Type of finish for walnut?

[joepoolplayer]

Hi All,

I'm embarking on my first real project, a toy box for my daughter. I purchased some very beautiful walnut from Saw4you on Friday and spend a good portion of the weekend milling it at the techshop.

I have a few questions for the woodworking wizards out there.

1. The wood has some light and dark areas. For ascetics, should I try to stick with with the dark wood?
2. I want to do a natural finish, not a stain. What should I use?
3. The plans call for a raised panel bit. After taking a trip to woodcraft, I was not pleasantly surprised at how expensive one is. I'm hesitant to make to purchase a bit that I might potentially only use once. Is there anyone in the Raleigh/Durham area that would be willing to rent me their's for a few days?

Best,
Nate

 

[Steve_Honeycutt]

Nate,

While I do not have a raised panel bit, I too was faced with the same issue recently. A quick Google searched revealed that there are at least two different ways to make a raised panel on the table saw.

The first can be seen at:

http://www.cabinetmaking.com/pages/raised_panel.htm

This involves running the panel at an angle to the table saw blade and continuing to raise the blade by small increments until you get the desired effect. This leaves you with a concave cut.

The second can be seen at:

http://www.finehomebuilding.com/how...-panel-shaker-cabinet-door-on-a-tablesaw.aspx

This involves running the panel through the table saw with the panel on it edges and the blade tilted at whatever angle you desire.

For my project, I decided to use the second method. I was a little concerned about the possibility of kickback using the first method. I made a jog that rides along the fence and allowed me to clamp my panels to it to keep my fingers away from the blade. Other than having to sand off some burn marks from the saw blade, everything went fine.

Good luck, and I look forward to seeing some pictures of your project!
Steve

 

[Mike Davis]

Great answer Steve, pretty much what I was going to say, but the links help a lot.

As for finish I like a mix of spar varnish and Boiled Linseed Oil it really brings out the dark colors of walnut.

If the sap wood can add to the design use it.

 

[CDPeters]

The first can be seen at:

http://www.cabinetmaking.com/pages/raised_panel.htm

This involves running the panel at an angle to the table saw blade and continuing to raise the blade by small increments until you get the desired effect. This leaves you with a concave cut.

Interesting - most times I've seen this TS technique used, the panel is fed at an angle to the blade, rather than perpendicular to it. The desired radius - and thus profile - of the resulting panel can then be determined by the angle used.

A raised panel set for the router is a good investment - if you are going to be making alot of raised panels - but if you go that route, remember a panel raising bit has alot of mass, so you need a good quality 2 to 3 HP router to swing it, and take the cut in several light passes until you reach the final profile.

 

[merrill77]

You didn't specifically ask this - but if you want a nice smooth top, you'll need to fill the grain before finishing. Walnut (like Oak, Mahogany and others) has very large pores. If you don't fill the grain, you will not get a mirror-smooth surface. If that is not the look you are aiming for, you'll be fine without it. But if you don't fill the pores, be sure not to put on too many coats of finish, or you will get a plastic-like look. DAMHIKT.

 

[CarvedTones]

Take a look at the toolbox in this thread. I think he made good use of the contrast of sapwood. His description says he "polished in Tung oil". Because of the gloss look, I would wager he meant a commercial tung oil finish, not pure tung oil. The wipe on tung oil finishes do look very nice, but require good ventilation. They are generally pretty close to what Mike recommended - a mix of varnish and BLO - and you can save money mixing it yourself.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

1. The wood has some light and dark areas. For ascetics, should I try to stick with with the dark wood? This becomes a design issue. As some others have mentioned, if you can use the light areas in a way that enhances the design / uniqueness of the piece then use it. Otherwise, I'd try to stay w/ just the heart (dark) wood. Another option is to try to keep the light wood on the inside, where it is less visible.

2. I want to do a natural finish, not a stain. What should I use? My preference for walnut is amber shellac. It gives it a nice, rich look without staining. Apply 3-5 coats of 1.5# cut.

3. The plans call for a raised panel bit. After taking a trip to woodcraft, I was not pleasantly surprised at how expensive one is. I'm hesitant to make to purchase a bit that I might potentially only use once. Is there anyone in the Raleigh/Durham area that would be willing to rent me their's for a few days? Like Steve said, there several ways to get creative when making raised panels. The table saw is probably the most common way, but there are others. It just takes a little more time and creativity.

Best,
Nate

HTH, .......................Bill

 

[kooshball]

Based on recent experience I would recommend shellac for your finish (I used platina and orange to get the warmth that I wanted). The depth and figure that was brought out of the walnut was amazing.

 

[cyclopentadiene]

I use satin Waterlox on all dark woods, walnut, cherry, figured maple etc. andwipe on polyurethane on everything else. These two provide an easy to apply finish and I have found these hard to make mistakes as long as the sanding and prep is completed properly.

Finishing is an art form and I have not developed the skill.

 

[Jeff]

Nate,

Here's a short video by John White (shop editor at FineWoodworking). Title: A Super Sturdy Fence for Raising Panels. The fence looks really simple to construct, has excellent vertical stability, and offers improved safety at the saw.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/subscription/Workshop/WorkshopArticle.aspx?id=32543

Good luck and send us some pics along the way!

 

[merrill77]

http://www.finewoodworking.com/subscription/Workshop/WorkshopArticle.aspx?id=32543

:no:

Subscription required.

 

[joepoolplayer]

It does require a login, however I believe it is free to register.

 

[richlife]

You've got good advice here, Joe, but not everything you should consider for a TOY BOX has been brought up.

Black walnut is beautiful as is (like you said) -- a stain will eliminate the natural beauty and different tones of color leaving just the stain color. After the first time I did that (which came out looking great, btw) I will NEVER again stain black walnut.

Black Walnut does have pores. But filling those pores will result in some loss of grain and color. Sorry, that's the way it is. If you have doubts, do a sample from the same cut of wood and compare. (And regardless, I STRONGLY advise that you finish a sample exactly as you plan to do the toy box -- you can only regret it if you don't.)

As to type of finish, toy boxes are a little unique in that they are going to be abused (by nature -- that's what kids do :confused_). When I did my grandson's toy box, I wanted a hard, strong, durable finish. I was willing to take the extra 4 - 6 weeks to put on a really good polyurethane finish (by "really good" I mean multiple even coats to be sure I would not polish through a layer) and hand polish a "finish the finish" (on the top only). That basically means, get a really good polyu finish, wait at least 30 days and then POLISH using finer and finer grits to what you want (I did a high luster that looks like a French Polish -- not "plastic polyu-like" appearance). This type finish is difficult with black walnut due to the pores -- you need to sand and recoat until you have a truly FLAT surface. You would also need to be good at putting on polyu and patient to then do the polishing. But you will not find a better looking, HARDER finish anywhere (so I have an opinion :wink_smil). That toy box I did is now 7 years old, has withstood two boys who literally have emptied it and both climbed in together to hide). I won't deny that they haven't put real wear on that finish, but it still looks great and will become a great blanket chest or entry way bench in the future.

Otherwise I agree with both the shellac (definitely a better look to me if you can finish it right) and the varnish/boiled linseed oil options. I love the way blond shellac preserves the colors and I love how oil soaks in and protects. For a toy box, I think the varnish/oil is safer, tougher. But I use a polyurethane and boiled linseed oil mix -- a 1/4 varnish/oil mix is good. The drawback to spar varnish is that it's designed to be flexible and is softer than polyurethane. It basically gets these characteristics from mixing varnish and oil, so in essence you're mixing even in more oil and getting softer.

I would advise against using straight real tung oil on black walnut. If there are large pores or checks that get filled, when the oil dries, it can turn white in those "holes". The mix helps that. (If you ever have this problem, the fix is to clean out the white and put on a layer of boiled linseed oil :dontknow: .)

Have fun, this is a great project!

Rich

 

[TBradley190]

I'm a big fan of the above mentioned varnish/BLO receipe, it's durable and looks natural. But also as mentioned wait a few weeks before final polish and you will be pleased. As for a r/p bit I have several diff ones if you have a router table big enough to do the job. I have a cove, 15 degree miter, and an ogee all with under cutters. PM me and we'll work something out.

Tim

 

[joepoolplayer]

Thanks everyone for the comments. It was very helpful. I ended up trying the tablesaw raised panel approach and it worked well. However, I ended up ordering a set of cabinet bits from MLCS. Pictures to follow. Thanks everyone!