That's a pretty good sized piece to get a consistent wet edge if you go with shellac, but I'm not the finish expert. The piece on the left is an example. Freshly planed, this wood has an overall greyish look. I also have an inexpensive gravity fed pot gun for applying WB SNW stains. You just have to work fast and wet the entire surface quickly to avoid overlap marks. This will be my first time working with it, so I thought id ask you guys for any tips or advise in regards to sanding/finishing. The money spent on the black walnut is offset by what I'd charge them for staining. You could always use lacquer on the base if you want a completely clear finish on it. This finish gives walnut a dark yet warm color, and if you choose to apply it by wet-sanding, this too can fill the grain as above. Hand sanding with the grain is the best way to massage this hardwood into bringing out its beautiful grain, working with progressively finer grits of sandpaper as you go. How would you suggest applying the diluted poly? Contributor B, I want to compliment you on the beautiful photos you posted! Im about to begin a project using some beautiful american black walnut i purchased. Hi all, Nearing completion on my first-ever project, a black walnut slab coffee table with an ash base: 247050 I'm just starting to read up on finishing (purchased Understanding Wood Finishing by Bob Flexner) and am leaning towards using wiping varnish on the slab, probably the same on the ash base. Looking back, I even believe that is what happened in our shop many years ago when we sanded red oak with 220 grit before staining (this was all solvent based products). Hold the gun 8 inches from the walnut at a 30-degree angle. I've never done black walnut, and the WB finish doesn't really enhance grain the way solvent does, so for this special project, I'd like to know if there is something I can use to enrich the wood and help it pop. I have a couple of questions after reading your schedule. I'm not trying to mimic the yellowing effect of oil-based finishes (that's the main reason we switched to WB), just bring out any shimmer and enhance the grain and not add a greyish cast. However, I found that a 50/50 mix of Minwax Special Walnut and Dark Walnut applied after necessary sanding, using an old cotton T-shirt, was nice. After that, you can use whatever protective finishing you like, but that'll pop the grain all you'd like. Walnut takes dyes and stains very nicely. From Paul Snyder, forum technical advisor: 72 Posts . Dust Collection, Safety and Plant Operation, Job Opportunities and Woodworking Services, A detailed discussion on staining kiln-dried Walnut. More about how I finished that in “Part 1” > The solid walnut top, above, is a slightly different story. A local bank needed about 60 blocks of black walnut machined to hold brass name plaques for its big muckety-mucks. I'm not adverse to taking a solvent step to start, if it will enhance the end product. November 14, 2009. 7.) Then wipe off the excess and let it dry. 8.) By Glen D. Huey. Try it on scraps of both woods before you start finishing the whole piece. Forum Responses The Minwax clear poly, to me, let plenty of detail come through and didn't darken, just highlighted. 1 coat of spray dye stain to help pop figure and get even color. Warm browns and orange-ish browns look good on the steam dried walnut. We gradually adjusted the color of the dye by adding drops of blue and black to reach the purplish gray hue of kiln-dried walnut. Wipe door with damp clean rag to pre-raise the grain. Sand with 400 or de-nib with maroon pad if grain didn't raise too much. We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. Since the ash base is dyed black and glazed with a gray stain for a unique look, I put that in a separate tutorial. If you were working with air dried walnut that had good coloring, then you could just use a coat of highly thinned fast drying oil-base varnish or polyurethane like a stain on the bare wood before topcoating with the WB. I had always thought you weren't supposed to sand raw wood finer than about 180 grit when staining. I am preparing a sample door in black walnut with a veneer center panel. Posted October 2, 2008. Spray an even, wet coat of lacquer on the wood. 0. The black walnut I've been working with has topped out buttery smooth at either 200 or 220 at a final sanding working up from 80 on a random orbit and palm. I'd like our current project to have a similar brown/black tone possibly. It's easy to apply and is very water protective. Overview Information Black walnut is a tree. The first step to showing off these grain patterns is to sand the wood properly. Spray final topcoat. 2.) Varying a drop as you add the dye to the shellac is not going to create a significant difference in the final look of the finish, but try to keep each batch consistent. Here is mahogany after topcoats. For this particular project, im going for a somewhat modern look, dark, smooth and glossy. 6.) We've been using WB finishes for about 6-7 years now. In Techniques. Home / Techniques / Finishing Walnut. Question I never soaked or applied too much, just a nice even coat. I've had the same success with walnut. Walnut door: Buy red, blue, yellow and black water-soluble dye powder and custom mix a sapwood. It is solvent based, but can be sprayed with WB coatings within 2 hours. Sounds like the walnut you have is steam dried, which washes out a lot of the color (like the piece on the right in the picture below). I use a lot of walnut in my woodworking and I have problems getting all of the sanding marks out of it. As I understood the job, it required slicing up 10/4 walnut lumber into a fairly complex geometry, sanding them mirror smooth and then routing a recess for the brass plaque. Sand to 320. It takes a lot more sanding than any other wood. Waited 24 hours, then took a cotton rag soaked in mineral spirits and wrung out real well, then lightly wiped off any excess pigment. Thin it with 2 parts naphtha or mineral spirits to one part finish. You are using a spray and wipe stain, *and* a dye? Products used: I'm concerned about yellowing though. Two full coats of top coats back to back with no sanding in between 4-5ml. The nut, the shell of the nut (hull), and the leaf are sometimes used to make medicine. We had some older scraps around from another source that has a warmer brown tone, both on the finished and unfinished sides. Finished properly, blue, yellow and black water-soluble dye powder and custom mix a sapwood – but different.! 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