Black Walnut

Randy Lucius

Randy Lucius

Well-Known Member
A friend gave me some nice black walnut. It's been in his shop for several years and appears to have aged very well. Does black walnut need to be stabilized?
 
If you use unstabilized you might want to let it settle in after it’s finished for a few weeks to see if it has any shrinking. Is it kiln dried or air dried.
 
There are several varieties of Walnut, that won't take stabilization, so unless you're sure the variety you have will..... I'd go with Tru-Oil ..... I generally go about 10-15 coats.
I've found that there are many woods commonly stabilized, that just look better when the time is taken to apply a number of coats of Tru-Oil, or other similar finish product. I also use a mixed product of Tru-Oil and REFINED Linseed oil (don't mix Tru-Oil with the common boiled linseed oil..... it will seem to mix initially, but after is sits for a day or two, the linseen oil forms into tiny "gum balls".)

I also think that if the wood came from a different geographical location, it needs to "acclimate" for at least a few weeks (as Opaul mentioned)

If me saying that many coats doesn't make sense, visit the video about applying Tru-Oil.. it's the 6th video down this page: http://www.caffreyknives.net/how_to_videos.html
 
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This is from another forum - as you can see opinions vary.
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I've used and sold tons of Black Walnut from here in Missouri. Had K&G stabilize a bunch with no issues. Have also used boiled linseed oil to finish with no issues.

If stabilizing isn't working for you, finish with your choice of wood finish. It does not need to be stabilized.’
 
I've been using this for the last 2-3 years (lots of Ca Claro Walnut) and have had really good results. It seems to help the tru-oil

Woodstock's Elixir: Armorall and Truoil finishing handle material

I've been told to share this technique with the community, and hope some of you will give this a go. I've currently got Randy Haas trying this method out, so hopefully someone else can back me up on this method--I have not had a chance to try it with burled wood, but it has always worked well...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
chrisstaniar said:
I've been using this for the last 2-3 years (lots of Ca Claro Walnut) and have had really good results. It seems to help the tru-oil

Woodstock's Elixir: Armorall and Truoil finishing handle material

I've been told to share this technique with the community, and hope some of you will give this a go. I've currently got Randy Haas trying this method out, so hopefully someone else can back me up on this method--I have not had a chance to try it with burled wood, but it has always worked well...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
Click to expand...
Thanks Chris. That’s a very interesting technique and I’m definitely going to give it a try.
 
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