Walnut finish problem

[dave_person]

Hi,
As long as you sanded the stock smooth after letting the slurry dry, you probably just need to add more coats of finish. It concerned me when you wrote you applied a coat, waited 15 minutes and then applied another coat. I may be misunderstanding you but after sanding the dried slurry smooth, and I hope you let it dry for 24 hours at least before sanding, then apply a coat of unthinned finish. I use a maroon Scotch Bright pad to apply the finish but do not try to sand the stock just use the pad to lay on the finish. I let it sit for no more than 15 minutes and then wipe all of the excess finish off the stock. Get it out of every nook and cranny. Then let dry for 24 hours before applying the next coat using the same procedure. Keep applying finish until you get sheen you want. It will take a few days or a week to do it. No need to sand between coats but you must let the previous coat dry for at least 24 hours before putting on the next coat. You will eventually have shiny and dull areas as the finish builds up. Just keep applying coats until you have the look you want and it is even. The secret is wipe off all excess finish and let dry for 24 hours between coats.

dave

 

[Phil Coffins]

Walnut varies a lot, some dense and hard others with large pores that I have used the system on. The key to it is to saturate the wood then in a few minutes wipe it all off. Next wet sand with finish to get the slurry and leave it on to dry hard. Then sand that slurry in again with finish to drive it into the pores and allow that to dry. Depending on the wood two or three treatments like this will fill the pores. Once dry sand with finish again and wipe it off across the grain. The goal at this point is to fill the pores and have nothing on the surface. When you can look at a long angle and not see those dull patches you can start with very thin coats of finish to get what ever shine you like. I don’t use steel wool at all to get a fine finish. Here’s my rifle that I’m currently hunting with, the finish is at least ten years old and has seen plenty of weather. I believe the top coats are only three.
BD803678-D9E2-4041-B5CF-43990C7F7B8D by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

A detail that I failed to point out and is important is when sanding in the finish to form the slurry is that small circles are done. This pushes the slurry into the pores from all directions. Do this in small overlapping areas.