Stain and oil a Walnut body?

[HUGH JAYNUS]

Im planning a warmoth 7 string project, and for the finish im thinking of doing a stain and oil finish. i love the wood grain look with some color. any suggestions on color of stains? oils? this would be a first time for me.

also post some pics! let me see how ur axes look if you have done the same please!

 

[bob123]

Stained walnut???

 

[Swyse]

Stained walnut???

This^
Are you worried about walnuts inherent brownness affecting your color and end result?

 

[HUGH JAYNUS]

I was curious cuz most people usually stain a mahogany or maple body. Im getting walnut cuz i like the darkness and grain, and its tone. Just wondering if anyone knows how the stain will look with it, and what colors i could use with it

 

[Berserker]

Staining walnut is blasphemy!! Looks sexy oiled though.

 

[Navid]

If that is american black walnut, and you're going to stain it... Please post pictures of the work, I'm interested.
I doubt the stain will be very visible since the wood is already quite dark, but if you put some red on that... you certainly have a good idea.

 

[bob123]

I ahve a ton of walnut in my garage. No stains except black show even a little bit lol. Black just hides even more grain. I can stain some stuff tomorrow and show you, but dont hold your breath here.

 

[skeels]

This is walnut with Danish oil, no stain.

Usually just an oil finish will make walnut pop.

 

[HUGH JAYNUS]

This is walnut with Danish oil, no stain.

Usually just an oil finish will make walnut pop.

That is a sexy beast of a guitar! Ok, nevermind the stain! I just asked about that because i saw pics here where a guy stained and oiled his ash Agile and it looked amazing! But that was a black stain. And im not a fan of black.

Any suggestions of oils?

 

[HUGH JAYNUS]

The red stain does sound intruiging though.........

 

[silent_k]

The best way to find out how a particular stain or oil is going to look is to test on scrap. Walnut is not hard to get -- just go by your local Woodcraft or Rockler and pick up a couple of small pieces, then divide them up and try out a few different combinations. That said, I'm with others who've said that stain many not give you a good result on something as naturally dark as walnut, but oils can really make it look fabulous. You might want to try some of the different varieties of Danish oil, which come in shades, including a walnut shade. However, most of these shades are designed to impart on lighter woods the colors of darker woods, like walnut, so they may not make much difference on a darker wood. I've had good luck with the natural/neutral version, which by itself will significantly darken the walnut and make any grain lines and variations stand out. Once you have your body see if you can find scrap that's similarly colored and do some experimenting! Another thing to consider if you really do want to add a color would be a dye rather than a stain -- stains sit on the surface of wood while dyes penetrate the wood. A dye may actually be able to give you a better result depending on the color you're after. I haven't tried to do this myself with walnut, but it's worth a try if you really want something colored. I've had good luck with Behlen's Solar Lux dyes on lighter woods, also available at Woodcraft.

 

[Navid]

The red stain does sound intruiging though.........

It certainly does.
I think you should get some scrap wood and try to finish it

 

[HUGH JAYNUS]

It certainly does.
I think you should get some scrap wood and try to finish it

I think i will! I just need to find some now.........

 

[UnderTheSign]

I once finished some scrap walnut with whitewash, didn't look very good. Prefer mine with just an oil finish.

 

[james00hewitt]

Did anyone ever try the red stain on walnut? +1 for interested

 

[SkullCrusher]

This is an oil finish on Claro walnut

thats my mayones regius

 

[demonx]

American Black Walnut around African Mahogany finished in Danish oil:

 

[4Eyes]

Walnut top oiled and waxed. Walnut gets naturally darker as time goes on.

 

[Necromagnon]

American Black Walnut around African Mahogany finished in Danish oil:

That walnut is pretty light for an american black walnut, compared to my pieces I've bought. But it still looks daaaaaaaaaaaamn good.

About the post above, I'd be interested for the red stain + oil finish, just for curiosity. I could try to do so when I'm back in France if you're not in a hurry (I have scrap of black walnut and french walnut -dark grain and light grain walnuts).

 

[FIXXXER]

walnut is too awesome to be stained in any way, just use oil. here's my first build featuring a tru oil coated one piece walnut body...