Aging cedar?

[cantcutter]

I have fresh sawn red cedar and a customer who wants weathered grey looking red cedar... Anybody know of any tricks to get the grey look in a hurry...like two or three days?

[ADAMINMO]

Grey spray paint?  :D Sorry couldn't resist. Also no help with answer. Sorry.

[tyb525]

Get some off an old barn  :D.

I guess leaving them in the sun would be the fastest way?

Grey stain?

[solodan]

Armstong and Penifin both make an exterior transparent stain that gives this look. I think that the color is weatherwood. I'm sure other maufacturers make a color similar,but these are two I know of.

[beenthere]

I have fresh sawn red cedar and a customer who wants weathered grey looking red cedar... Anybody know of any tricks to get the grey look in a hurry...like two or three days?

Might take a look, if you already haven't, at this FF thread.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,32257.0.html

Also, I'd look into a semi-transparent stain as solodan mentioned...doing some test boards to verify the affect you want.

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Vinegar and steel wool turns ERC black.

[Cedarman]

Don't know this for a fact, but ask at the big lumber yards for the chemical that ages wood to grey.  It is used for poplar on log cabins to get a grey look.  Don't even know what it is called but there is a chemical out there that will do what you want.

[woodmills1]

I thought it was eastern white cedar that ages to grey near the ocean.............

[TexasTimbers]

  Vinegar and steel wool turns ERC black.

How black . . . it looks good black, or it looks like heck black?

[LeeB]

I made a belt buckle out of some cedar driftwood I picked up in Louisiana. I guess the salt reacted with the finish I put on it. part of it turned black and the rest turned a rich red almost like sherry. With several coats to give it depth I really like the colors. as far as ther viniger and steel, I can't say, never done that. You can use that to ebonize just about any wood so I have read in the wood working mags.

[Tom]

I had always heard that iron and vinegar (as a catalyst) turned hardwoods, like oak, black because the iron combined with the tannic acid and formed iron tannate, which is black.   I've never heard of using it on softwoods.  This is interesing.

[Dodgy Loner]

I thought it was eastern white cedar that ages to grey near the ocean.............

All wood will turn grey if you leave it outside for a while...

The chemical that Cedarman referred to is probably ferrous sulphate.  It's commonly used to turn log cabins a weathered gray very quickly.  I don't know how it works on cedar, but it works on pine, spruce, fir, poplar, and surely many others.  A chemical stain will look more natural than a dye or pigment-based stain.

[Cedarman]

Thank you Dodgy for the name of the stuff, ferrous sulphate.  I get a few inquiries a year about that same thing and knew it could be done, but not the stuff's name that did it.  You'll make me look a little better in my customer's eyes now.

[ARKANSAWYER]

   I guess I need to find a few bottles and keep them handy because I get calls for grey siding all the time.  They want a new house to look really old.

[pigman]

  They want a new house to look really old.

Does anybody know of a chemical that will make a really old house look like new. :P

[LeeB]

I don't know what the chemical is Bob, but it is some sort of green dye most offten used by the mint.

[ARKANSAWYER]

   Deck wash and a pressure washer with some elbow grease.

[Dodgy Loner]

Yeah, but isn't elbow grease one of the most difficult chemicals to find ;D ;D

[woodmills1]

large supply of elbow grease     hudson NH   old but well used

[TexasTimbers]

Yeah, but isn't elbow grease one of the most difficult chemicals to find ;D ;D

:D

[tyb525]

I suppose sanding with a fairly heavy grit would help too

[woodmills1]

large supply no price quoted

[SwampDonkey]

I've seen that effect used on new buildings and walk ways erected on historical sites. Now to remember the chemical used. ;D

Just read that tannic acid is used on woods with low natural tannic acid, like cedar to enhance the effect. Thought I might add that.

Here is an interesting site:

http://www.woodfinishingenterprises.com/techinfo.html