# Easy Driftwood Technique - Help me acheive this finish...



## jaysen (Sep 26, 2012)

Wife wants this finish on my sons bed, so I'm looking for a quick "easy" DIY for a Faux Driftwood finish - similar to this

http://www.mathisbrothers.com/childrens-furniture/bunk-beds/trendwood-fort-youth-bed/twood-fort-dw

Anyone have any techniques?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Could you post the picture. I can't open the link with my internet.


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## jaysen (Sep 26, 2012)

Here it is...


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## Itchytoe (Dec 17, 2011)

What kind of wood are we talking about? I know nothing about such finishing, but that's probably going to be relevant.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Back in the early 70's there was a craze for that type of look. One way was to use a torch, a handheld propane or mapp one would work. Pass it over the bare wood, and it would create the grayish burnt look. It can be done fairly evenly once you get the knack. Practice with scraps, and have a fire extinguisher handy, or do it near a hose. You shouldn't get it hot enough to ignite.









 







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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Thanks for posting the picture. With my internet this is what I got from the link. 

First in all of this make samples on scrap wood before putting anything on the furniture. Make a separate sample for each step.

To make that finish I build the furniture out of knotty pine and first stain the piece with a gray water based stain or a thinned down gray latex paint. Make it thin enough you can wipe off the excess and still be transparent. Then after it dries I would lightly sand the stain to get rid of some of the fuzzes the water did and put thin coat of poly to seal it. Then I would sand it again with 220 paper and use a glaze to make the dark streaks in it. I use a McCloskey Glaze available at Sherwin Williams. The glaze is similar to paint but a little more transparent and gives more open time to work it. You just mix a darker gray and with as little on the brush as possible lightly drag the brush over the light gray paint. This gives the illusion of grain and you can brush it on thicker to make the darker streaks. I sometimes use a artist fan brush for graining. The thing about the glaze is if you mess it up you can just wipe it off and do it again. The only hard part is trying to make the finish uniform over a large piece. You may have to step back from time to time and look at the overall piece. Once you have the glaze on and dried, you can topcoat with polyurethane for the finish. For that rustic look I would use as flat of a finish as you can.


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## jaysen (Sep 26, 2012)

Here is my attempt - overall it wasn't exactly as I had hoped, but i like the outcome and most importantly so does the misses


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## Tommie Hockett (Aug 26, 2012)

so how did you get it to turn out like that? and looks purty good to me


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## jaysen (Sep 26, 2012)

Tommie Hockett said:


> so how did you get it to turn out like that? and looks purty good to me


A can of Varathane - Weathered Gray - stain and old t-shirt. I brushed the stain on, let set for about 6 min, then wiped off. I noticed the longer, I let sit, the darker the finish appeared. 

Thanks for the compliment.


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## Itchytoe (Dec 17, 2011)

As far as I'm concerned, that's a dead match. I don't think you could match the pic any better.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I believe I like what you did better than the advertisement.


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## jaysen (Sep 26, 2012)

Steve Neul said:


> I believe I like what you did better than the advertisement.


The more and more I walk in to the garage, I like it more! Added a coat of satin poly, although subtle, make the grain standout just a bit more.


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## Tommie Hockett (Aug 26, 2012)

every body loves pictures man haha


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## jaysen (Sep 26, 2012)

Tommie Hockett said:


> every body loves pictures man haha


Here's your pic!


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

jaysen said:


> A can of Varathane - Weathered Gray - stain and old t-shirt. I brushed the stain on, let set for about 6 min, then wiped off. I noticed the longer, I let sit, the darker the finish appeared.
> 
> Thanks for the compliment.


You could get similar results by thinning an oil base gray enamel with mineral spirits. and applying it the same way. I do pickling finishes that way.









 







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## SNight (Mar 22, 2013)

Jaysen - I think your results came out perfect. I'm not sure what more you could have expected - it looks good to me. If anyone is interested, I have been working with a product lately called Driftwood Weathered Wood Finish that i found on another DIY blog. It seems to me to be alot easier than what everyone seems to be using. I basically just mixed the stuff with water and applied to bare wood and it turned a beautiful weathered and aged color. it was very easy and the results are comparable to what I'm seeing here. I'm thinking of putting a liming wax over the top of it. Has anyone done that and has an idea of the outcome?

SN


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

SNight said:


> Jaysen - I think your results came out perfect. I'm not sure what more you could have expected - it looks good to me. If anyone is interested, I have been working with a product lately called Driftwood Weathered Wood Finish that i found on another DIY blog. It seems to me to be alot easier than what everyone seems to be using. I basically just mixed the stuff with water and applied to bare wood and it turned a beautiful weathered and aged color. it was very easy and the results are comparable to what I'm seeing here. I'm thinking of putting a liming wax over the top of it. Has anyone done that and has an idea of the outcome?
> 
> SN


 That type of finish is best on a wood with a open grain like oak. If the project has a lot of trim or detail the white sticks in the crevaces but unless the wood has texture the flat surface will wipe clean. I've never done the finish with wax before. I normally thin flat oil based paint for that purpose. The process is the same. You apply the white and wipe off the excess with a clean rag.


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## SNight (Mar 22, 2013)

Steve

What would be the ratio of thinner to paint in order to do that? I certainly have plenty of leftover white paint laying around that I could try that to see what the effect would be.

Before I tried the Driftwood Finish product, I did a two drawer dresser using a paint technique I found somewhere online. I purchased two different "driftwood" toned water based paints (a gray and a beige) and I remember his trick was to add black paint to get a slightly darker shade and white obviously to get a slightly lighter shade and this way I had many tones of the gray and many tones of the beige. 

I believe I started with a base coat of the gray and then thinned out the different shades I had created using water and applied and wiped. I think I had about 4 or 5 different colors that I worked with. 

Once all that was finished I used a toothbrush and added flecks of black here and there. 

I finished off the piece by putting mirrors on the front drawers and found some mercury glass knobs. The piece is outstanding BUT it was a lot of work. 

You can almost see the dresser in the picture but I think you can get the idea.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

SNight said:


> Steve
> 
> What would be the ratio of thinner to paint in order to do that? I certainly have plenty of leftover white paint laying around that I could try that to see what the effect would be.
> 
> ...


I'm a little fuzzy on the ratio. It was 1994 the last time I did that. I would guess it is 1 part paint to 2 parts mineral spirits. I was using Promar Exterior Alkyd Flat from Sherwin Williams and was applying it with a sprayer before wiping by hand. You would just need to make some samples to work it out. Even if you used the same product I'm sure it's formulated different by now. The paint is used more as a stain than a paint and on furniture you can topcoat it with a clear water based polyurethane or a cab-acrylic lacquer. 

You can mix any color and it can be used with a multiple different applications, not just wood. I painted a lot of aluminum patio furniture and street lights to look like a antique bronze. I painted the furniture a very dark brown and went over the top of it with the alkyd flat in kind of a turquoise green and wiped off the excess in a vertical direction as if water had run down the legs making it look like corrosion. 

I had a lady one time that had a white oak French wardrobe that had me put a lavender colored wash over it. Most of what I did on furniture was white though.

Using a toothbrush is how I was taught to make flyspeck. I think you can buy it in a aerosol can now but I rarely use flyspeck.


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## Bill White 2 (Jun 23, 2012)

Just an afterthought......
"Quick" and "easy" are not words used in the world of finishing.:smile:
Bill


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## SNight (Mar 22, 2013)

*It's all I got*

Bill,

At my age, quick and easy is all I got 

SN


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## SNight (Mar 22, 2013)

I saw a video on YouTube about weathering wood where they used 5 different methods to weather the wood and you could see the results happening before your eyes. They used tea and coffee (which did nothing), baking soda and water, steel wool and vinegar and the Driftwood product. The last 3 were impressive. I believe they demonstrated by applying the products to 4 or 5 different woods at the same time and you could see what was happening. I think the steel wool trick came out almost black. But they gave me good ideas for techniques for weathering wood so I've been trying the last 3 techniques with good results.


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