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This is a little 411 on how to make some new wood look old – or in my case my old wood look old again.

I sanded down my craft table with a palm sander to get all the potential slivers away and i was left with a table that had a “fresh wood” look – well, that was definitely not the look i was after.  I loved how the table looked prior to sanding, and i wanted that same old gray weathered look back.  I decided to sand it down and seal it because i want the top to get even more beat up – i didn’t want glass or anything on top.

Before sanding…

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After sanding…yuk, too new for me :(

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I did a little google searcharoo and found a few how-to’s to gray wood.  I picked the easiest one and gave it a shot.  One piece of 0000 steel wool, glass bottle and vinegar.  Just take the steel wool and rip it in small pieces, put it in the jar and cover with vinegar.  After 24 hours most of the steel wool will be dissolved.  Mine didn’t turn dark like this until the metal on the lid reacted with the vinegar and turned it dark – it was like my own little science experiment :)

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Then i just brushed it on the table and as soon as the vinegar touched the wood, it started to change.  I guess the steel wool reacts with the vinegar and when this is put on wood, it speeds up the natural oxidation process – neato.

But, let me just tell you that this little process STUNK!!!  Not like vinegar that you would think – but it was worse – seriously nasty.  It smelled like…i cant even think of what it smelled like…it made me gag every couple of minutes.  Gross, gross, gross…

So here’s half the table with the vinegar and the other freshly sanded – big difference

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This is what it looked like after all the vinegar was on – then i let it dry for a day – soak up all that vinegary goodness.

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After it was dry, i gave it a light sand and it is back to its good ol’ gray self – just the way i wanted it – i love when things work out like they are supposed too – it makes my world a happier place :)

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So, now that its all dry i will be sealing it with some Tung oil (thanks Christa!!) – i will post some updated pics soon along with my almost finished craft room :)

OH, and just think with what you could do with the knowledge of how to gray wood!!  You could buy some new picket fence posts and make some wood boxes that have the weathered look (remember the boxes that i posted about here?)… imagine a table with the top grayed and the legs painted white (i seriously need to do that one)… you can make some hand painted signs on a left over piece of lumber – the gray wood would look like its been hanging outside for years.  TONS of stuff that you could do – just use your noggin :)