How to make new timbers look reclaimed? That's a really good question! We show this photograph in a timber frame presentation to architects and usually tell a story about it because it's the only timber frame finish we've ever seen that made new timber (rough sawn Douglas Fir) approach the look and patina of reclaimed beams. When I visited the project to photograph it, I asked the architect how they'd achieved such an authentic reclaimed finish. He laughed and told me that the owner paid a small fortune to an artist, he didn't know the recipe, and that they'd had to pay the artist to come back and touch up all the checks (splits) as the timber dried over the next several years. I suspect, but don't know for sure, that it may have been less expensive had they purchased reclaimed timber to start with. Sometimes clients ask if it's possible to make new timber look old, and the honest answer is no. The result can be a bit like artificial stone–good from afar, but far from good. If you look at the attached photograph of a piece of hand hewn original patina reclaimed timber, you'll note that no two pieces are alike. The texture differs, and the color is nearly impossible to duplicate with a stain because reclaimed wood's color is made up of blacks, grays, and shades of brown. On the difference between new and reclaimed wood, we sometimes quote a reclaimed wood supplier who said: "twice the money and 10 times as beautiful–that is good value".