Distressing Starts Before Finishing

摘要

Creating a new piece of furniture that looks like it has been around for a while doesn't happen only in the finishing; there is some preliminary distressing to do. I begin before construction with the lumber. Starting with old wood, I seek out the patina of age-dark boards with a dull gray color that is the result of oxida-tion. Although much of that surface discoloration is removed when the boards are handplaned, the age still lingers below the surface, looking much differ-ent from freshly planed, new lumber. To reproduce the handplane marks and hand-worked quality of the original, I took the extra time to build the piece almost entirely with hand tools. Then it was ready for surface distressing, which meant adding the scratches, dings, and dents that can be seen under the finish.