Varathane 313835 Weathered Wood Accelerator, Quart, Gray

Works very well aging new wood. Coverage isn’t as marketed. I had to use 3 quarts to cover 3 - 6’ x 8’ panels of weather treated dog eared fence panels. I’m very pleased with the finished look.

This came out better than I could've hoped! Very pretty. Just a warning, it takes about ten minutes for the color to show up. You'll think it's not working when you first apply it and hen the color starts to pop and you're like Oh WOW.

Best ever. Added some new fence and as they were new had not faded and were really an eyesore. I stained the new boards and brought instance beautiful to my fence. Matched. I used the Gray

I ordered this product just to see what it would do. I needed to make new cedar like old cedar immediately because I'm on a timetable. It works perfect!! Took 30 minutes exactly and I put it out in the sun to help! You can see the brand new piece of cedar versus the other pieces which were bought at the same time!

This product will certainly turn new pine lumber a light to dark gray, imitating an aged appearance. However, the darker it is, the less it looked aged and the more it looked bruised, with a grayish, purple color.I used this on a pine bookcase that I built to look like it was old, and put together by an inebriated monkey, per my wife's wishes. To age it, I roughed it up a bit with some scratches and gouges, and then used the product. I followed the instructions and used one coat on the entire bookcase. I watched it go from white/yellow, to light gray (which I wanted), to a medium gray. My wife was satisfied, yet I was a bit disappointed. Out of curiosity, I used 2 coats on a scrap piece and the wood turned a very dark purplish gray.If I were to use this again, I may try to thin it with water and test on a scrap piece.One plus, after I applied the product, the next day it was dry and there was no odor. Going on, there was a slight odor, but to me, it was no unpleasant.

Of all the stains ever used this is by far the best product I've come across. Too bad it doesn't come in gallon cans as I have 54, 2 x 10 rafters to stain. It stirs up quickly and you will need to get the copper colored agent off the bottom as most cans seem to have a long shelf life before purchase and subsequent settling. It soaks almost immediately into pine and dries so quickly that an 18 ft. rafter is dry at the beginning before you reach the other end. (disclaimer: this is at 9,200 ft. elevation and in the sunlight.) Great for me as I can top coat it with urethane after 15 minutes. How a water based agent can dry so quickly is amazing. Stain is for an "Aged Wood" look. Don't know exactly what constitutes aged wood but on pine it is a dark brown effect. It soaks in so fast you have to be quick on the draw with your brush to even out what you are laying down on the wood or else you will have a darker stain mark if left for even 10 seconds. Experimenting with using a roller vs. brush has pros and cons. A smooth surface roller is faster but leaves unstained areas with minor depressions in the wood surface. Using a thicker roller lays down too much stain and uneven darker/lighter areas and the fast drying makes it difficult to blend the dark to light areas. A brush is best as you can work in 2 ft. increments and keep a more consistent look to the stain by feathering the previous patch with the current.

I am having custom cove trim made to use between the backsplash in my kitchen and the countertop. Currently we are deciding what kind of wood to use so I wanted to test some of the wood I have available to me. I used a scrap of lightly bug stained pine we are using for the baseboards. The piece is raw rough wood. I also wanted to use this as learning experience. This wood accelerator is very thin. I used a cheap brush, and this is the result of one coat. The instant the accelerator touched the wood it changed to the color you see and after 30 minutes it still looked the same. Due to the roughness of the wood, it pooled slightly in places and none touched other places. But my takeaway is this works great on new pine, be quick and use a quality brush. I also tried it on a very old plywood pullout shelf. I prepped the wood according to the instructions. I bleached and washed it. Allowed it to dry. After 2 coats there was almost no change in the wood so I am going to stain or paint those. This couldn't be easier to use. Cleanup is a snap, there is no odor to contend with and a little goes a long way. I like it.

The finished color was not as promised the color never turned grey after 4 coats