Giving wooden surfaces an aged appearance by mechanical means - that's what wood brushing is, in a nutshell. In fact, this is a very interesting and exciting process, which is carried out not only by professional carpenters, designers, but also by many amateurs to work with their own hands.
Wood has always occupied, occupies and will continue to 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 a unique and original character.
What is the essence of brushing
The natural aging process of wood occurs over a long period of time. The cut surface wears out unevenly, the texture becomes inhomogeneous, somewhat wavy. Approximately the same effect can be achieved if the wooden product is processed with special tools. When wood is brushed at a young age, soft fibers are removed, revealing the natural appeal of natural patterns on wood cuts.
Each product made of natural wood is unique and unrepeatable, thanks 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 compliance with this method. So, it is best to age pine, oak, larch, walnut, ash, wenge. But in relation to beech, maple, birch, cherry, alder, this method of finishing is practically ineffective. The wood of these species does not have a pronounced texture. She has little noticeable transitions between layers of different densities, or even completely absent.
Brushing equipment
To an inexperienced person, brushing a tree may seem like a complicated and inaccessible 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 grit;
- a set of special brushes for brushing wood;
- stain, preferably several shades to enhance the color scheme;
- transparent wood varnish for the final finishing of the product.
Some masters 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 homemade variable speed drill 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 bristles made of synthetic fibers performs the first polishing;
- a soft brush is necessary for the final polishing of the surface.
It should be noted that it makes sense to purchase special equipment (machines or machines) to perform a large amount of work. If we are talking about isolated cases, then there is no reason to spend money on purchasing an expensive tool for brushing wood, and do the work manually.
How to properly brush a tree
The procedure for performing the wood aging procedure for the manual and mechanized methods is the same. It is important to choose the correct speed of rotation of the machine or to adapt to the even movement of the brush. Since it is undesirable to brush a tree at a high speed of the engine, you can bake the wood and get a marriage that is no longer possible to fix. Before starting work, it is recommended to pass the board through a thickness gauge or work it out with a grinder. Stages of aging boards:
- The workpiece must be sprinkled with water to reduce the amount of dust. Then proceed to the main process. A mechanical, electric or manual tool is moved along the location of the fibers, measured movements. For each type of wood, their own pace and mode of operation are empirically selected. It is important to carefully scrape the board and remove all soft fibers.
- Further, brushing the tree with your own hands continues to be done with a brush with synthetic bristles. Grinding must be done in the same order as the hard processing was done - movements along the fibers of the tree. After grinding, the primary result of processing will be noticeable. If the depth of the grooves seems insufficient, then the process can be repeated. The main thing is not to overdo it, as 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 emphasize the natural wood structure.
- The final sanding is done with a soft-bristled brush or, if the work is done by hand, with the finest grit sandpaper. The main thing is to make sure that the surface of the workpiece is absolutely smooth. By this action, the plank 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 wood stain and the excess immediately removed, then the soft tissues of the wood will absorb it and darken, while the hard ones will remain light. It turns out a very beautiful effect.
- The painting process ends with another polishing cycle after the paint has dried.
Lacquering of brushed wood is done last, when its appearance is fully consistent with 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, but the harm from it is great. Work with chemicals should be 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 trend. With her participation, stylish decor items are created. Planks with an aged surface finish 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 refined 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 this effect artificially. Therefore, products made from such wood are especially highly valued by connoisseurs.
Brushing wood with your own hands 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 costs. Aged material is ideal for decorating classic, vintage and rustic styles.
Brushing wood with your own hands: how the process is carried out
Residents of modern cities increasingly prefer styles with a pronounced 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 a uniqueness and inimitable charm. But for a classic and vintage style, a tree in its original natural form is not suitable. In this case, an aged tree is best suited, which has a more attractive and noble appearance. This material is suitable for the manufacture of any element of decor: a vintage lamp, a wooden chest of drawers, stylish doors and window frames, fireplace lining.
Under natural conditions, the process of wood aging drags on for decades, since the original patterns on the wood surface are formed slowly and unevenly. Therefore, this material is rare and expensive. But among modern technologies there is a simple and fast way to artificially age a tree. This process is called brushing. Interest in this method is shown not only by lovers of elite vintage furniture, but also by those who want to diversify the interior of country houses.
Do-it-yourself wood aging (brushing) is a decorative technology for processing wooden products, during which an artificial effect of antiquity is created for an ordinary wooden surface. The method got its name from the English word brush - brush. The aging process is also called wood structuring.
The method of artificial brushing 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 that is inherent only in fairly old trees.
Types of safe finishing materials for interior decoration, their specificity and features of use, prices.
Process automation: machines and machines for brushing wood
Mass production of artificially aged wood requires speed of work. Some stages of wood processing can be mechanized, which will simplify the work of obtaining aged wood. To do this, you will need drills with speed control and special machines for brushing.
Consider the most popular models of specialized techniques for structuring a tree.
Festool rustofix ras 180 wood trimmer or brush machine. Wood brushing brushes can be purchased with this tool. They are of three types:
- steel wire brush for primary processing of boards;
- brush with synthetic bristles for intermediate grinding;
- sisal or hair brushes for polishing the back surface of the product.
The Makita 974 grinder is used for brushing wood. But during operation, difficulties may arise with the processing of areas at the corners of the part. Therefore, at the joints, it is recommended to use a special angle grinder with different nozzles or use a nylon brush dressed on the grinder for brushing. Such a brush is highly wear-resistant and allows you to process the ends, edges and contours of parts with complex shapes.
The Felisatti AGF 110/1010E grinder is suitable for processing both smooth and uneven surfaces. The tool comes with nylon and metal brushes.
Helpful advice! It makes sense to buy a wood brushing machine only if large volumes of work are planned. Brushes for brushing wood can be bought both with a machine and purchased separately.
How to age a tree with your own hands: technology
The process of aging 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 should be free of defects, notches and irregularities, and the humidity should be 10-12%, but not more than 15%. If the tree does not meet these characteristics, then the wood fibers will tear during processing, and a beautiful result from structuring will not work.
Let us consider in more detail the process of how to age a tree at home. The work with the material can be divided into several stages.
Before starting work, it is necessary to perform the primary processing of the part, namely: to moisten the tree. This will prevent the spread of dust throughout the room during operation.
Next, you will need a manual brush for processing. Depending on the hardness of the wood, we choose the stiffness of the metal brush for roughing. The bristles of the tool must easily remove soft surface fibers, but must not damage hard ones. Move the brush in the direction of the fibers.
If you decide to automate the processing process with a brush for brushing wood on a grinder or grinder, then you should remember that the movements are carried out along the fibers. It is necessary to move the tool with such intensity that the fibers are effectively scraped out.
You need to carefully select the speed: too high a speed of the brush can cause the wood to bake. When using a hand tool, this problem does not arise, but more effort needs to be applied. Also, manual processing will be delayed in time.
Helpful advice! It is better to select the speed on a separate small sample of the tree. 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 stage will remove roughness and fiber fragments from the surface of the part. By removing all unnecessary, you can evaluate how deeply and efficiently the structuring of 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, recesses and grooves of arbitrary shape are made with a chisel in different places of the part. In appearance, they will resemble cracks that appeared naturally.
Next comes the final polishing. 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 decorative texture. In manual processing, instead of a brush, fine-grained sandpaper with an abrasive surface is used. It will allow you to make a perfectly polished surface of the workpiece.
Then the wood must be well dried. It must be completely cleaned of dust and thus prepared for further painting and varnishing.
The application will make the product look old by creating contrasting textured patterns. A generous application of the compound with quick removal of excess will allow you to paint over parts with soft fibers and leave light areas with hard fibers. Soft fibers quickly absorb paint, which means they are dyed, while hard fibers do not have time to absorb the pigment during this time, so they remain light. A tree painted with gold or silver paint looks especially beautiful.
Against the background of the natural color of the tree, 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 tree is patinated - painting over the deepest cracks with darker paint.
At the final stage, the product is polished again to remove the roughness and irregularities that appeared after staining.
Helpful advice! Lacquering is carried out on completely dry and cleaned wood. To paint brushed parquet, it is necessary to use a special parquet varnish. This will allow the finished coating to maintain a presentable appearance and performance characteristics for a long time.
Wood brushing: features of wood chemical structuring
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, it is necessary to have special knowledge and skills to work with chemicals. In addition, the method has a drawback - it is not always easy to buy the necessary reagents.
For the chemical structuring of a tree, acids are needed: hydrochloric and sulfuric, alkali and ammonia. Reagents applied to the surface of the material corrode the soft fibers. The master can only scrape off unnecessary wood.
Stages of chemical brushing of wood:
- Surface grinding and decontamination.
- Apply a thin layer of chemicals to the surface of the part. During chemical structuring, the evaporation of reagents must be monitored. If necessary, it is recommended to reapply them.
- When the chemical has taken effect, that is, it has softened the outer fibers, the part must be washed under running water and the remnants of the 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 regulations. Work with tools and a machine for brushing wood should be carefully and carefully. All artificial structuring processes must be carried out in special protective clothing, goggles and gloves. If antiseptic solutions are used during work or too much dust accumulates in the air from wood, then you should work in a respirator.
Brushing a wooden surface is an unusual way to make a piece of wood more beautiful, unusual and attractive. This method is very popular among interior designers and ordinary people, since everyone can artificially age a tree. You need to spend a little time and effort to get luxurious furniture or a chic original ceiling, stylized antique. For a better effect, patination of furniture can be carried out.
Artificial brushing of wood: the price of work
The main task of wood brushing is to create and emphasize the unique texture of the surface of the board. The result is a material with a clearly defined natural material pattern. 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 chosen 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 coverage with the purchase of material. It is possible to perform artificial structuring from your material.
Wood brushing workshops perform 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 over any kind of wooden materials:
- bar;
- lining;
- planks;
- block house;
- planks.
Scope of application of tree structuring technology
The structuring method is very popular in the manufacture of interior items and room elements. Such wooden products will be an original addition to classic and vintage interiors. In addition, the advantage of brushing technology is the ability to independently create exclusive items. In addition, this method belongs to the category of simple processes available to everyone.
Fireplaces, shelves, columns, wall panels, as well as aged wood are used as ceiling beams with a brushed board. This material creates a unique entourage for living rooms and halls, halls of cafes and restaurants. The interior design is filled with aristocracy and luxury, and aged wood creates warmth and comfort in the room.
Wooden furniture with brushed elements looks stylish and sophisticated. Artificial aging and patination of wood with your own hands allows you to make absolutely any furniture: cabinets, chests of drawers, pegs, beds. The use of brushed elements in furniture and interior design has no restrictions and 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 increase its performance.
Briefly about technology
The name of this wood finishing process comes from the English word “brush” (brush), because it is with the help of this device with hard bristles made of metal or other similar tools that soft fibers are removed from the top layer.
The result is a smooth surface with a pronounced relief of growth rings. In factory production, special machines with replaceable brushes are used.
The technology is similar to the rapid aging of a tree, because time and environmental phenomena affect the rock that is not protected by bark in this way.
The resulting relief of the material is emphasized due to uneven coloring: the resulting depressions are covered with a dark color scheme, and the rest of the surface with light shades.
In order to achieve maximum resemblance to ten years of natural aging, it is necessary to paint the abandoned lumber in a grayish color, after which, without waiting for it to dry, wipe it with textiles. The use of silver or gold paint leaves traces deep in the grooves that later sparkle in the sun.
Benefits of brushing
The technique of artificial aging with a wire brush is one of the most popular ways to finish 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;
- Possibility of self-processing, which allows you to make exclusive vintage items at home.
suitable tree
Relief structuring technology is most effective when working with loose rocks with clearly defined rings: oak, jatobe, pine, campas, walnut, poplar, spruce, wenge, larch, dusia, merbau, ash.
This technique is not applied to trees that are distinguished by the uniformity of the trunk, fine-fibered structure, and the absence of clearly defined layers, since it is considered ineffective. Therefore, for alder, beech, willow, chestnut, pear, birch, linden, apple, cherry, teak, elm, aspen, cedar and maple, the artificial aging procedure is not suitable.
Required Tools
The 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, which 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;
- A hand brush with metal bristles, with varying width and length depending on the degree of hardness, is used to remove soft fibers;
- A chisel is needed to apply deep horizontal curved stripes and create natural cracking of the rock;
- Sandpaper with varying degrees of grit emphasizes the texture by marking clear boundaries of the fibers;
- Bulgarian with brushed metal nozzles, copper and sisal bristles or a special abrasive-polymer brush "Piranha".
If it is possible to buy special machines for performing regular or large-scale work, then the Festool Rustofix Ras 180 grain milling machine, Makita 974 and Felisatti AGF grinders are considered the most popular and high-quality of them.
Step-by-step instruction
The tree brushing technique 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 blank with a little water to prevent excessive dusting;
- Select the stiffness of the brush, controlling the quality removal of soft fibers without disturbing hard structures;
- Carry out roughing by checking the tool;
- Get to work, directing the brush only longitudinally, following the fibers;
- Change the hard nozzle to a polymer one with a special coating with an abrasive layer;
- Remove soft wood residues and roughness from the surface;
- Look carefully at the result. 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 fine grit sandpaper to obtain a perfectly even 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 varnish, 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, alkalis, ammonia. Through the use of caustic agents, a rapid erosion of the soft fibers is achieved, 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, stairs.
You can also give vintage furniture, massive beds, chest of drawers, shelving or shelf structures.
Clear annual rings, brightly grown contours, cracks and depressions are the result of wood brushing, which looks great in interiors, both in photographs and in real life.
Everyone can add special originality and luxury to wooden objects, most importantly, stock up on everything you need and follow the recommendations.
Photo brushing wood
Brushing is a mechanical technique that allows you to most favorably highlight and emphasize the original natural beauty of the 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 is larch, oak, spruce and walnut wood. It is strongly not recommended to subject fruit wood, birch, beech and naturally plywood to such processing.
Basic brushing methods
Brushing wood can be done in two main ways - using chemicals and using mechanical devices.
When using the chemical method, the fibers are removed by processing with special chemical compounds. Their basis is ammonia and other chemical elements dangerous to humans. The solution applied to the surface softens the wood and thereby facilitates the process of combing soft fibers out of it.
In the case of brushing wood with your own hands, the following rules must be observed:
- All work must be carried out in a room with good ventilation, 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 goggles.
If the choice fell on the mechanical method of processing, then the fibers are cleaned using a drill that has a number of special brushes and nozzles. With the manual implementation of this process, a metal brush with a strong metal bristle is required. They differ in the degree of rigidity and the size of the working canvas. Brushes with small dimensions are recommended for processing hard-to-reach places of a small area.
The essence of wood brushing
This process is quite labor intensive. To facilitate it, the workpiece must be well sprinkled with clean water and brushed with a little 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 texture depth. In the same way, manipulations with a drill are performed. Its use is necessary for deep brushing work.
After completing the first cycle of work, it is necessary to walk with a brush with a flute over the entire surface of the wood in order to remove all particles remaining in the recesses. In the future, you can start decorating the tree.
Wood brushing with firing
At the moment, wood brushing with firing is in great demand. It also applies to mechanical processing. Before the brushing process, the surface of the wood is fired. After the selection of soft fibers, the texture acquires 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 tool 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. The turned on burner must be evenly guided in one direction, without stopping in any particular area. After that, already blackened wood must be sprinkled with water and left alone for 5-10 minutes. Then it is necessary 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 able to retain a pleasant resinous smell for a long time.
brushing technology
Brushing can also be perceived as a technique for artificially aging wood. After this type of processing, 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:
- At the first stage, the softest fibers are removed. For this purpose, brushes having a metal pile are used;
- The next step will be the grinding process using a synthetic bristle with an abrasive coating;
- The final step is to polish the wood. It can be done through the use of a hairbrush.
The main advantages of wood processing by brushing
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 deep into the open wood pores and focus 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 of appearance due to the pronounced diversity of the recesses 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 goal of brushing is to highlight the natural beauty of wood. The walls of houses processed in this way look original and at the same time rare. Brushing work can be done both independently and with the involvement of specialists.
Video: Brushing - how to age wood
The processing of sawn timber in order to more clearly show their structure, to designate a characteristic pattern is carried out according to various methods. For those who are interested in the practiced technologies of wood aging, . At home, wood brushing (mechanical method) is also done with brushes - manual or in the form of nozzles for household electric / tool. To achieve maximum effect, you need to understand their features and specifics of application. Then it will become clear when and which brushes for brushing are better to choose.
Mechanical processing of wood is divided into 3 main stages. Therefore, in the process of brushing it, brushes with varying degrees of hardness are used. This applies to both hand tools and nozzles for electric / drills, angle grinders, polishing machines. The following are only indicative prices (in Russian rubles), since there are quite a few modifications of devices for power tools - cup, radial, wrist, disk. Yes, and the size of the brushes are very different, and this also affects their cost.
metal
Such brushes are used for rough cleaning of wood.
The difference between them is in the metal of the villi itself. If sufficiently hard rock is subjected to brushing, then it is advisable to work with a steel brush. For soft wood, brass is also suitable. There are also copper brushes on sale, but they are mainly used for finishing lumber, 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 finishing machining - polishing.
Price - from 37.
Sisal
This type of brushes is made on the basis of natural fiber. They are used at the final stage of brushing wood - for polishing the surface.
Price - from 3 280.
We should 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 electric tool, it is advisable to purchase sets of brushes. For example, like this:
The nozzles are already selected according to the degree of stiffness of the fibers, so you don’t have to think about what accessories you should buy at retail for use at different stages of work.