Finishing and Refinishing

[jag39]

I am making a cradle with walnut and would like to end up with a darker finish than natural walnut will give me. Any sugesstions on a good way to achieve this, stain, gel stain, dye?

[Randy@Yorktown]

Jag39,

Maybe you've already done this but, if you haven't, take a scrap piece of the walnut that has been sanded and just apply a bit of water ever finish you're planning to use.  In my experience, the result has been that I've never needed to add any artificial color to walnut.  It darkens beautifully.

[BobWoodworker]

I used a finish on walnut recommended by Steve Mickley and it turned out dark and beautiful.  His recipe is to apply a coat of BLO wiping off all excess oil.  Allow to dry for 24 hours.  Then apply two coats of 2 lb cut garnet shellac. I wiped a third time with just alcohol.  It looks great and I may reduce the sheen somewhat with a coat of satin Pratt & Lambert #38, but this is optional.   Bob.

[Scott Holmes]

TransTints dye.  Dark Walnut in denatured alcohol is what I would use.  Did this about 8 months ago on a large job ~2200 sq ft of walnut.

[Larry.Jenkins]

Sand a small piece of your Walnut scrap to 320.  Wipe on some Mineral spirits.  This will give you an idea how your finished Walnut would look with no stain.

Try it you might like it.  I personally don't think Walnut should be stained.

Larry

[bobcut]

used to sell paint and stain .  sold stain to a gunstock manufacturer if you mix alcohol stain 1/2red and1/2 green adjusting to match a hershey bar you will get a good stain for bare wood . they used a clear epoxy finish that wont   darken bare wood at all so they needed some stain. my personal preference is to use an oil finish.