Highlighting figured Walnut

[Zutt-man]

Please delete if not allowed. I wanted to pick the brain of some wood finishers since we have a few in here!

Walnut is one of my favorite woods to work with. I love the smell cutting it… I love how durable it is… I love the contrast between heart and sapwood. It’s simply beautiful.

I operate a small wood slab business out of my garage with hundreds of finished pieces out of my belt. Charcuterie, cutting, noodle boards, stove covers, all sorts of tables, counter tops, shelving… Every great once in awhile I land a pretty nice piece of wood that’s very unique.

Recently, I acquired a highly figured walnut slab that will end up being a dining bench. Now, I’ve had some curled walnut in the past, but due to the nature of the pieces, they got the linseed oil treatment which doesn’t extenuate the figure in walnut. Certainly in no fashion similar to iron nitrate with curly maple.

Has anyone in here figured out how to make curly walnut ‘pop’? Who knows, someone may be needing help with a gunstock on similar wood!

 

[Zutt-man]

 

[64Springer]

Trans-Tint will make any grain POP.

Single greatest wood colorant on the planet.

.02

 

[IanH]

High quality BLO penetrates and adds visual depth to walnut curl that is difficult to achieve with any other finish.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Add 1 oil coat to the scraped or sandpaper finish. Then spray paint with Krylon flat back spray paint. Let dry a day.

Then rub off wherever and whatever you want rubbed off with gray ScotchBrite or green, if you need a little more aggressive removal.

The black left in the pores really highlights the grain, look at this effect on a French Fusil de Chasse, of which was plane walnut before the treatment.

 

[wiscoaster]

That's the most beautiful piece of walnut I've ever seen.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Here are examples of the traditional British method of staining walnut with alkanet root.

dave

 

[Zutt-man]

Hi,
Here are examples of the traditional British method of staining walnut with alkanet root.

dave

Now that’s what I’m talking about. I’ll do some looking into it, but any words of the wise with this method?

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

I can't remember if I stained this or not.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

I think the most important thing is to buy the right piece of wood that has curl that will show contrast.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Getting a really smooth surface before applying the finish can give a real depth to it. Red oil, which is alkanet root soaked in a combination of linseed oil and turpentine will give the effect like Dave Person shows.

 

[Zutt-man]

Getting a really smooth surface before applying the finish can give a real depth to it. Red oil, which is alkanet root soaked in a combination of linseed oil and turpentine will give the effect like Dave Person shows.

Read somewhere not too long ago where a guy used alkanet and mineral spirits BEFORE applying his finish. I can’t remember what affect it had. Might be the same?

 

[IanH]

Red tint is also achieved by the addition of a lead-based drying agent when processing the linseed oil into finish.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

I recently got the formula from a gunsmith who is very knowledgable about things we discuss here. It's 75% raw linseed oil, 25% turpentine and ground alkanet root. I filled a pint jar half full of the root and topped it off with the oil/turpetine and let it set in my BBQ for a couple of weeks. The BBQ gets to between 100 and 175 degrees on a sunny day. I haven't tried it on a stock yet put I put some on a scrap of walnut and it gave a nice red tone. The raw linseed oil is nothing more than flaxseed oil you can buy at a health food store or from Amazon. It definitely goes on before the finish.

Here's one source for the root. 1 lb. will make a whole lot of stain.
https://mountainroseherbs.com/alkanet-root

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
The guns I showed were stained using alkanet root powder (bought online) infused in mineral spirits. A cup of spirits with 2 heaping table spoons of alkanet root added and then let sit for a 2-3 weeks. Most folks strain the stain through cheese cloth. The powder does not dissolve, it merely colors the spirits. The traditional finish was a linseed oil varnish with the root infused into the varnish. The powder and varnish was let sit for a month or more and then the liquid filtered to remove the powder. It was applied, rubbed in, let dry, and then successive coats added until the grain is filled. Then it is let to dry and rubbed back often with rottenstone dipped in linseed oil. I prefer polymerized tung oil over anything with linseed oil. The key word is POLYMERIZED, which means the oil is heat treated and mixed with solvents so it dries quickly. This is a good match to vintage varnishes with respect to appearance but has superior weather resistance. Moreover, tung oil does not darken with age. I apply finish to alkanet root stained walnut with 220 grit sand paper. I dip the paper in the finish, rub it on the wood and then sand until a slurry of oil and finish accumulates on the surface. I let that dry to a crust and sand it smooth with 320 grit sand paper. That fills the open grain of walnut. Then I apply finish sparingly with a rag or brush, letting it sit for a few minutes and then wiping off all excess finish. I continue that process until I reach the level of gloss I want. Then I let the stock dry and cure for several weeks. Finally, I make a rubber with a cloth and piece of foam, and rub the finish with rottenstone and linseed oil until glassy smooth. I usually add a final thin coat of finish after that and I am done. That produces the very fine finishes seen on high end British guns from the 19th century. For earlier work, I tend to forgo some of the polishing and grain filling steps.

dave

 

[Rawhide67]

I can't remember if I stained this or not.

That grain in the cheekpiece area is called sunburst I believe?

Beautiful grain pattern.

 

[billraby]

There is an endless number of recipes and potions out there that all work good. But in the end nothing that comes in a can is going to change a $200 piece of wood into a $4000 piece of wood. Dave Person's post is about the technique used more than the product. I think that part matter a whole lot more than what product you use.

 

[Secesh]

Great information in this thread! I did a search for this very topic but it didn’t show up until I had already started my thread on best stain for Walnut. Very interesting stuff here!

 

[Secesh]

I recently got the formula from a gunsmith who is very knowledgable about things we discuss here. It's 75% raw linseed oil, 25% turpentine and ground alkanet root. I filled a pint jar half full of the root and topped it off with the oil/turpetine and let it set in my BBQ for a couple of weeks. The BBQ gets to between 100 and 175 degrees on a sunny day. I haven't tried it on a stock yet put I put some on a scrap of walnut and it gave a nice red tone. The raw linseed oil is nothing more than flaxseed oil you can buy at a health food store or from Amazon. It definitely goes on before the finish.

Here's one source for the root. 1 lb. will make a whole lot of stain.
https://mountainroseherbs.com/alkanet-root

This is very appealing to me.

I’m going to get some of this and try your recipe out.

 

[Secesh]

Hi,
Here are examples of the traditional British method of staining walnut with alkanet root.

dave

I like this color! That’s a beautiful stock!