Sometimes weathered wood is hard to come by! And sometimes it isn’t in good enough condition to reuse it. Here is a quick trick to “fake” your own old barn wood by making your very own wood stain with just 2 ingredients!
To make your own “weathered wood”place a steel wool scrubber in a mason jar filled with vinegar. This is a small jar – you only need enough vinegar to completely cover the steel wool scrubber (about 2.5 cups). Let it sit for at least 24 hours. The longer it sits the deeper the color will be. I have a jar sitting on my shelf that has been mixed for about 2 months now. Your steel wood will eventually dissolve completely.
If your color gets too dark for your liking, pour out a little bit of the stain and add fresh vinegar to the mix.
Just make sure to wear gloves when you apply this wood stain, you don’t want the dissolved steel wool on your skin. Apply the mixture with a clean cloth. Wait 5-10 minutes. The color will deepen as it sits. Reapply after 10 minutes if you would like the shade to be darker.
This is a picture of some wood that I applied a few different wood stains to. This DIY stain is the grey shade towards the bottom. The very bottom color is the original wood color. It was a light oak piece.
A HUGE perk to this stain is that it doesn’t stink. You can use this in your house, it doesn’t have to be well ventilated (although it will smell like vinegar), and you don’t need to ban your children or pets from the vicinity while it dries.
I hope you like this stain as much as I do. It has become my go-to wood stain.
Enjoy!
