Wax On, Wax Off

What do you do when you find an antique piece that you want to clean up without it losing its charm? Sure, some pieces lend themselves to repainting or even completely stripping and refinishing. But what about those antique store finds or family heirlooms that you'd rather restore? My suggestion would be to use a wax. Exhibit one:

Before and after using Briwax

These chairs were for a customer who purchased them from an antique store. They belong to an English pub table set, and somewhere around 80 years old. They were in pretty good shape, they just needed to be cleaned up. In the picture above, you can see that the chair on the right has a nice layer of "film" from years of being cleaned with bleach water. It's also hard to distinguish the grain pattern; it's just kinda brown. The one on the left was cleaned and polished with Briwax - it's one of my favorite things.

The process was simple - get a piece of #0000 steel wool, grab a dab of the wax and rub it into the grain of the wood in a circular pattern. A little goes a long way, by the way. Then, let it dry...it only takes a few minutes and leaves a dull haze. Then, use an old t-shirt and buff the wax to a nice shine. Then repeat the process to add a soft luster to the wood. The pictures below show a before and after one coat of Briwax. The cool thing is that Briwax comes in several colors - the colorant is suspended in the wax itself, so it doesn't have to be stirred around or anything. As you can see below, it helps blend in the discolored and worn areas. The other cool thing about Briwax is that it cleans the piece, too. There's a solvent that evaporates as the wax dries, leaving a thin layer of wax that protects the wood from oils and fingerprints and stuff.

Before

After one coat of dark brown wax

So that's it...it can be pretty labor intensive but is definitely worth the effort. This process can be used on pieces that are losing their color or luster, too; chair arms are a great example. Just pick a color (there's Clear, too) and wax away.

Have fun, young grasshopper. 

-JP

I Love Stamp

I ordered a custom rubber stamp from simonstamps.com, and it came in the mail today. When I build a new piece of furniture, I plan on stamping the back of it, then signing and dating it. I'll probably stamp a refinished piece, too...just write out "refinished on ____" before the date.

I had a scrap piece in the garage that I had tested some stain on, so I grabbed it and got to stampin'. I want to stamp everything now! I feel like a little kid with, well...a stamp. It's so cool. I know it's not as permanent as burning, but it was way more economical.

That's all for now, was too excited not to share.  JP

Under Distress, Episode 1

It seems like lately people gravitate towards all things vintage. Vintage tees, brand new jeans that look like they're already broken in, and other stuff I've probably never heard of. Then there's furniture, of course. There are those antique store finds, family heirlooms, or even someone else's trash that have that worn, vintage look that we all love...where you can see years of painting and re-painting over what was once a beautiful stain. Where that missing chunk of wood on the corner must have a story behind it. What if you want that same look in a newer piece of furniture, or something you just made? Well, that's what this first episode is about.

The top of a ladder I built and distressed

Materials/Tools you'll need:

• Stain - for unfinished wood
• Paint - I used several colors of left over paint I had in the garage
• Putty knife/scraper
• Heat gun - I got mine at Home Depot, they are inexpensive and right by the paint counter
• Fire extinguisher - I mean, come on, you're using a heat gun
• Sandpaper - 100 to 150 grit
• hammer, nails, chain, brass knuckles, stress - this is for the "distressing" of the piece, so you can get creative here
• rags
• chip brushes
• SAFETY GOGGLES

Steps:

Beat it up

The first and most stress-relieving step: get your hammer and make some dents. Use a small length of chain to show it who is boss. Use a nail or keys to "draw" on the surface. Really, you can't go wrong here - it's all about how "used" you want it to look. Just be sure to wear your goggles and protect those eyeballs of yours.

Stain it

For unfinished wood, I like to start off by staining it. That way, when we uncover/scrape down to it later, it's not bright shiny new material. Use a rag and wipe your stain of choice (for the ladder pictured, I had a water based gray-toned stain custom mixed at the paint counter) on the wood and let it dry. Most stains take up to 8 hours to be fully dry , but since we're not going for a fine finish here, I think it's okay as long as its dry to the touch - maybe an hour. Tip: don't throw the stain-soaked rag away just yet. Maybe keep it in a ziplock bag for now.

Paint it

I used some leftover white interior latex paint and using a chip brush, gave it a fairly thick coat. It's okay to really slather it on -the point is that we're going to scrape a lot of it off. Tip: drips are are okay, too! Basically, do a terrible job of painting. Get the kids or your spouse involved, If they are terrible painters, that is.

Make Bubbles and Scrape

Alright, here's the fun part. Once your paint has dried, whip out the heat gun. They are designed to give off 750 degrees or more of heat, so a blow dryer won't do the trick. Keeping it a few inches away from the surface, start heating up sections of the paint making sure to always be moving the heat. If you stay in one spot too long, you can burn a spot or worse, start a fire. "Charred" isn't really the look you are going for, is it? As the paint heats up, you'll notice it'll start to bubble up, especially where it's thicker - let it expand and it will start to "pop" and the paint will come off of the wood. Move the heat gun away and scrape the paint with your putty knife. You should start to see the stain color from underneath.

Sand

This is an optional step depending on how much of the stained layer you want to see. Where the paint didn't come off, use a medium grit (100-150) sandpaper to remove it, being careful not to overdo it and sand the stain off as well. In this other project picture below, I wanted more of the paint to show, rather than the stain.

Repeat

Using a different color of paint, paint it again, make bubbles then scrape...as many layers as you'd like.

Final step

Once you're happy with the look you've achieved, reach for the stain rag you used in the very first step. Wipe down the entire piece, paying special attention to the dents and dings-the stain will darken these spots up. Another option is to choose a different color of stain - that's why you can see a rust-toned color on the edges of the ladder.

Used a different stain color for the final step

That's it! Let it dry then stand back and admire your work, you deserve it because you're awesome. Look at that vintage thing you just did.

Email me pics of your work and I'll share them here!

Happy distressing, JP

Hello There

Hangin' with my Bro-ette, Hattie

My name is JP and I'm a nearly 30-year-old husband, father and amateur woodworker. I am married to my best friend Amy and together we have one daughter, Hattie. She's the prettiest, smartest, little baby we've ever made :). That's her and me in the picture, if you were wondering.

I started 'Marc-Charles Custom Furniture' out of my single-car garage back in 2009 with just a circular saw, jigsaw (which I "borrowed" from my Dad), and no training of any kind. Since I can remember, I've had a knack for figuring out how things work. When I was a kid, I remember building the stuff that was on the back of the Lego carton just by looking at the picture of it. So, in 2009 when I stumbled across a small broken cedar chest at an antique store, I thought to myself, "I think can fix that." That turned into, "wouldn't it be cool if..." which eventually became my first repurposing project.

First project - Cedar Chest Coffee Table

Since then, I've upgraded to a slightly larger shop (still my garage, only it's a two-car!) and have slowly added to my tool collection. After a few more refinishing and repurposing projects, I worked up the courage to try designing and building something from scratch. That's why I've started this blog. I'd like to share what I've learned and hopefully provide inspiration and encouragement to those of you wanting to try something like this yourself. I hope to learn a thing or two from you, too.

I'll be posting pictures of some of the work I've done, along with walk-throughs (and potentially plans) for each one. I'll share how I design, plan, and shop for new projects. I'll also talk about refinishing methods I use for those vintage-looking or distressed pieces.

If you want something designed, built, refinished or just want advice, you can message me on my Facebook page or email me directly. I also welcome your comments here; whether you want more details on project or have built one of the projects here and want to share your experience, I want to know!

Okay. You guys are old enough. I'm gonna tell you the story of how I made your furniture. It's gonna be LEGEN...wait for it....

JP Marc-Charles