Black Walnut

[Jerry Thompson]

A friend of mine in So. Dk. had a pickup load of air dried BW given to him a while back. It has been stored inside and has seen no high humidity conditions.
He wants to build some items with the lumber.
I remember reading that an orange dye could be applied first followed by the finish. This is supposed to only work on air dried BW to bring out all of its color.
Does this ring true? If so what would be the finishing schedule?
Thank you.

[Mel Fulks]

No, I don’t think so, for one thing ,air dried usually has more color anyway. My favorite is the red-ish walnut. Some walnut is steamed
to even out color. It does not get my es-steem .

[Jerry Thompson]

"my es-steem." Thanks Mel. Keep your day job.

[Robert LaPlaca]

Jerry, orange dye is usually used on kiln dried Walnut to kill the blueish tint that kiln dried Walnut can have. Orange is a warm color on the color wheel, opposite of blue which is a cold color.

I personally have used orange dye on KD Walnut. I agree with Mel, that air dried typically has much better color, but I don’t see why one couldn’t use it on air dried Walnut. I would test it on some scraps first before committing the dye to a project.

[Jamie Buxton]

On air-dried walnut, don't do extra work with the finish. Just use oil-based varnish. It looks great. I apply it wipe-on. I can get a nice thin coat, and no brush marks.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Orange dye or orange shellac?

[John TenEyck]

Don't go nuts over air dried walnut. All those greens, reds, etc. fade over time regardless of how it's finished. The clarity is better than steamed walnut, however.

John

[Robert LaPlaca]

John, I know this is a finishing forum, but air dried Walnut also hand planes and carves so much nicer than kiln dried.

[Mel Fulks]

Don't go nuts over air dried walnut. All those greens, reds, etc. fade over time regardless of how it's finished. The clarity is better than steamed walnut, however.

They don’t fade in the shade ! I know closing the curtains in daylight is not done much now, but it needs to be done in direct sun.
Some people have curtains opened and closed by electricity why not use it ….it’s better than eccentricity! Some of us remember hearing
Mom or Aunts yelling about mid day sun shining on expensive stuff. Maybe it’s available in Stereo !

[Jerry Thompson]

IIRC it was dye.

[John TenEyck]

John, I know this is a finishing forum, but air dried Walnut also hand planes and carves so much nicer than kiln dried.

Depends on the kiln. Walnut from my solar kiln, which never exceeds 130F, works the same as AD wood, or at least I can't tell a difference.

John

[Kent A Bathurst]

Sorry to be late to the game - I was resurrected only recently. Makin some stuff - bedside night stand/chests.

I have some marvelous air-dried walnut - both flat sawn and quartersawn. I'm awed by the wood. I don't know that I needed the air-dried, but the steamed stuff doesn't do it for me.

I dinked around to get what I was looking for. Ended up with GF dye stain; 3 parts orange to 1 part medium brown

It is terrific. The orange is ORANGE. Kinda choked until I saw it on a test board. I love how this has turned out

Again - maybe the steamed stuff would do as well - dunno - I just had the heebie-jeebies about using that.

3/4# super blonde/platina shellac as wash coat. Dye as noted. Garnet shellac finish.

[mike stenson]

They don’t fade in the shade ! I know closing the curtains in daylight is not done much now, but it needs to be done in direct sun.
Some people have curtains opened and closed by electricity why not use it ….it’s better than eccentricity! Some of us remember hearing
Mom or Aunts yelling about mid day sun shining on expensive stuff. Maybe it’s available in Stereo !

IME it doesn't need to be in the direct sun light to fade. Just time, and light.