A Staining Lesson the Hard Way

[Stan Smith]

i've turned a lot of walnut, but never any wet. I've learned that the wet shavings really stain your lathe bed and bottoms of your tool rest and tailstock. When I was trimming off the corners, I set the cutoffs on the table saw. Mistake! The metal table stained also. The way I removed the stain was to spray with WD40 and rub with a scouring pad (non-metal type). Probably everyone on this forum knew that wet oak shavings stain except me. :).

[Steve Peterson]

Was it walnut or oak? I don't have access to green walnut, but do come across some oak.

White oak also stains my finger tips black and leaves a strong smell in my nose that lasts for several days.

Steve

[Brian Brown]

The stain comes from the high concentration of tannic acid in the wood. It stains everything, and I mean everything. Try using a lemon cut in half and scrub the Ways with the juicy end. Be sure you clean the lemon juice off the late after you're done. If you don't the acid can cause pitting.

[Len Mullin]

Stan, in your posting you first started off by talking about Walnut, but, by the end of your posting you were talking about Oak. Thus the question, what type of wood were you talking about?
Len

[Fred Belknap]

I turn a lot of wet wood, mostly walnut, and don't have a problem with rust pitting. It will turn the ways and any cast iron it gets on black but it doesn't seem to do much damage. I do use WD-40 on the ways and use the lathe almost everyday. I don't have a problem with black.

[David C. Roseman]

I turn a lot of black walnut. Whatever the wood, keeping a thin coat of carnauba wax or similar on the ways helps avoid staining. Easy and quick to reapply.

[john taliaferro]

I use 10/40 motor oil ,and a strip of cardboard . Helps with clean up of chips also i finish on the poor lathe . Automotive lacquer spills don't stick to bad .

[Prashun Patel]

One man's stain is another's patina. If it ain't rust, it's a proud scar in my shop.

FWIW, tho, I haven't had wet walnut stain. Walnut and cherry do contain smaller amounts of tannic acid than do white or red oak but I haven't had them stain my ways.

[Stan Smith]

Stan, in your posting you first started off by talking about Walnut, but, by the end of your posting you were talking about Oak. Thus the question, what type of wood were you talking about?
Len

Oops. Must be that damned CRS again. Yes, it's walnut not oak.