Finishing Walnut??????

I’m guessing a lot of people will tell you not to stain walnut and I mostly agree, but if you want to darken it, you can stain it with Minwax Dark Walnut and it will darken it a little and help to match pieces somewhat. It helps to even things when making cabinets that are mostly walnut ply with solid walnut face frames and doors which don’t match well. Lacquer works well as a topcoat, but so do other things, depending on whether you have a sprayer or are brushing or wiping on.

-- Dale Manning, Carthage, NY

I agree with Dale. I normally don’t stain walnut, but on the rare occasion that I want to tie the color together with a veneer, that is the approach I take. I typically work with air dried lumber which hasn’t been steamed to darken it like most kiln dried lumber from large commercial kilns, so the color difference between that and most veneer is pretty stark.

-- PaulMayer, http://www.vernswoodgoods.com

I generally stay from the dark stains on walnut. Plain Natural stain or linseed oil gives a nice finish that can be followed up with poly urethane. Another quick way to put a nice warm color of finish on walnut is to use dilute amber or garnet shelac diluted with equal parts of alcohol. Being shelac this finish is not as durable but can be followed up with poly urethane to increase the durability.

-- Roger M, Aiken, SC

This is air dried walnut with a dilute stain of Minwax Red Mahogany under a top coat of thinned oil poly. The color in the picture is true to the real thing.

-- Clint Searl.............We deserve what we tolerate

I have found that most walnut that I use for turning looks better if stained to even out the color a bit without losing the look of the walnut, especially if there is a pronounced color change from heartwood to sapwood or if the stock has aged and faded. I use either a Minwax Dark Walnut or an alcohol based dye that I mix myself using Trans-tint. I actually prefer the Minwax; I find the color very pleasing. These two plates were made from the same stock, one is unstained, the other stained with Minwax.

-- patience is a virtue ... in woodworking, cooking, and life in general