I have heard that there is a formula for “Real” Black Walnut stain. Something about filling five gallon buckets with whole nuts and letting them rot down. But what is the liquid used? Alcohol & Water? Anybody know the process?
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Replies
Hi Bruce..... I took a quick look in my wife's collection of books on textiles, but could not find the exact info you are looking for. If memory serves me corrctly, you crack open or slightly crush the fresh (green) walnut pods. They are then boiled for a while to leach out the coloring. Just a warning... make sure you are wearing 'Industrial Strength' waterproof gloves as the process of cracking the hulls will color your hands a most unpleasant color that will not easily come out. Walnut is one of the dyes that was traditionally used to color both cotton and wool in the colonial period.
You may want to consult some textile books for the amounts to use. Textile dyers used salt and utreic acids in their dyes to make them both more vibrant and fade-proof SawdustSteve
My hands have been stained many times shucking walnuts. As well as shucking butternuts,hickory nuts and beech nuts for breads my mother used to make. OH, to go back 50 years for some of the goodies. A lot of work though, That was pre Yule Gibbons! ;-)Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Bruce,"That was pre Yule Gibbons!"Wasn't that before he ate the Mojave Forrest? :)BB
Bruce,
I've used the stuff and I know a guy who uses it on everything. You need walnut husks (the rest of the it you can chuck I believe) and ammonia, the stronger the better. The stuff smells horrible and I mean cess pool horrible. But it is a great way to stain walnut. Put it on before anything else. From what I've been told (and my friend has been using it for 20+ years), it doesn't fade over time, as walnut on its own will. I know that he got the recipe from an old FWW. I'll see if I can track it down.
Matt
Personally, I'll just stick with Van Dyke crystals.
I use it all the time for walnut. There's a recipe that works well in 'Classic Finishing Techniques' by Sam Allen, published by Sterling Publishing Co.
Bruce,
I looked back through old issues of FWW. The stain has been discussed about 7 times, but not since issue 58. Some of the discussions were not helpful at all ("Soak husks in ammonia or boil in water") and some were down right old school (one involved having an old woman simmer the husks in rain water for a several days, all the while adding soda ash to the pot).
Here's the easiest one I came across. Pack a jar full of walnut husks (don't include the nuts here). Fill the jar to the brim with non-sudsy ammonia. Let is stand for a few weeks. The longer it stands, the darker the stain. Stain the mess through some cheese cloth or cotton or linen fabric. You should get a black stain. It will take some testing to get the stain to the color you desire. It might take less time soaking. It might take more.
I would store it in a dark place when not in use. But that's just because I've been told to do that. Don't know why.
Also, wear gloves. It will stain your hands and only time will get it off. Use it in a well ventilated area. And I've heard that if you let it air for a few days the ammonia stench goes away, but then you'd have it in the air for days.
Good luck. It's not hard to make or use and it does give a very good color to walnut. After all, it's made from walnuts.
If you'd like to try walnut husk stain with a little less of the mess, you can buy the crystalized extract from Olde Mill Cabinet Shoppe.
I've seen articles where it was also used to stain fresh honduran mahogany to tone it down.
Good thought, But! I'am too "frugal" to buy what I can make ;-)Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
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