subsequently removed with a brush.
Use in design
Most often, brushing is actively used in the interior and design for finishing flooring: floorboards, parquet, stair steps.
You can also give vintage furniture, massive beds, a chest of drawers, shelving or shelving structures.
Sharp annual rings, brightly grown contours, cracks and grooves are the result of wood brushing, which looks great in interiors, both in photographs and live.
Anyone can add special originality and luxury to wooden objects, the main thing is to stock up on everything you need and follow the recommendations.
Photo of wood brushing
Brushing is a mechanical technique that allows you to most profitably highlight and emphasize the original natural beauty of wood material. For brushing work, it is recommended to use cuts with 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 materials are larch, oak, spruce and walnut. It is strongly not recommended to subject fruit timber, birch, beech and, of course, plywood to such processing.
Basic brushing methods
Wood brushing can be done in two main ways - using chemicals and using mechanical devices.
When using the chemical method, the fibers are removed by treatment with special chemical compounds. They are based on ammonia and other chemical elements dangerous to humans. The solution applied to the surface softens the wood and thereby facilitates the process of combing out soft fibers from it.
In the case of brushing wood with your own hands, the following rules must be observed:
- All work must be done in a well-ventilated room, and best of all in the fresh air;
- It is necessary to provide yourself with additional protective equipment in the form of a respirator, thick rubber gloves and glasses.
If the choice fell on the mechanical method of processing, then the fibers are cleaned using a drill, which has a number of special brushes and attachments. When this process is carried out manually, a metal brush with a durable metal bristle is required. They differ in the degree of rigidity and dimensions of the working blade. Small brushes are recommended for small areas that are difficult to access.
The essence of wood brushing
This process is quite time consuming. To make it easier, the workpiece must be thoroughly sprinkled with clean water and the brush with a slight pressure in one direction strictly along the location of the wood fibers. This procedure will have to be repeated more than once until you get the required texture depth. The drill is manipulated in the same way. Its use is necessary for deep brushing work.
After completing the first cycle of work, you need to walk with a brush with a flute over the entire surface of the wood in order to remove all the particles remaining in the grooves. Then you can start decorating the wood.
Wood brushing with firing
At the moment, burning wood is in great demand. It also applies to mechanical processing. Before the brushing process, the surface of the wood is fired. After sampling of soft fibers, the texture takes on a pronounced appearance, which cannot be achieved without firing.
To carry out the firing process, a special apparatus with a high temperature is required. The most popular device is a soldering iron. It is compact and easy to use. In addition to this device, you can use various burners that are filled with gas and have a combustion temperature controller.
The wood burning technique is as follows. When the burner is on, it is necessary to evenly guide it in one direction, without lingering in any particular area. After that, 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. After firing and brushing, wood can retain a pleasant resinous smell for a long time.
Brushing technology
Brushing can also be perceived as a technique for artificial aging of wood. After this type of treatment, it looks more noble and solid. Work is carried out using manual or special brushes fixed in an electric drill or grinder. The technology includes three main stages:
- In the first stage, the softest fibers are removed. For this purpose, brushes with metal pile are used;
- The next step will be the sanding process using synthetic bristles with abrasive spraying;
- The final step is to polish the wood. It can be done using a hairbrush.
The main advantages of wood processing by brushing
Further painting of wooden surfaces after brushing helps to highlight the textured surface: existing cavities acquire darker tones, and various ridges become lighter. You can also resort to such a technique as patination. During this process, specially applied compounds penetrate deeply into the slightly open wood pores and draw attention to the texture of the wood, creating the illusion of cracking on the outer surface.
Cleaning the walls of a wooden private household can achieve a number of advantages:
- Originality and uniqueness of appearance due to the pronounced variety of colors of grooves and ridges of the wooden surface;
- The individuality of the design of the building, created by means of an artificially aged coating;
- Functionality and versatility. Brushed wood 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 emphasize the natural beauty of the wood. The walls of houses processed in this way look original and at the same time rare. Brushing work can be performed both independently and with the assistance of specialists.
Video: Brushing - how to age wood
Processing of lumber in order to more clearly show their structure, to designate a characteristic pattern is carried out using various methods. For those interested in practiced wood aging technologies,. At home, brushing a tree (mechanical method) is done, among other things, with brushes - manual or in the form of attachments for household electric tools. To achieve the maximum effect, you need to understand their features and the specifics of their application. Then it will become clear when and which brushes are best for brushing.
Mechanical wood processing is divided into 3 main stages. Therefore, in the process of brushing, brushes with varying degrees of hardness are used. This applies to both hand tools and attachments for electric drills, angle grinders, polishing machines. The following are only approximate prices (in Russian rubles), since there are quite a few modifications of accessories to the power tool - cup, radial, wrist, disc. And the size of the brushes is very different, and this also affects their cost.
Metallic
These brushes are used for rough cleaning of wood.
The difference between them is in the very metal of the villi. If a sufficiently hard rock is subjected to brushing, then it is advisable to work with a steel brush. For soft wood, brass is also suitable. Copper brushes are also commercially available, but they are mainly used for finishing lumber and sometimes for polishing it. According to experts, in some cases, such a tool is much more effective than polymer analogues.
Price - from 76.
Synthetic
Such brushes are used at the intermediate stage of brushing, when the main part of the pulp from the wood has already been removed, and it remains only to prepare the surface for the finishing machining - polishing.
Price - from 37.
Sisal
This type of brush is made from natural fibers. They are used at the final stage of wood brushing - to polish the surface.
Price - from 3,280.
Do not forget about the usual soft (household) brush. When brushing, it will definitely be needed to remove the pulp (dust) selected from the wood.
Price - from 48.
For those who prefer to brush wood with an e-tool, it is advisable to purchase sets of brushes. For example, something like this:
The attachments have already been selected according to the degree of villi hardness, so you don't have to think about what accessories you should buy at retail for use at different stages of work.