Walnut finish

[Fred Washam]

I am in the process of building a Walnut dining table from some not so great lumber. I was able to come up with enough boards to make a nice top, but now what is left for the legs and aprons is going to need to be stained for a reasonable color match. The problem is blending sapwood and heartwood to look approximately the same. I have tried oil stains of various colors, and found them all to be lousy for this application. Have any of you got a secret receipe for walnut stain? I would like to try Walnut hulls soaked in amonia, but the Walnuts here are too green. Any help is much appreciated.

[Steve Schoene]

Van Dyke crystals give a walnut based dye. It's a dye, whether from the crystals, or from analine dye powder that will help to balance the overall color. Use a more concentrated mix for the sapwood, applying with a small soft bristle brush (1/2" more or less) following grain lines. Then after the sapwood dye has dried quickly overcoat everywhere with a less concentrated mix of the same color. After this basic coloring has pulled the surface together visually, an application with a pigment only oil based stain (thinned a bit if it makes things too dark, or if really too dark, apply a wash coat of 1 lb. cut shellac to separate the stain from the dye. You will have to work out the technique and shades on test samples from the same wood.

[Jim Becker]

Fred, the other thing you need to know is that walnut will get lighter over time, so you don't want to "over-dye" the sapwood.