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distressing new timbers/beams

| Posted in Construction Techniques on January 19, 2004 07:21am

I would like some tips on taking new timber/beams doug fir s4s and making them look old. any tips on tools or techniques.

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  1. GACCDallas | Jan 19, 2004 08:19am | #1

    We dress them out with an adz and then clean them up a little with a slick.  Then wire brush the whole thing.  It takes a while but looks great.  We stack about three or four wire wheels on a bolt and chuck them up in a 1/2" drill.  Be careful, it'll take off your hide in a heartbeat.  Stay away from your joint areas and after you've put the timbers back together, you can dress them with a good wide curved chisel.

    You can also use a scrub plane to dress them out.  It doesn't look like hand hewing, but it's a nice look as well.  An electric plane plunged into the timber at random intervals gives an OK look in my opinion.  But you have to do the entire timber, whatever method you choose,  to make it look right.

    I'd stay away from the sandblasting.  It looks more like driftwood when it's done.

    That's how we've done it.

    Ed. Williams

    1. woodman2 | Jan 20, 2004 04:46am | #9

      Thanks for your input. I am familiar with adze's but what is a slick?

      1. GACCDallas | Jan 20, 2004 04:58am | #10

        A slick is just a wide (usually 3" or so) chisel with a long blade and a long wood handle.  I think you can still buy a new one - maybe Garrett Wade - but the old ones are the best.  You can buy an antique one for about $100 through an antique tool dealer. 

        Ed. Williams

  2. reinvent | Jan 19, 2004 04:37pm | #2

    The Festools power plane has several wavy blades available for just that purpose

    1. Jamie_Buxton | Jan 19, 2004 09:48pm | #4

      You don't have to buy a $600 Festool power planer to do this.   Start with any power planer which has steel knives.   Regrind the knives so that instead of being straight, they have a little arc, like a hand scrub plane.  When you plane wood with these knives, the surface has that arc, like it was surfaced with a hand scrub plane.   With a little practice, you can plunge the planer on to the surface of the beam, run it a few inches, and pull it off the beam.   It looks very much like the beam was surfaced with an adze.   However, it doesn't take anywhere near the skill that an adze requires.

      1. r_ignacki | Jan 20, 2004 01:49am | #5

        how about simulating that the beams survived the fire of  'o1...

         pour on some lighter fluid, and ignite,   a la jimi hendrix...

        Edited 1/19/2004 5:50:52 PM ET by panama red

        1. User avater
          Sphere | Jan 20, 2004 02:15am | #7

          drag em behind the truck..like new carhartts

          1. Novy | Jan 20, 2004 02:49am | #8

            There is also a kit you can buy for a chainsaw tip that is basically a powerplane with no bed that bolts to the end of the sawbar. Essentialy a power adze.........On a hill by the harbour

          2. junkhound | Jan 20, 2004 06:42am | #12

            Not many tools scare me -- but, I've never seen one of the attachments you referenced, but your description sounds like a prelude to the emergency room <G>

          3. Novy | Jan 20, 2004 06:49am | #13

            Not as scary as a mini grinder chain circletOn a hill by the harbour

      2. Isamemon | Jan 20, 2004 01:51am | #6

        we sand blasted a bunck of beams , it gave us the apperance the owner wanted

        1. junkhound | Jan 20, 2004 06:40am | #11

          Pressure washer (>3000 psi) will do similar.

      3. reinvent | Jan 20, 2004 08:18am | #14

        You may be right but the job makes for a good excuse to buy a really nice tool.

        1. mitch | Jan 21, 2004 01:47am | #15

          read an article few years ago where they flayed the beams with chains- maybe tire chains would have more sharp edges and intensify the effect? i guess it depends on what you're going for.

          m

  3. bill_1010 | Jan 19, 2004 04:55pm | #3

    drive some uncoated nails into the wood and spray a mix of vinegar and water onto the nail.  do this a few times a day and youll get your nail stains to show its been reclaimed.  

    Get a carbide grit recip saw blade as long as you can and use your sawzall to work the faces rocking it back and forth to rough up the face of the beam

    get a nail set and make some worm holes in your beam. 

    Finally get a bag of chains or rocks and whack the beam a few times in various spots to dent it up some.

    Once your done finish your beam with a stain then get some dark tinted wax and hi-light your beams.

  4. KCPLG | Jan 21, 2004 04:17am | #16

    Leave them on a jobsite before the subtrades come in. Remove after the subtrades are done. "Shazam" distressed timbers

  5. RichMast | Jan 21, 2004 05:25am | #17

    Make up some sample pieces a few feet long, show them to customer first.  Keep track of how each was made, then you can do them all consistently.  Had a lot of wood to do one time, made up samples, then taught the FNG to do the selected one - so many hammer claw dings per foot, rasp over all the corners like so, so many nail punch marks per board, etc.  Having one person do them all gives consistency but still randomness, if that makes any sense.

    Hope this helps.  Rich.

  6. framersmtt | Jan 22, 2004 04:15am | #18

    WOODMAN

    let the crew i just watched try to trim a building have them .they will have them looking 200 years old in 5minutes.no kidding got to see it to belive it.

    goodluck

    framer

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