Aluminum Antique Finish

Aluminum for furniture is quite popular in the furniture industry. Aluminum is one of the most popular materials to make metal furniture. Aluminum is inexpensive, easy to be machined and shaped, and has high durability. Aluminum furniture is available in various models and shapes. Aluminum is also a lot used to be used as the component together with other materials such as wood, rattan, or other media. See our previous article: aluminum for furniture. 

Although aluminum can be exposed in the unfinished state, we can finish the aluminum to produce a more attractive appearance and a more durable product. There are many finishing models and colors that can be generated for the aluminum, and now in this article we want to share the antique finish for aluminum. It’s the finishing for aluminum with the application of stain and glaze with special techniques, same as the finishing process in the wood furniture finishing.

                                            aluminum antique finish step panel

Here is the finishing process, step by step.

• Application of metal primer coat.

In this finish, basically we used the finishing process with NC finishing material. To generate good adhesion to the finishing layer, a metal primer coat is needed. It is the paint or coating that serves to act as the "connector" between the metal and the coating on the top. The primer coat is applied as the first coating on the aluminum before the application of NC or varnish, stain, or glaze. In this finishing process we used a clear metal primer (no color metal primer), since we want to make a semi-transparent finish. The primer metal coat was layered as the first coat by spray wet evenly the aluminum surface. Then we waited for about 30 minutes to let the coat dry.

• Application of stain.

Stain was used to color the aluminum to produce the desired finish color. We used a black toner stain. Toner stain is a stain with some clear coat in the mixture. We mixed black stain with some vinyl sealer (about 5%) to make the toner. The sealer in the stain mixed helps the stain to attach better to the aluminum surface. The black toner was sprayed evenly all over the aluminum surface. The toner stain color blended with the basic color of the aluminum metal to make a dark aluminum metal color. To make an antique effect and more of a life impression, we added some highlights to the stain. We wiped slightly the stain layer with steel wool at some parts to make the finishing look more lifelike.

• Application of clear coating.

The next process is the sealer application. One coat of vinyl sealer was layered on the stain to provide protection layer to the stain and give a smooth surface before glaze application. Vinyl sealer was applied by spraying evenly all over the surface. We let the vinyl sealer layer for about 20 minutes to dry.

 application glaze to make antique

• Application of glaze.

Glaze was applied to form the dark black color and to make antic effect in the finishing. Glaze was poured on the overall surface, wiped off by a rag, and brushed to get an even layer of glaze coat. Some highlighted with the steel wool was done to produce the antique and old-looking impression. We let the glaze sit for about 60 minutes to dry.

• Application of top coat.

After the glaze layer is dry, then we blow the glaze layer to clean it for the steel wool dust or any other dirt. We also checked the color and effect of the finish to make sure we got the proper color and effect before we applied the top coat layer. We sprayed 15-sheen NC top coat as the last layer. We waited for 30 minutes until the top coat layer dried, and we checked the film layer and finished color result. Since we got a rough surface, then we did lightly scuff sanding to the top coat and applied one more layer of top coat. The result was an antique black metal aluminum finish. 

antique aluminum finish table