Walnut Stain

[ssettle]

I have some walnuts that I collected awhile back and was wondering how I could make a stain from them? I collected them with the green pulp on the outside which now has turned black, will they still work? Also do you think I could get a good finish on a maple stock with them? .. ssettle

 

[Kuckus]

Never done it before but... What would happen if you soaked the hulls in alcohol :hmm: ? After a few weeks you could drain the sludge off through some sort of filter. I'd definitely try it on a piece of scrap wood before trying it on a sanded stock. Who knows... you may find a good use for hulls besides dyeing hunting shirts :rotf:

 

[boar]

I just rubbed them on a Cva Stock and put linseed oil on after. It came out a yellow color. CVA stocks don't have much grain texture. Now I use the vinegar&barb wire to stain them,almost as cheap.It is in back posts. Dilly

 

[TN Hick]

You could try putting the hulls in about a gallon of water (depending how many hulls you have - more hulls more water), simmer the water down to about a quart, strain it and try it on a piece of scrap. If not dark enough, simmer it down to about a pint. If it's still not dark enough, go to a paint store and get a can of dark walnut. :hmm:

TN Hick

 

[Old40Rod]

Bevel Up and Bevel Down did a full article on making stain from walnuts a few months ago in Muzzleblasts... interesting. They had mixed (nuts) results :blah:

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you smash the walnut hulls with hammer, or grind them in a meat grinder, you can pour boiling water over them, and you will get more stain out of them quicker. You will probably need to reduce the liquid by boiling it after you have let the stuff steep for a month or so, to concentrate it. Use a coffee filter over a old can to filter out the liquid from the hulls. Boil the liquid to reduce it, and then run it through both a strainer, and a coffee filter or two to get the fines out. What you will have left is a walnut stain liquid that should give you a good dark stain with a couple of coats. If its not dark enough, add more walnut hulls. The stuff lasts forever in a glass jar, so save it. I have seen it used to stain wooden boxes for gear at my black powder club, and those boxes came out looking very good and dark. You can put a little vinegar, to make the solution acidic, into the mixture when you start out. That will also help pull the oils out of the hulls to make the stain. A cup to a gallon of water should be enough. Any vinegar will do, white or red. You can also throw a couple of tablespoons of salt into the mix as that will also help draw the oils out of the hulls. The vinegar will boil off when you reduce the mix. The salt should not hurt the mixture at all.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I had a bunch of dry walnuts and wanted some stain for arrow shafts. I broke the hard hulls off the nuts with a hammer and crushed them up a bit. I filled a qt jar about two thirds full with crushed hulls and filled the jar with water and shook up the mix. I didn't strain the dye and applied it with with a rag and let it set on the shaft for a few minutes. Naturally there were plenty of hull chips on my dyed surface but these wiped off easily. The dyed shafts were dark with a richness unavailable in store bought walnut stains. I could vary the darkness by rubbing over the stained surface before the stain dried.

I did notice some mold growing on the liquid surface in my stain jar and need to add something to retard the mold growth.