Finishing walnut

[Joseph O'Leary]

I am building bunk beds for my son. LOML would like to keep the walnut the same nice brown it is now. I know walnut lightens with age. Does anyone have a good finish schedule to retain the dark brown color. Thanks for any advice you may have.

[Carl Eyman]

Is that described by Jeff Jewitt of Homestead finishing in FWW a little les that a year ago. He suggests after sanding to 220 look for any light sapwood that needs attention. I never make a piece out of walnut that doesn't have some. I'd go broke trying to cut it all out during construction. On the sapwood use a dye made from Brown Mahogany Transtint dye mixed with whatever color needed to bring the sapwood to the color of the heartwod. I found a few drops of Cordovan Transtint did the job. After the sapwood is colored to match the heartwood go over the whole piece with a dye consisting of 1/2 oz of Golden Brown Transtint to 12 oz of water. Follow this with a 2# shellac. I am using about 8 or so coats of seedlac to fill the grain, but that is probably more color change than you want. If You'd like I'll prepare a sample treated that way. I am dying and shellacing every day. Also I can give you the FWW issue, if you wish.

[Joseph O'Leary]

Carl, Thanks for the info. I sent you a PM.

[Matt Meiser]

I'm in the middle of finishing a walnut piece. In fact I'm in the shop office right now waiting to spray another coat of shellac. The shellac finish on walnut is stunning. I'm going to spray Target Coatings Laquer over a few coats of shellac to give it a bit more protection.

[Joseph O'Leary]

Matt, are you just using shellac, or did you dye/stain the piece first? I have never used walnut before so I am concerned with what will happen over time. I sprayed some shellac ( zinnser (sp?) ) from a can just to see the color of the wood, and it is very nice. My concern, and LOML's, is how it will lighten over time. We would like to keep it close to the original deep brown. I am going to try the dye mix that Carl reccommended and see how it looks. I will seal the dye with a 2# cut of dewaxed blond shellac and top with a water based varnish, yet to be decided on.

[Matt Meiser]

I didn't dye it first. I was able to make all my solid wood pieces with no sapwood. There is some in the burl veneer top, but I'm leaving it because I like the character. I first read about the shellac finish for walnut in Flexner's book.

[Steve Schoene]

There is a Catch 22 problem. If you add enough pigment so the walnut will stay the same over the years, you will have obscured some of the attractiveness of the wood. Walnut does lighten, but it's not an unattractive look in my opinion.

I have an aquaintance that makes walnut reproductions of William and Mary furniture. He desires that aged look so much that he bleaches the walnut to white with a two part bleach and then uses dye and stain to get to the lighter old walnut look.

But if you are determined to maintain walnut dark, you should use a pigment only stain. (Dyes will also fade over time.) A dark shellac will also help. Shellac is very light stable over long periods of time.