Woodsrunner, Is this normal for walnut?

[NRFord]

Just continue sanding with finer grits, 220 thru 320, then stain of choice.
I do not recommend steel wool until after nitrate treatment, unless you want little rust spots or freckles. Steel wool is OK after aquafortis. Or just switch to proper grits of Scotchbrite.

Do NOT use iron Nitrate on Walnut. Continue sanding to 320, seal, and finish with your choice of finish. This is walnut...

 

[moonlori83]

American black walnut has pores.That is normal. European walnut does not have the pores. But European walnut is far more expensive.

All walnut and other woods have pores. Some have larger, more prominent pores while others have smaller ones.
Pores are the 'veins' in the tree's structucture that flows the nutrients while still living.
These pores can be filled after raising the grain and striking off the fuzz before finishing.

 

[Century to late]

Please disregard my statement about aquafortis with regards to your WALNUT stock. My mistake. But if it were maple…

I've done aquafortis on walnut and it will give an ebony look to it. It's not for everyone.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I seal walnut with Birchwood Casey stock sealer, it dries almost instantly, put on a coat, let it dry and sand it back to bare wood. It takes 5 or 6 coats sanded back to completely fill the pores. The stock in the picture is partially in the sun, the wrist is in the shade, it is actually an even color stem to stearn.

 

[ronaldrothb49]

My original plan was to use Watco Danish oil only to finish the stock, However I love BLO on most anything I've ever put it on. I have time to look around and figure out what I want to do. I do know I don't want to "stain" it any darker.

I sand my stocks with progressively finer sandpaper to 400 grit then raise the grain and re-sand with 400. I use a mix of Boiled Linseed Oil, Turpentine and a teaspoon of Vinegar. I start with a 1 to 2 mix, I use a pretty heavy coat because the wood will really soak it up. Check after a half hour and wipe any excess oil off then let it sit for 24 hours lightly steel wool and repeat. on this mix I usually don't get any excess oil until after the third coat. Then I switch to a 1 to 1 mix light coats which I rub in pretty good check after half hour for excess oil sit for 24 hours steel wool and repeat, do this for 3 or 4 coats the switch to 2 to 1 mix. Usually do 4 or 5 coats then let it sit couple days for 2 coats the come back after a week and do very light coat. You shouldn't need to do any stain on walnut if you are using Linseed Oil it will darken up just from the oil.

 

[Century to late]

I sand my stocks with progressively finer sandpaper to 400 grit then raise the grain and re-sand with 400. I use a mix of Boiled Linseed Oil, Turpentine and a teaspoon of Vinegar. I start with a 1 to 2 mix, I use a pretty heavy coat because the wood will really soak it up. Check after a half hour and wipe any excess oil off then let it sit for 24 hours lightly steel wool and repeat. on this mix I usually don't get any excess oil until after the third coat. Then I switch to a 1 to 1 mix light coats which I rub in pretty good check after half hour for excess oil sit for 24 hours steel wool and repeat, do this for 3 or 4 coats the switch to 2 to 1 mix. Usually do 4 or 5 coats then let it sit couple days for 2 coats the come back after a week and do very light coat. You shouldn't need to do any stain on walnut if you are using Linseed Oil it will darken up just from the oil.

Great method!

 

[Terrier]

Just FYI, Aqua fortis on cherry wood comes out a deep chocolate brown. Really dark.

 

[45man]

Stain before anything else if you do stain. The pores are common and fill with finish as described by others. I have tried many sealers but finish is best. Tung oil from the store has almost none in it. My friend buys pure tung oil and it works nice to sand a slurry but does not dry so he mixes it with Tru Oil for final coats.
By the way ther are some wnderful guns shown here, nice work fellas.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

I sand my stocks with progressively finer sandpaper to 400 grit then raise the grain and re-sand with 400. I use a mix of Boiled Linseed Oil, Turpentine and a teaspoon of Vinegar. I start with a 1 to 2 mix, I use a pretty heavy coat because the wood will really soak it up. Check after a half hour and wipe any excess oil off then let it sit for 24 hours lightly steel wool and repeat. on this mix I usually don't get any excess oil until after the third coat. Then I switch to a 1 to 1 mix light coats which I rub in pretty good check after half hour for excess oil sit for 24 hours steel wool and repeat, do this for 3 or 4 coats the switch to 2 to 1 mix. Usually do 4 or 5 coats then let it sit couple days for 2 coats the come back after a week and do very light coat. You shouldn't need to do any stain on walnut if you are using Linseed Oil it will darken up just from the oil.

I haven't heard of adding the vinegar. What does it do?

 

[Century to late]

Pickles it.

 

[ronaldrothb49]

I haven't heard of adding the vinegar. What does it do?

That is a formula I got from John Schippers in his gun making classes. It separates the wax from the oil and you can wipe the wax off. John was adamant that you should never leave wax on the finish of a gunstock. He had a lot more experience than I do.

 

[springfield art]

Hello all,
I have went over my woodsrunner stock twice with 150 grit and the grain seems very open to me. There are little crevices or voids in the wood so to speak. Is this normal? I don't want to sand it too much with this coarse paper. It is smooth but the little voids are still there. This is my very first kit, and first time finishing walnut, so I'm sorry if this question seems silly to some. The advice is always very much appreciated.

Looks like pretty normal. Maybe just a more 'grainy' wood due to tree's growth location or whatever.

 

[user 34300]

"Easy button"

Another option is paste wood filler. NOT plastic wood. Use darker tinted product that the wood you are working with. Do not use water based fillers. I pick a dark walnut color for walnut. You want the pores to look dark. You can fill the pores in on session. The only downside is that the filler dulls checkering tools. There are many brands to choose from.

https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/downloadplans/bartley-paste-wood-filler.html

For finish I strongly suggest anything but BLO. If you want the look and feel of dozens of coats of BLO over a year. Use the filler above, or similar. Then finish with diluted spar varnish applied very thin. After about 5 five days, one pass per day. Rub it back with fine scotchbrite or steel wool. IF the finish is filled and even, then apply your BLO. It is a very good idea to add japan dryer to your varnish and your BLO. You will have a filled durable finish in a tiny fraction of the time. The BLO is fine for periodic use to refresh the shine and make it smell good.

My experience is that if you just rub BLO into American walnut you will have a sticky mess that never really dries.

 

[Tenring]

You can always burnish it with a glass rod or wooden dowel after to seal the pours and close them up.

 

[Hawthorn1213]

Perfectly normal for walnut to have big open pours like that. Depending on the application, I'll use grain filler from Stewmac. It comes in different colors and the black can really help the walnut pop.

 

[Frontstuffer070]

I let the finish do the sealing.

There was no pre-stain sealing done on this walnut stock, and frankly, I think it turned out pretty nice:
View attachment 307083View attachment 307084

That looks great, how did you finish this one?

Hi,
American black walnut is quite different than Juglans regia (aka English, French, Italian, Turkish, Armenian, Circassian, European walnut) and is usually less dense. I build many British military guns but often have to use black walnut for the stocks because long blanks of English walnut are hard to find and very expensive. So I have to bite the bullet, use black walnut and make it look like the English species. While you can find black walnut with beautiful warm reddish tones, it often has a cold purplish brown color that I dislike. So I warm it up with yellow dye.

That brings out warm and redder tones in black walnut.

This shows a piece of black walnut with just finish on it compared with black walnut stained to look like English walnut.

On these muskets, the black walnut is simply finished with a tung oil based varnish that mostly fills the pores but not completely like British muskets of the era. However, it still is a bit shiny again as were the original guns.

dave

I really like the looks of those Muskets. A Tung oil based varnish is what Danish oil is right?

 

[dave_person]

That looks great, how did you finish this one?

I really like the looks of those Muskets. A Tung oil based varnish is what Danish oil is right?

Hi,
No. I believe Danish Oil is a linseed oil based oil-varnish mix.

dave

 

[1950DAVE]

Either/or.

 

[wiscoaster]

That looks great, how did you finish this one?

....

Memory is hazy and couldn't locate any pics of process, but in general stained to color w/ mixed dye stains, dewhiskered, several light coats of tung oil well rubbed and burnished between (I may have also used dye in the oil), then after the oil well cured brown shoe polish, again well rubbed and burnished.

 

[Horizontal Hunter]

dave

Stunning rifle. Can you tell me where you got that insert you used on the top of the writs?

Thanks,

Bob