How to Make Distressed Wood

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Dents

Historically, whether a board was hewn by hand or mechanically in a sawmill, subsequent signs of aging would have been made on top of those marks. You can use the rest of these techniques that make new wood look old on either a hand-hewn or skip-planed base texture. We’ll start with dents, all-purpose wear-and-tear marks.

Hit the board repeatedly with a short length of chain. Be sure to wear eye protection and gloves, as the chain can bounce back at you. Or just place the chain on the board and hit it with a hammer. Be sure to move it around the board and keep the marks as random as possible. Don’t forget to dent up the board’s edges, too.

Of course, your hammer can do a lot more than make dents. Check out these 10 awesome hammer hacks.

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End-Grain Damage

Tap the painter’s tool along the edge of the board and pry up a section of wood. This will create a v-shaped gouge on the end.

If you weren’t trying to make new wood look old, you’d probably want to repair a gouge like this.

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