How to Make Wood Look Primitive

Tooling the Wood

• 1

  Pour 1 cup of white vinegar into a glass jar with a screw-down lid, such as an empty pickle jar or other emptied food container that has been washed. Drop 1/2 piece of fine steel wool into the vinegar and screw the lid down tight. Set the jar in a warm dark place to "steep."

• 2

  Lay your lumber out on saw horses. Use a grater plane to scrape the edges of your boards. Keep the scraping fairly light, just enough to make it look hand-worked. Slightly change the angle of the plane as you work along the board's edge to take more or less material from the edge as you go.

• 3

  Use a coarse rasp to scrape a few short sections along each edge, 3 to 4 inches long, with the rasp at a 45-degree angle to the face of the board to wallow the edge even more. This creates a "wavy" effect along the edge of the board. Work slowly, taking only as much material as you need to get the look you want, without changing the dimensions of the board.

• 4

  Hammer the face of the board with the round head of a ball-peen hammer, drumming on the board to give it a hand-chipped look, as if worked with an ax. Allow the hammer to drop onto the surface, rather than striking it full force. Spread the blows out over the surface, creating more in some areas, less in others.

Finishing the Look

• 5

  Heat up a wood burner with a flat blade tip about 1/4 inch wide. Use it to gouge the face of your board in a few places, creating burns in the surface. Drag it along the edge of the board to lightly scorch it.

• 6

  Allow the vinegar and steel wool to sit for 24 hours. Open the jar, with the top facing away from you to avoid the fumes. Put on heavy rubber gloves and remove the steel wool from the jar. Apply a coat of the vinegar solution to the surface of your board to oxidize and "age" it to a silver gray.

• 7

  Reapply the vinegar solution to all fresh-cut edges on your finished piece to blend it into the surrounding surface. Create a more weathered look by applying more vinegar, or sand the surface lightly to lighten the effect as desired.