How To Distress Wood

The process of distressing wood is much the same regardless of the surface and takes a small amount of time.

How to distress wood. Distress wooden boards using gravel. Place the chisel against the wood in the place you want the crack to form remembering that wood will only crack along its grain. Place a second board over the top then stand on the upper board and walk back and forth slowly.

By using the makeup brush this will go on darker but you can still see the wood grain through the paint. Using a pre-stain wood conditioner on porous wood such as pine helps promote uniform color when applying stain. For a dry distressed look you can use tools such as wire brushes sandpaper files or even chains and hammers to mimic the appearance of years of rubbing and impact damage she says.

Henry says to consider the wet distressing method. Go for wet distressed look. To go along with additive methods of distressing like making divots and staining you can also distress wood by subtractive methods like sanding.

Its like a dark stain or medium coverage paint. Use a hammer to add light depressions to the piece. Simply lay one board flat on the ground and cover it with gravel from end to end.

The most simple and straight forward method to distress wood is to sand some of the paint off. Lightly spray your flexible sandpaper with water wrap your sandpaper around a sand block dab dry to make sure your sandpaper is damp but not soaked. Tap the hammer against the chisel repeatedly until a crack begins to form.

Step 2 Second Coat If needed apply a second coat in the same color to get the desired amount of coverage. Again study the appearance and patterns of distress in wood and do a test piece before proceeding. Reposition the chisel along the crack if you want to extend it further.