Grain popping walnut

[Justin Goeden]

I'll make this probably the 1 million +1 times this has been asked. I've read through some stuff, just looking for some personalized advice here.

Redoing my mantel and have decided to go with walnut. I have some beautiful, and very colorful walnut as the main pieces along with a nice 12/4 thick main shelf piece. I really want a nice, contrast to the grain, but yet with a very natural looking finish.

I recently have started using Waterlox original formula and have been loving the results. Made a cherry cabinet that looked amazing with waterlox, as well as a walnut/sycamore chess board.

My mantel will be similar to the picture, both in style and in wood finish. The second picture is the wood I'm working with (it's actually more colorful than the picture shows, has a nice variety of browns, purples, reds). Is it possible to get a comparable amount of contrast with the wood I'm starting with? I had planned on using waterlox but initial tests have proven to be less than desirable. Different color shellacs, BLO, tung oil and waterlox tests all look muddy. Not very impressed. I did see a thread where John TenEyck use Arm-R-Seal and it looked very promising, but I can't tell if it is more of the wood he started with or the Arm-R-Seal.

Do you think I can do anything with this very colorful, yet bland walnut? Or should I look for a better piece of wood to start with?

WalnutMantle.jpg
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[Steve Schoene]

First a sad note: The purples and reds are going to shift to shades of brown before too long, no matter what you do.

I'm not sure this will work for you, but one good technique to have lively walnut is to start with powdered water soluble dye. The color? Orange, a medium shade of orange. not too strong a tint. Then, after the dye has dried, use an oil or oil based varnish to pop grain and to bring down the orange color. End result looks like walnut, not like orange dyed walnut.

[Prashun Patel]

I am not a fan of walnut in a sunny area. If that mantel will receive direct light for some of the day, your walnut may fade to a light, very pedestrian color.

I do find that walnut finished with Waterlox holds its color better than walnut in Arm R Seal or Minwax Polyurethane.

If your room will receive sun, then you might consider cherry, which has the opposite performance; the older it gets, the darker it gets.

[John TenEyck]

The only "advantage" of Arm-R-Seal over Waterlox is that it's lighter (and maybe easier to apply); I don't think it will give you any more contrast, although it may look lighter and allow you to see the grain better. I was really surprised to find out how much BLO popped the grain in walnut when I used it under Arm-R-Seal. But if it's not working for you with your wood then I would follow Steve's recommendation and try a dye first. You can push the color of walnut around a lot with dye AND it really brings out the grain. I one turned a walnut test specimen into the most amazing looking cherry. If blotching is a problem with the dye then spray it on.

John

[John TenEyck]

If light fading is a real concern, I'd use a topcoat that has a good UV stabilizer package in it. GF's High Performance Poly is one that I've used on cherry, and seen no darkening of the cherry in about 5 years since I finished it. SW is said to make an excellent product, too. Seems like Target Coatings has a product, too. If you rub out the final finish you can get a nice tactile feel.

John

[Robert LaPlaca]

First a sad note: The purples and reds are going to shift to shades of brown before too long, no matter what you do.

I'm not sure this will work for you, but one good technique to have lively walnut is to start with powdered water soluble dye. The color? Orange, a medium shade of orange. not too strong a tint. Then, after the dye has dried, use an oil or oil based varnish to pop grain and to bring down the orange color. End result looks like walnut, not like orange dyed walnut.

Yes, I am with Steve, I have used Transfast Orange dye on Walnut, if you are timid mix the dye at 50% concentration and try it on some scrape Walnut (i have used straight concentrations of the dye sometimes) .. Initially it will look just god awful, I use a couple coats of dewaxed Garnet shellac to bring the color back, then top coat it with Waterlox OSF..

[Justin Goeden]

Light fading not too much of a concern, one two windows that share a wall with the fireplace, and both face west.

Think I'll give the orange dye a try. I've used dyes, once to actually turn some cheap pine into a beautiful dark walnut color. Not too scared of the orange, that's why we do tests! And, I've got garnet shellac mixed up and ready to go. Thanks guys!!!