Walnut bowl = Walnut oil?

[Aaron Buys]

Just about ready to sand my first walnut bowl. My choice of finishes prior to buffing will be walnut, tung, Watco, and I think I have some BLO. Is there any advantage to using walnut oil on walnut wood such as better penetration or overall finish? I've seen Bill G. use Watco in his video do so I'm tempted to go that route since this is my first bowl. Any advice on which finish to use?

[Steve Kubien]

The two things are not really related. I have found walnut oil (Mahoney's) to leave a very satiny sheen, no gloss whatsoever. I love the stuff and use it on virtually all of my work. The exceptions are when I want a higher shine or if I want the work to amber and darken over time. Mahoney's walnut oil does not seem to darken much. If this is a food-use piece, you can use it almost immediately after applying Mahoney's. For watco, blo, tung oil etc you have to wait for the fumes to be gone. Could be a week, could be several.

HTH

[David E Keller]

You can't go wrong with the options you listed, but they'll all give you a little different look. If the bowl is a 'user', I'd probably use the walnut oil as it'll be the easiest to refurbish when the time comes. If it's a 'looker', it probably doesn't make much difference... As Steve mentioned, the darkening and sheen vary from finish to finish, but I don't think it really matters.

[Aaron Buys]

Thanks guys. The bowl will be for display only. There is a large knot near the bottom I can see through so I doubt it would be much use any other way =). Could you elaborate on the looks the different finishes will give?

[Steve Kubien]

Aaron, my experience has been that you can buff Watco to a higher sheen than Mahoney's walnut oil. This is simply because Watco is a danish oil, meaning it has oil, varnish and a thinner in it. The key thing is the varnish. That's where the shine comes from, granted it will take 2-4 coats. Mahoney's oil has no varnish/urethane/any-thane in it. Tung oil is available in so many different versions but most if not all are some version of danish oil though the oil itself will be tung oil vs linseed oil in danish oil. I may have a couple of ingredients off but the net effect is the same.

Most oils will react with UV rays to amber over time. There's probably all sorts of reasons for this but I have no idea what they are. My experience is the walnut oil does not do this as much as the other products mentioned. No idea why.

HTH

[John Beaver]

Here's my opinion.

I'm not a huge fan of Walnut oil. For a utilitarian bowl it is fine, but to me it doesn't look rich enough.

I like Watco but prefer Tung Oil. You can build up Tung oil with multiple coats to get the exact finish you want. Watco will fill the pores a little more then Tung Oil which can make it look a little too much like a finish, rather then natural, but I've had great success with both.

I recently made a bowl with Maple and Walnut. I put Tung Oil on the Walnut part, then sprayed the whole thing with Deft Lacquer and buffed. It's more shiny then I usually do, but it looks incredible.

I am attaching two pictures. The bowl with the Beaded Maple on top is the one finished with Laquer. It's hard to see the sheen on the Walnut, but if you look at the highlight from the light on the top left that's how shiny the Walnut is too. The second bowl with the three Maple waves has one coat of Tung Oil. I have added more since the photo was taken but you can see it's a little softer looking and you can also see the pores. Both bowls are small - 6" dia. I would place Watco right in the middle.

Curious to see what Keeton says as I know he likes to work with Walnut.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree if it is just going to be a display bowl I would use Watco. I use Mahoney's walnut oil for my utility items. Works well. For utility items I don't want a real shine because they were meant to be used.

[John Keeton]

For display, I love BLO and shellac on walnut, but WOP works, as well. If you keep the WOP down to a couple of coats, it will buff to a very satin, handrubbed look.

[Prashun Patel]

Walnut and mineral oils don't 'dry'. They are food safe, and when they wash/rub off with use, they are easy to refresh.
Tung oil and BLO will eventually dry gummy and 'soft'. Because of this, they offer slightly more protection than the previous oils. They can also be polished to a very slightly higher gloss than their nondrying cousins. But they are also easy to reapply because they don't build brittle layers.

Varnish, shellac, lacquer are hard and easy to polish to high gloss and offer a lot of protection. Their ease of polish makes them scratch prone more than oils.

Watco Danish Oil is one of many oil/varnish hybrids. The varnish to oil ratio determines how hard the finish is, and therefore how easy it is to polish.

Last, there are some products that are pure varnishes - even though they mention the starting material might contain some tung oil. Waterlox is one of these.

It's really hard to figure out what is what from the label alone - particularly with tung oil. In general, pure tung oil is sold as 'pure' or 'raw'. If it is followed by the word 'finish' then it's likely a blend of oil and varnish or just varnish.

IMHO, for starting bowls, I find a wiping varnish (oil polyurethane or another oil varnish diluted 50/50 with mineral spirits) to be the easiest way to a rewarding finish (for a 'looking' bowl). After sanding, you just put a little on a rag, and hold it to the bowl. keep the cloth rubbing the bowl. Then buff it all off with a clean cloth. Keep doing this and within a few coats, you'll have a nice low luster. The more coats, the higher the luster.

[Keith Westfall]

This (above) is what the "Creek" is all about!

Thanks (to all) for the explanation(s) concerning the different finishes. I have copied this into a document for reference (cause I can't remember by the time I get to the shop!) for when I need to try and remember how to do it.

Thanks to all who willingly share their knowledge.

Keith

[Art Manansala]

All great info here. A follow up question - For utility bowls, do you use wax over the oil? If so, what kind?

Thanks,

Art

[Dale Bright]

Walnut and mineral oils don't 'dry'. They are food safe, and when they wash/rub off with use, they are easy to refresh.


Prashun,

This is quoted from Mike Mahoney's web site: "Mike heat treats the oil to make his Utility Finish; it penetrates deeply into the wood and then hardens, leaving an excellent utility finish that will not evaporate like mineral oil finishes."

I have been using walnut oil for some time and I have found that it does indeed dry. I even use it on some display items that have been sanded to 600 grit, buffed and waxed and this leaves a very good low lustre sheen.

I sometimes use walnut oil to "pop" the grain and then use a film finish like Watco or Antique Oil, after letting the oil dry for a few days.

Dale

[Reed Gray]

Mineral oil does not dry. Walnut oil will dry, but it takes it a week or so. Mike's oil is pressed from the husks and leaves of the tree, not the nut meats. The walnut oil you buy at the grocery store is pressed from the nut meats. It is some times pasteurized. This prevents or at least slow way down the drying/curing process of the oil. I use the walnut oil on all of my utility bowls. For a display piece, I use wipe on poly. The floor finishes tend to build up a lot quicker than furniture types of WOP.

robo hippy

[Dan Hintz]

I am attaching two pictures. The bowl with the Beaded Maple on top is the one finished with Laquer. It's hard to see the sheen on the Walnut, but if you look at the highlight from the light on the top left that's how shiny the Walnut is too. The second bowl with the three Maple waves has one coat of Tung Oil. I have added more since the photo was taken but you can see it's a little softer looking and you can also see the pores. Both bowls are small - 6" dia. I would place Watco right in the middle.
WARNING: Thread sidetrack :)

I would love to know the general process for creating those :) Very slick...

[Art Manansala]

WARNING: Thread sidetrack :)

I would love to know the general process for creating those :) Very slick...

Agreed! I'd love to see this technique.