Steel Wool & Vinegar Testing

This week, I done some testing, with Steel Wool & Vinegar Mix, on several different species of wood. White Oak, White Pine, Cedar, Maple, Red Oak, Poplar, Common Lumber, and pallet wood.

Steel Wool and Vinegar mix, is a homemade stain, that anyone can make themselves.

What's Needed:

Steel Wool ( The Finer the better, but you can use what you have on hand, as my case)

White Vinegar

Empty Jar

Brush

Mix

Get yourself a clean jar, Get some White distilled Vinegar, add some Steel wool to the jar, I like to tear my pieces to smaller chunks. The finer the steel wool, the faster it will dissolve. Then pour enough of the Vinegar into the jar, to cover the Steel Wool, then let it set for a few days.

Apply Stain

I used a tapeline on my wood, to show before and after applying the stain. Just brush, enough of the mixture, onto the wood and let dry for a couple of days. As you can see in the pictures, some of the wood, starting darkening before it even dried.

White Oak

This is the picture of before and after the stain. As you can see, the White Oak, turn a nice Gray color.

White Pine

This is the picture of before and after the stain. As you can see in the pictures, the Pine didn't get as dark as the Oak.

Cedar

This is the picture of before and after the stain. As you can see in the pictures, the Cedar turned a nice dark gray, it gives it a aged look.

Maple

This is the picture of before and after the stain. As you can see in the pictures, the Maple turn a nice dark gray too.

Red Oak

This is the picture of before and after the stain. As you can see in the pictures, the Red Oak turned a nice dark gray also.

Poplar

This is the picture of before and after the stain. As you can see in the pictures, the Poplar got just a little darker.

Common Lumber

This is the picture of before and after the stain. The Common Lumber, ( such as 1 x 2's and 2 x 4's) got just a little dark.

Pallet Wood

This is the picture of before and after the stain. AS you can see in the pictures, I have 2 different kinds of Pallet wood, One is a piece of oak and the other a piece of Poplar, the oak piece turn a Darker color, and the Poplar, just got a little darker.

But if you have some newer pieces of pallet wood, this process will aged both.

Finish

Thanks for checking out my Instructable, I hope it helps someone, Steel Wool and Vinegar is a cheap and good stain to get that aged look on your wood.