Experiment in aging furniture

 Several years ago I made this little mule chest out of pine. Boiled linseed oil paint with black dry pigment, Horton brasses, and forged cotter pin hinges for the top. Neat, simple, useful little piece. As it turned out, it was the perfect test bed for an experiment in furniture aging. 

The technique was... nothing.

I did nothing to it aside from leaving it on my covered front porch for five or six years. 

Multiple harsh Michigan winters, spring thaws, summer heats, and a fair amount of road dust from our gravel two-tracker.

The brass patinated and the once-shiny paint crazed and weathered in a cool way. 

Now, I don't think I'd do this to something that took a long time to build or was made with expensive materials, but it sure turned out neat in my opinion.