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Finishing weathered wood and rusted metal

May 16, 2009

I am an artist, using old, weathered wood and rusted metal.
How can I seal timber without the it darkening (the cans say 'enriching color!) and destroying its soft greyness? I've tried all the usual varnishes and all of them darkened the light areas of wood and, worse, really darkened the darker areas to the point the wretched thing looked piebald.
Also, which sealer can you use on rusted metal without it also darkening and losing those lovely light oranges?

Elizabeth Doidge
Artist - Mannum, South Australia

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You can try water based shellac solution(150 gm shellac/800 ml water/50 gm sodium tetraborate),in EU you can buy it in any better artist and conservators materials shop. Rusty metal is more problematic-every natural or unprotected patina is something alive (today it looks different than yesterday or tomorrow--especially outdoors). Hope it helps and good luck!

Goran Budija
- Cerovski vrh Croatia
May 20, 2009

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Well there is a solution that works well on wood and may work on your rusted metal (for a while). As a gunsmith I often get stuck with working with woods like fiddle back or quilted maple. To preserve the honey color and the erratic figure in the grain only the clearest of finishes can be used. A finish that has a stain or a darkening component in it muddies the color and the figure in the wood vanishes. Gunmakers struggled for years with this problem but there is now a 20th century solution. Its clear 2 part epoxy isocyanate based paints. It is commonly used in the automotive industry. The stuff is quite toxic so if you spray it, do it out of doors with a particle mask on. I think you would most likely be able to brush it on as you are dealing with a rough finish to begin with if you are using aged and bleached out wood. I would still use it out of doors as the solvents in the paint would most likely make you high as a kid in the bathroom of the high school sniffing airplane cement! Put on about three coats. You have to work pretty fast. It is an epoxy and the stuff starts to roll over and cure in about a half an hour. I have been using the stuff for years and I firmly believe that I was a bit goofy and brain dead at birth. In short if you follow the directions on the can and use 2 ounces of common sense it will not harm you. After the third coat let the finish harden for about 24 hours and then LIGHTLY buff it out with 0000 #0000 steel wool ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] to get rid of the (wet) look. I have used it on close to 100 gun stocks and it has never let me down! Almost all gunstocks made today use one type of clear epoxy paint or another.
As for rusted metal I can not say that it will not change the color. It has been my experience that anything applied to rusted metal will usually darken or shine up the color. I'm afraid you are on your own on that one. I would also be afraid that that the rust will keep working under the paint and eventually the paint would blister and flake or peel off in time. But, experiment experiment, stubbornness and perseverance is the mother of all invention and good luck! :o)

Rod Henrickson
gunsmith - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
May 22, 2009