Walnut
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Ok, I’m working on another clock as a Christmas present for my paents and it’s going to be made out of walnut I found a local supply of walnut cheap from craigslist from someone who mills lumber as a side job. As I was preparing the lumber, I notice a lot of discoloration in the sap wood. The lumber itself issolid, but the discoloration is unsightly. I am going to cut the sap wood off, but was curious if anyone knew what the discoloration was from. I think it’s from improperly drying the lumber and might be a fungus?
Take look, here is a picture from front and back..
Not certain about the discoloration, but I was just listening to a podcast recently where they were discussing how most kiln-dried walnut is already steamed to even out the color (at the expense of color intensity).
-Scott Los Angeles
I don’t think it’s unsightly personally, but when you get to the finishing stage, you could dye that section a little, or use a darker shellac to even it out.
Walnut has a lot of colours in it, but it takes a dye or stain very well. The discolouring could be from the drying process but it could also just be a natural part of the tree, minerals in the earth, etc. It could also be a section which has or had a higher moisture content.
Whatever the cause, slap some garnet shellac on it and it will look awesome all over!
Interesting! The lumber is air dried. It just amazes me that this wood can be a chocolate brown, cream, dirty brown and teal colors. It also has a different feel to it than the kiln driedwalnut I have on hand. It almost feels denser? Hard to describe, but it is pleasant to work with. Except right in the middle of where the grain begins to form a peak, and the grain is interlocking. I took a chuck of wood right out. Took awhile to plane smooth.
I wasn’t planning on dying it, but testing a piece with the amber shellac to see how it looks… I see others use blo and shellac. If norther of those work out, then I will try the garnet shellac.. Just trying to use what I have first….
I’ve used some pretty funky walnut timbers in the past. Here’s a photo of a piece without any finish on it that reminds me of your piece.
Walnut planes really nice, doesn’t it?
That is some enchanting grain! What did you make with it? And how did you end up finishing it?
Yes, it does plane really nice! I just had one difficult spot where the grain reversed direction, other than that, it had a glass smooth finish…
Here is the other half of the board, still in it’s rough state.
Thanks. It was part of a children’s bookcase. The finish was blond shellac and wax. The crazy grain piece is the bottom shelf, but you can see on the shelf above similar discolouration to your piece and how the shellac tempers it.
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