Replies

1. 
   TonyCz | Aug 09, 2008 10:26pm | #1

   Black walnut hulls and ammonia can be used, I have read some place, maybe it was here on knots or in FWW mag. 

   I don't remember if it's green hulls or dryed hulls and soaked in the ammonia solution for several weeks and applied to the sap wood. I have some walsnut I need to test this on as well.

1. 
   Woodman41 | Aug 10, 2008 06:36am | #2

   Thanks Tony. That sounds interesting but a lot of work... plus I'm always concerned about the reliability of these home remedies.

1. 
   TonyCz | Aug 10, 2008 07:14am | #3

   I just finished with FWW #200 and there happens to be an artical about what you are asking about using dyes.

2. 
   forestgirl | Aug 10, 2008 07:36am | #4

   I'm no expert, but had very good results with Jeff Jewitt's Transtint dye, no complicated schedule.  Here's a link to the post and pictures.  Might not be fancy enough for a table, but encouraging I would think.  (i.e., if FG can do it, anyone can!)

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 
   
3. 
   knuts | Aug 10, 2008 03:45pm | #5

   I'm not even very adequate at finishing so I tend to do what's easy for me. But what has worked for me (at least to my eye) is onyx stain on the sapwood feathering the edges for a no-line blend. Wipe that off the apply walnut gel stain on top of the area blending into the darkwood.

4. 
   flairwoodworks | Aug 11, 2008 03:32am | #6

   I'm with Sam Maloof on this one - don't think of sapwood as a defect.  Instead, think of it like a live edge - a design feature.

   Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com

    - Success is not the key to happines.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

1. 
   Woodman41 | Aug 11, 2008 05:45am | #7

   LOL, but I'll quote Woodman on this one: "when it just looks like crap the best thing to do is deal with it instead of excuse it."Thanks everyone for the advice. I did read that piece in issue #200 as well, which was basically a reprise of the earlier issue featuring cherry. My reluctance is that when I've dealt with walnut, which is not often, I have found dying the wood to be a little challenging as it relates to the sapwood. It's just always noticeable, which is why issue 167 and the neutralizing the entire piece with a yellow dye was interesting. I'll test it out on some pieces and report back. I'm not confident in the "just tint the sapwood and blend it in" approach, but I may be guilty of splitting hairs here as well, sometimes good enough is good enough.And yes, I do like the Transtint dyes, have quite a few recipes cooked up that rely on that line of products. Recently I have been using some of the Mixol tints and am quite impressed with them as well.

1. 
   Woodman41 | Aug 11, 2008 08:45pm | #8

   Last night I dyed a test piece using a neutralizing pass with lemon yellow dye, which actually made for an interesting effect with the walnut, but it more or less washed out the entire test piece. I then dyed the piece a second time using a dark mission brown dye and the sapwood did indeed achieve consistent color against the heartwood. I just laid down a washcoat of shellac but I think that with a topcoat (not a fan of poly but the application is a bathroom) this will come out rich and deep with good color from sapwood to heartwood. It's a little more work than simply trying to blend in the sapwood but I think the result will be worth it.

2. 
   WillGeorge | Aug 12, 2008 06:05am | #9

   don't think of sapwood as a defect.

   I agree.. But I like the idea of feather blending the sharp edge.

   I look for wood like the 'problem' posted..