making stain from walnut hulls

[yip]

  i've a bunch of walnut hulls ,and wondering if there is a way to make a stain , they sure are dark and stain your fingers...........yip

[retired fella]

I used black walnut hulls to stain pipes that I have made using denatured alcohol.  Results were OK but buying stain will probably give you better results.

[steg49]

Lots of info on google on how to make this, I have done it but was not real pleased with the color as it was a very light colored stain.  Makes you finger dark from husking the walnuts (good suntan lotion?). steg49

[JPK]

I just made up a batch by bring the hulls in water up to a boil then simmering for an hour. The results are a dark fluid after straining through cloth. On maple it didn't give hardly any color. Then I tried it over A F after it was blushed and got a bit more color. Not enough to get excited about.

[Mad Monk]

Back when I was doing the research on the nitrate or iron stain I checked walnut hull dye as a possible stock stain.  There were those who claimed it had seen extensive back woods use.

In did a few test panels with walnut husk stain I made.  I dried the hulls and then powdered it.  I was able to get an initial dark color on the wood.  Hung the panels here in my room and watched them.

I found that as the humidity changed so did the depth of color in the wood.  The tech books stated that walnut hull die is fairly light stable.  One of the few natural organic dyes that is able to resist fading from UV light.  What I did find is that as the wood picks up or gives up moisture with changes in humidity the walnut dye will migrate in the wood.  Moisture entering through the finish carries the water-soluble dye deeper into the wood and the surface looks lighter in color.  Then when the humidity drops and moisture begins to leave the wood the dye is carried back to the surface which then gives a darker color.  Eventually, in a few years, the color will simply begin to fade.

I had read in wood working books that light woods tend to darken with age while dark woods lighten with age.

[Hungry Horse]

I think the fable of walnut hull dye came about with the advent of living history. Because walnut hulls stain your skin real good, somebody thought it would make good dye material. I have not found that to be the case. Everything I used it on, no matter what the carrier use, turned out looking like it had been dragged through the hog pen.

  Hungry Horse

[yip]

 thanks guys guess its a brain fa@!.........yip

[Joe S]

I have used walnut hull stain on black walnut.  I liked it.  It came out quite dark. http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=6167.0.

The instructions I had were to simmer the hulls in water for 24 hours, so I did.   The instructions noted that there is no known way to remove the stain from human skin.  I concur.

[Pete G.]

Walnut hull dye is used primarily to dye cloth and/or leather. There are better things for wood.

[Joe S]

Yup.  I just did it for grins.  Kind of a symmetry thing.  Came out OK though.

[Mark Elliott]

I think walnut hulls is more often used to stain fabric mixed in hot water.   I am not sure if a mordant is required or not to make it color fast.

[Ridge]

I think walnut hulls is more often used to stain fabric mixed in hot water.   I am not sure if a mordant is required or not to make it color fast.

Yes.

I've found that iron gives you more of a grey and copper/iron gives a nice golden brown.

When walnut dying was popular (I've been out of the reenacting game for about 6 years) most people unknowingly stained their cloth instead of dying it. With a dye pot and some patience it's possible to get a nice even color instead of the mottled look that we all longed for back then.