Finishing a walnut stock

[bob hertrich]

I am building a pistol with a walnut stock. Should the stock be stained? Should I use a filler like on modern stocks? Would Danish oil be a good final finish? Do you whisker it? You can tell this is my first walnut stocking.

[t.caster]

You don't have to stain walnut unless you want more color or darkness, but then you will likely cloud the nice grain. Practice staining on scraps of same wood. Again, you don't need stain on walnut.
 Yes you need to whisker it and use a filler. Walnut has an open grain that will suck up a lot of sealer. I haven't used Danish oil, so I won't comment on it. I normally use Chambers sealer & finish.

[Jim Kibler]

To my eye, unstained walnut, particularly with a modern finish usually looks pretty bad.  I like the effect of staining using a ferric nitrate (aquafortis) solution.  See Mitch Yates recent post of the nice Berks County rifle he built.  A linseed oil finish will help with the color as well. 

[rich pierce]

I tried aquafortis the other day on a scrap piece of walnut and it turned black.  Maybe there was too much acid left in the solution.  It was home brew and not my strongest batch.  Just suggesting you always do a trial with whatever AQF you're using.

[longcruise]

I've found no stain to work pretty well with walnut.  I use shellac for filler.  Three applications and then an oil finish.  As a general rule, I've found any kind of "oil" finish sold in the big box stores to be kinda suspect.  As pedestrian as Tru Oil is, it works pretty dang good!

[Joe S]

This stock was stained with black walnut hull extract, made by simmering the hulls in water for about 12 hours.  I also tried AF, but it turned this piece of walnut a dark muddy grey color.  I’m not 100% certain that the walnut hull extract was ever used on gun stocks, but it looks nice and seems reasonable.




If you want to try this stain, be advised that there is no known way to get walnut hull stain off of human skin.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

[bob in the woods]

I've used chewing tobacco on walnut as a stain. " Stag " is a brand up here that comes as a solid chunk.
It is the most vile, strong , head spinning,stomach churning stuff ,but- makes a nice stain!

[tallbear]

Bob
Here is a link to the walnut rifle I just finished. Link;http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=14775.0

I stained it with Aqua-fortis twice. It is finished with Spar Varnish.I filled the grain by rubbing the first few coats of finish when wet with scotchbright and allowing the sanding slurry to fill the pores.

Walnut needs to be stained to my eye.It kind of looks lifeless without some staining.

Mitch Yates

[Ed Wenger]

Bob,

I've done both stain and not stained.  I think it depends more on the wood as to whether you stain or not.  Test the wood in the barrel channel with stain vs finish and see what you think.

I personally like to fill the grain on walnut.  You can use commercial fillers like Pore-O-Pac (from Woodcraft), Chambers sells filler as well, some folks even use black spray paint...  Another method is to sand with the finish you'll be using, making a slurry to fill the grain, as Mitch described.  Do a search here for methods, I'm sure you'll get some good info.

I've used Danish Oil,  but prefer a home brewed linseed oil.  That's just my preference, you can get decent results with Danish oil, I'd just practice first with a scarp piece, preferably from the same wood as your stock.

       Ed

[Glenn]

One thing I'd like to suggest to you is an idea I have heard about several times over thru the years; simply rub the stock down using boiled linseed oil with a few drops of your favorite stain mixed in.  If you have wood that soaks up the oil, then adding a few drop of stain color will in itself provide a very unique stain.  The stain color will impregnate the wood slowly and a little at a time.  If you get a color you want before you finish rubbing it with oil, you simply switch to non-colored boiled linseed oil.  Seems like an ultimate form of "color control".

Just an idea however .... Just remember that YOU are the one that has to be pleased with it. 

[Pete G.]

Don't forget that a linseed oil darkens with time and exposure. If it's not quite dark enough to suit your taste then either wait a while or add just a little bit of soot to the next coat of oil. I usually dip a finger in the oil, then wipe the inside of the fireplace to get just a little bit of color. Seems to help add character to the powder horn also.

[bob hertrich]

Thanks, guys. A lot of good advice here. I just have to pick one and get going. I will post pictures when it is done.

[jeager58]

wet the wood and see if the color pleases you. a few years of oiling will darken it. on a few pieces of walnut I put a stain that had a a red tint to it and I think it brought out the grain of the wood better without making it to dark. try  different methods on scrap and find what you like. also I have found that walnut that has been steamed takes stain a lot faster than natural walnut....Phil

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

After much testing..the pics of which I cannot find at the moment I have settled on sealing & filling with 1# cut of dewaxed garnet shellac (from Woodcraft) then finish with Chambers Traditional Oil finish... after three coats of sealer and 5 coats of rubbed on oil finish the grain and curl in the walnut slap you in the eye........  try it on some scrap

[razor62]

Here's one that I built. No stain. I think that a decent piece of walnut will hold its own without the need for stain. On the flipside...I have no clue if the gunsmiths of old stained walnut or not.

[Glenn]

Here's one that I built. No stain. I think that a decent piece of walnut will hold its own without the need for stain. On the flipside...I have no clue if the gunsmiths of old stained walnut or not.

Beautiful finish indeed.  Thanks for sharing and posting the photo.  Makes me think twice about staining the walnut I was planning on using for the Harper's Ferry rifle I was going to do someday.

[razor62]

Thanks for the kind words GRA.

As far as military arms are concerned, and I'm sure that someone with more knowledge than I will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that they were all mostly stocked in walnut whether it be European or American walnut and that none were stained.

[keweenaw]

I will disagree with the comment above that staining walnut will muddy the grain.  That's true if you use a heavily pigmented stain and leave it on the surface, but that's not how staining is supposed to be done.  On black walnut even a heavily pigmented stain shouldn't muddy the grain.  You're supposed to put the stain on fairly small areas, let is sit a couple minutes and wipe the devil out of it with an old tee shirt or some such to remove the excess pigments from the surface.  If it's not dark enough, repeat.  A couple light coats are always better for getting and even job than one heavy one. 

What I've done for years, however, is to add the stain to my filler.  I add some of the sludge from an unstirred can of stain of the color I want to a dollop of unstained paste filler and stir those together until the color is even.  Rub that into the wood in a fairly small area, let it sit just until the surface starts to haze and then wipe it off going across the grain. You can't do a whole stock at one time as the stuff will dry on the surface before you can get it off.   I wipe very carefully to get all the filler off the surface.  It may take three coats of filler to mostly fill a  piece of walnut if the grain is open.   The important point is to never let either stain or filler on the wood too long.  If it dries on the surface it is very difficult to remove and will muddy things.  Wiping really means rub it hard to get the stuff off the surface.

Tom

[razor62]

Sounds like a good method Snyder.

One of the reasons that I prefer not to stain walnut is because If I stain the wood I won't be able to use my favorite finishing method which will produce a beautiful "filled" surface on your walnut.
To get these results I use True-Oil (preferred), Tung oil or Linspeed. Apply the oil with the palm of your hand. 1st coat apply a little heavy but not to the point that the oil is "runny". Allow this coat to dry thoroughly and then apply a second coat to smaller areas. While the oil is still wet you will sand the stock using #600 wet / dry automotive paper until a muddy slurry is formed by the oil and the sawdust. Smear this "mud" all over the surface and continue in this manner until the entire stock has been sanded in. Typically you'll want to stop rubbing the slurry around as soon as it starts to become tacky. I like to use one of those large rubber erasers as a sandpaper backer which will help to keep all those edges crisp. Don't worry about smoothing out the mud at this point. You're more concerned with being sure that you've covered every inch of the surface of your stock. It's perfectly OK for now to have streaks, runs or sags.
Repeat the sanding / oil rub procedure several more times allowing time to dry thoroughly between applications only you'll be adding one more step from here on in. After you've covered your stock in the mud you will then carefully wipe it off again using paper towels.  It's important to learn when to stop wiping to avoid the tackiness adhering to the paper towels. If this begins to happen, simply wet the surface again with your oil and repeat the sanding. Once wiped down the stock will show signs of streaking. You need not worry about this at this point. When you're satisfied that the grain is filled to your liking you may apply a finish coat of more of your oil only this time don't sand or rub it down.
Once the oil finish is complete you may knock back the gloss if desired with a little FFFF rotten stone powder mixed with a light machine oil, wax and be proud. 

Because of the wet sanding  this method is not appropriate for stained woods because you'll break through the stain here and there.




Here's a close-up of the end result

[Jim Kibler]

Here's a bit more on my opinion of finishing walnut stocks.  I'm sure you've already figured out I have no shortage of opinions   An unstained piece of walnut may look appropriate on many types of firearms, but to my eye it looks out of place on a finely built longrifle.  One finished with oil that darkens it to some degree, may look ok.  It seems unstained walnut lacks the richness to create a good look on a longrifle.  Walnut finished with some modern finishes looks particularly weak in my view.  I will mention the stock by Mitch Yates again as a good example of a pleasing walnut stock. 

[jeager58]

some good advice I got from Don Getz  might help you make up your mind. 
unless you are building the gun for someone else or are selling it as a period correct specific gun,   do what looks pleasing to you. Its your gun so make yourself happy
....Phil