It was rough and it was stunning

I saw a piece of furniture at the Pottery Barn this weekend. It was made of mahogany. It was all smooth surface except the door panels which had a very rough surface -- the grains were about an eighth of an inch higher than the surface between the grains. It produced a striated ridge and valley effect.

How is that done?

Perhaps with a stiff wire brush.

I have a friend that does sandblasted redwood signs. He masks off the letters and borders with a thin rubber held on by adhesive and has a go at the remaining wood with a sandblaster. Then he peels the rubber mask off and gets the same type of effect that you mention. Festus

Some people use a rotary wire brush to achieve that weathered driftwood effect. I like it on driftwood, but not much on furniture, myself.

Cheers

Frank

That sounds like the effect you get from a drum sander with 36 grit paper.

As stated a flexible wire brush will do the job, taking off the softer wood more then the harder found in the grain. The effect can also be gotten by wetting the wood and sanding before it dries. The softer wood absorbs more water then harder dark wood and swell more. Sand it before it dries and you take off more of the soft wood and when it dries and shrinks back to size the soft wood will be lower then the hard.

Sandblasting perhaps. The sand will eat away the soft wood first and the rings second since they are generally harder. They also use a wood with wide growth rings so that the effect is maxamized.

just a guess though. If the overall panel has a slightly "gritty" feel, sorta like sandpaper, then I'd bet it was sandblasted. Otherwise, some other method was used.

I've seen the same effect on old barn wood. The wood that got exposed to the weather. The grain wears slower than the soft wood.

Al

I wonder what a high pressure blast of water would do? Like from a 1,500 to 2,500 PSI pressure washer. I know you can ruin a deck real easy if you get the tip too close...

dave

Festus wrote:

Actually the trick is to sandblast it. I have done many redwood signs this way. If anyone wants pictures of one I have at my house let me know.