black walnut dining table & chairs

[Granny_Jan]

New to formum and more confused than ever on searching for the best way to finish black walnut for a natural look.

I just purchased the most beautiful black walnut dining table and waiting for the chairs to be made. I want to finish them with a clear, easy to use product that will enhance the beauty of the wood without looking varnished or urethaned. Since it will be my primary dining table, it will get lots of use. I'm not necessarily looking for something to give it protection from scarring, but I would like to protect it from getting water spots/water rings from drinks and greasy food marks.

So far what I have seen would be to use 100% tung oil cut 50/50 with citrus solvent, or turpentine, etc. for the first coat and possibly 2 coats after, then several coats at full strength, up to even 20 coats, to get the protection and natural coloring I am looking for. I am in hopes someone that has done close to this can give me some guidance and/or reality on my idea. I do not want to start my project until I feel confident in the product and procedure as my husband would probably kill me for purchasing it in the "raw" at such a price and then ruining it with my finishing. HELP!

[DeanJackson]

I recently did a boot bench in walnut. The finish was boiled linseed oil (BLO).

Buy a piece of walnut to practice this on, see if it gives you the result you want, and then move forward with the main piece. The idea is to wet sand the oil in, which will make kind of an oil/wood dust slurry. The slurry gets forced into the pores of the wood, which gives it a *very* smooth finish. Since it's oil, it won't feel plastic-y, and will feel very natural when it's done.

First coat:

• Before the first coat, I sanded with 150 grit sandpaper, smoothing everything down. Use sanding blocks or little helpers as necessary to get all the spots you can, *without* sanding over sharp edges.
• The first coat or was thinned 50/50 with odorless mineral spirits. Works just as well as turpentine... but doesn't smell nearly as bad while you're applying it.
• Rub/pour it on, keep putting on as much as it'll suck in for five or ten minutes. Then let it sit for ten minutes or so, and wipe off all the excess that hasn't soaked in.
• Come back fifteen minutes later and wipe it off again; some of the oil will bleed back out of the wood, and I don't want that to dry on the surface.
• Give it between four hours and a week to dry.
  
  • Put the 50/50 BLO/mineral spirits mix on the wood, and sand it into the wood with 220 grit sandpaper. (The sandpaper gets wet. Your hands get wet. And so on.) Wet-sand the whole thing.
  • Let it sit ten minutes, wipe it all off. Double check fifteen minutes later for bleed, wipe it all off. Give it between four hours and a week to dry.

Repeat that next coat with 220 grit. Repeat with 320 grit. Then with 400 grit. You'll have a satin finish. If you want a semi-gloss, repeat with 600 grit. If you want gloss, you can go farther, using 0000 steel wool and paste wax.

I'd say six or seven coats would give you a great finish; 150, 220, 220, 320, 320, 400, 400. It will feel natural to the touch, and shouldn't be oily after it's dried (which may take a month).

If it ever looks dry - after some time, this will dry out - you'll need to reapply more oil, maybe every other year or so. To reapply, just start at 400 grit or 600 grit, and do one or two coats.

Next coat:

[Vic]

http://www.sutherlandwelles.com/. Check out this site. Nabil Abdo recommended their polymerized tung oil for a project I'm doing. I got the medium luster. They have instruction for application.

[Granny_Jan]

New to formum and more confused than ever on searching for the best way to finish black walnut for a natural look.

I just purchased the most beautiful black walnut dining table and waiting for the chairs to be made. I want to finish them with a clear, easy to use product that will enhance the beauty of the wood without looking varnished or urethaned. Since it will be my primary dining table, it will get lots of use. I'm not necessarily looking for something to give it protection from scarring, but I would like to protect it from getting water spots/water rings from drinks and greasy food marks.

So far what I have seen would be to use 100% tung oil cut 50/50 with citrus solvent, or turpentine, etc. for the first coat and possibly 2 coats after, then several coats at full strength, up to even 20 coats, to get the protection and natural coloring I am looking for. I am in hopes someone that has done close to this can give me some guidance and/or reality on my idea. I do not want to start my project until I feel confident in the product and procedure as my husband would probably kill me for purchasing it in the "raw" at such a price and then ruining it with my finishing. HELP!

[Granny_Jan]

New to formum and more confused than ever on searching for the best way to finish black walnut for a natural look.

I just purchased the most beautiful black walnut dining table and waiting for the chairs to be made. I want to finish them with a clear, easy to use product that will enhance the beauty of the wood without looking varnished or urethaned. Since it will be my primary dining table, it will get lots of use. I'm not necessarily looking for something to give it protection from scarring, but I would like to protect it from getting water spots/water rings from drinks and greasy food marks.

So far what I have seen would be to use 100% tung oil cut 50/50 with citrus solvent, or turpentine, etc. for the first coat and possibly 2 coats after, then several coats at full strength, up to even 20 coats, to get the protection and natural coloring I am looking for. I am in hopes someone that has done close to this can give me some guidance and/or reality on my idea. I do not want to start my project until I feel confident in the product and procedure as my husband would probably kill me for purchasing it in the "raw" at such a price and then ruining it with my finishing. HELP!

[Granny_Jan]

thanks, Dean...I wondered many times about using the sandpaper of different grits to apply the oil, but was worried that the slurry might clog the pores of the wood therefore inhibiting the absorbtion of the oil into the wood. From what you are describing, it may help in the absorbtion process to go higher and higher on the grit.

[Granny_Jan]

http://www.sutherlandwelles.com/. Check out this site. Nabil Abdo recommended their polymerized tung oil for a project I'm doing. I got the medium luster. They have instruction for application.

[Granny_Jan]

I have read through the Sutherland website and it too has a lot of good points...their tung oil is polymerized which, if I understand the difference in that and just straight tung oil, the polymerized should dry faster, the only concern I have with it, would be if it has a darkness to it, would it change the color of the wood. I am sending a note Sutherland asking about that possibility. Thanks Vic for your input!

[DeanJackson]

thanks, Dean...I wondered many times about using the sandpaper of different grits to apply the oil, but was worried that the slurry might clog the pores of the wood therefore inhibiting the absorbtion of the oil into the wood. From what you are describing, it may help in the absorbtion process to go higher and higher on the grit.

The first coat, I just soak and soak and soak, not even worried about sanding while wet on that one. The majority of the oil that's going to soak in... is going to soak in on that first coat. After that, the slurry gets stuck in the pores, and fills it in to a glassy smooth. You want to wipe almost all the slurry off every time, though; if you leave visible stuff on the surface, it'll dry to a not-so-good finish.

[kesac]

New to formum and more confused than ever on searching for the best way to finish black walnut for a natural look.

I just purchased the most beautiful black walnut dining table and waiting for the chairs to be made. I want to finish them with a clear, easy to use product that will enhance the beauty of the wood without looking varnished or urethaned. Since it will be my primary dining table, it will get lots of use. I'm not necessarily looking for something to give it protection from scarring, but I would like to protect it from getting water spots/water rings from drinks and greasy food marks.

So far what I have seen would be to use 100% tung oil cut 50/50 with citrus solvent, or turpentine, etc. for the first coat and possibly 2 coats after, then several coats at full strength, up to even 20 coats, to get the protection and natural coloring I am looking for. I am in hopes someone that has done close to this can give me some guidance and/or reality on my idea. I do not want to start my project until I feel confident in the product and procedure as my husband would probably kill me for purchasing it in the "raw" at such a price and then ruining it with my finishing. HELP!

[kesac]

Walnut can use a pore filler. After that, there are a number of hand rubbing finishes on the market, that almost literally will not let you get it wrong. I would do gloss, every coat except for the very last, and then do semigloss or what ever you like. If you build your finish with semi, or satin, it will get cloudier with each coat, that is the reason to build with the gloss. If you finish with gloss, it will always look like there is film finish between you and your wood, that is the reason to end with something a bit less shimy.

There are a lot of water borne finishes out there, but none will make your grain pop like an oil base finish will. Water borne finishes look washed out by comparison. You can save the environment next project. This one is going to be gorgeous.

[dryhter]

Granny,

This is a bit of a reality check, do you have any idea how much work you are in for. Even a small table and just four chairs, I would guess close to 200 hours of work plus the dry time. CLEAN-SAND-CLEAN-CLEAN WORK AREA-CLEAN-FINISH start over again X 4 or six or twenty. If you have the space you could save some time by having a dedicated sanding area, cleaning area, finish area and drying area.

The Question I would be asking is how much time does anybody think this project might take and what might the end results be considering your level of experience.

Like I said just a reality check.

It normally takes me longer to finish something that I have made than it did to build it, but that is just me.

[Pete Bennett]

Granny,

This is a bit of a reality check, do you have any idea how much work you are in for. Even a small table and just four chairs, I would guess close to 200 hours of work plus the dry time. CLEAN-SAND-CLEAN-CLEAN WORK AREA-CLEAN-FINISH start over again X 4 or six or twenty. If you have the space you could save some time by having a dedicated sanding area, cleaning area, finish area and drying area.

The Question I would be asking is how much time does anybody think this project might take and what might the end results be considering your level of experience.

Like I said just a reality check.

It normally takes me longer to finish something that I have made than it did to build it, but that is just me.

I was always given the maxim by my old Master. One week to make it, four weeks to finish it, forty years to enjoy it!

Pete

[iSawitFirst]

BLO gives a nice finish but other products give the same quality finish with much less cure time.

A high gloss finish will require you to fill the pores. Personally, I don't have the same appreciation for shiny wood that some others have. To me, a satin finish looks more natural and requires far less work. Four or five coats of tongue oil or wipe on poly and you're good to go.

But, to each her own.