Has anyone made their own walnut stain?

[Sidney Smith]

Everywhere I go these days I see walnuts lying in the road. I was wondering how I could go about taking the husks and making my own stain. Would it even be worth the trouble.

If you have made your own walnut stain, I'd love to know how.

 

[Critter Getter]

My wife and i have a friend that owns her own basket weaving business. She makes her own walnut stain for soaking her reed. She always has a tub of water with walnuts in it. I will have to ask her but don’t think there is any real big trick to it. Greg

 

[Loyalist Dave]

YES!

Collect up the walnuts in a plastic bucket while you wear rubber gloves. Green, brown or black husks, it doesn't matter.
When you get them home, you place them one or two at a time on the asphalt on the street...
Then you take a hammer (I like my 2 lb. tent stake hammer) and hit them gently to bust the husks open a bit...,
Put them back into the bucket and then soak them in water for a few days to release the dye, outside the house. The water will look black.

Some folks like to pour boiling water on them, and some like to use an immersion heater to get the water up to a boil or to keep it there for a while to kill off any insect larve hiding in the husks....

Put the boiled and still hot dye into mason jars and store it. Some people pour it off to part it from the husks in the first barrel and add a cup or two of kosher salt, then put it into the jars.

Now the old fashioned way was to boil the green walnuts in an iron dyepot. This put some iron oxide into the water as the dyepot was often a bit rusty when the process began. Iron oxide will make the dye duller (old sources say "sadder"), and will make the dye a bit more colorfast than plain water. You can get the same reaction by putting a chunk of 4-0 steel wool into the dye in the bucket and let it rust away for a week or so. Reboil the dye after removing the husks and put it into a mason jar or two.

OR after straining, simply add a bit more water as when the walnuts are removed the water level will drop, then immediately put into the dye bath your hunting shirt, or whatever you wish to dye. Let it sit overnight, then remove and rinse. Line dry the garment.

You can keep the bucket and just let it sit with the dye bath when you're not using it, but it will go bad and smell, hence the use of salt and putting it into mason jars, hot.

Always wear rubber gloves as it is a very good stain.

LD

 

[bubba.50]

I tried it once but the only thing that really got stained was my hands.

 

[Grimord]

YES!

Collect up the walnuts in a plastic bucket while you wear rubber gloves. Green, brown or black husks, it doesn't matter.
When you get them home, you place them one or two at a time on the asphalt on the street...
Then you take a hammer (I like my 2 lb. tent stake hammer) and hit them gently to bust the husks open a bit...,
Put them back into the bucket and then soak them in water for a few days to release the dye, outside the house. The water will look black.
I have done this a few times to stain shirts and small pieces of leather. Tried it on some wood, but it was very faint. I guess I should have let in soak in more. Wearing gloves is a must if you don't want to have brown stained hands for quite some time.
Some folks like to pour boiling water on them, and some like to use an immersion heater to get the water up to a boil or to keep it there for a while to kill off any insect larve hiding in the husks....

Put the boiled and still hot dye into mason jars and store it. Some people pour it off to part it from the husks in the first barrel and add a cup or two of kosher salt, then put it into the jars.

Now the old fashioned way was to boil the green walnuts in an iron dyepot. This put some iron oxide into the water as the dyepot was often a bit rusty when the process began. Iron oxide will make the dye duller (old sources say "sadder"), and will make the dye a bit more colorfast than plain water. You can get the same reaction by putting a chunk of 4-0 steel wool into the dye in the bucket and let it rust away for a week or so. Reboil the dye after removing the husks and put it into a mason jar or two.

OR after straining, simply add a bit more water as when the walnuts are removed the water level will drop, then immediately put into the dye bath your hunting shirt, or whatever you wish to dye. Let it sit overnight, then remove and rinse. Line dry the garment.

You can keep the bucket and just let it sit with the dye bath when you're not using it, but it will go bad and smell, hence the use of salt and putting it into mason jars, hot.

Always wear rubber gloves as it is a very good stain.

LD

 

[ppg1949]

I made some back in the 80's. I forget where I got the recipe but it certainly came from a magazine, perhaps a Dixie Gun Works Annual or Muzzleblast. As LD said, gloves are a must. You fill a quart canning jar with as many green husk as possible but not mashed into the jar. You fill the jar with ammonia and let sit at room temperature for at least a month. Then pour off the liquid as the stain. I did this to stain on a rifle stock. Money was real tight and I thought I would give it a try. If it didn't work out, I could sand it off. I think I gave it three coat. After each coat was dry I smoothed it with 4 ought steel wool as it raised the grain of the wood. This was a hard wood CVA Kentucky rifle stock not a walnut stock. When it was dark enough, I gave it several coats of tru-oil. It still holds as of this day and seems to be getting darker with age. I must say this is not a dark stain but a lighter walnut. Would I do this again? Very doubtful because of the time to make it and the drying time of several days between coats. I like LD's version better but I was near broke and it was cheap.
P.S. I may have given it more than three coats but I think it was just three. Also, the ammonia smell can be very overwhelming, lol.

 

[Sidney Smith]

Reason I asked was I'd like to try and use it to stain my project squirrel rifle stock when I am finished building it.

 

[ppg1949]

You might try the internet for homemade walnut stain recipes.

 

[Phil Coffins]

I used walnut husk dye on maple which only made slight color change. Then used a/f and got a very nice color when blushed. Better then just a/f alone.
IMG_0113 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

 

[Stony Broke]

I took almost a bucket full of husks once and boiled the heck out of them in water. It actually wasn't a bad stain for cloth garments, but wasn't really dark enough to make me happy putting it on a stock.

 

[springfield art]

Everywhere I go these days I see walnuts lying in the road. I was wondering how I could go about taking the husks and making my own stain. Would it even be worth the trouble.

If you have made your own walnut stain, I'd love to know how.

Boy, it's a lot of trouble! I know there's recipes, must be on line, for dyeing cloth, etc. Often mentioned in the muzzleloading magazines. Unless you're really into the old-time thing, just buy commercial, IMHO. I was happy to have a walnut tree removed; picking up the darn things most of my life got weary!

 

[FlinterNick]

naaaa.... I'm all about old school but with so many great stains out there I opt for the easy button.

However, I have used Walnut oil mixed with linseed oil, after a few hundred coats, it has a nice satin look.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Reason I asked was I'd like to try and use it to stain my project squirrel rifle stock when I am finished building it.

That's a great 'do yer own thang' attitude.

 

[Stophel]

Walnut hulls aren't going to make much of a wood stain.

Personally, I have never had much (any) success with walnut hulls as a dye. No matter what I did, steel pot, ferrous sulfate, sumac, etc.... It just washed right out. People will say "but, you're not supposed to wash it!". Ummm no. If it washes out, it's not dye, it's dirt.

On leather, however, I love it. It takes a while, but it makes a fast brown color and it actually retans the leather. It can improve the temper of some of the cheap "vegetable tanned" leather (though it don't work miracles.... cheap stretchy manure will remain cheap stretchy manure).

 

[Gun Tramp]

Sidney, I think you might be pleased with stain made from the black walnut. I used just the dry husks, removed from the nut proper, about half of a quart canning jar in said jar. I added one pad of 4/0 steel wool as LD mentioned, then filled with soft cistern water. I understand steel wool is treated to prevent rust, so I took the precaution of washing it thoroughly in soap and water before including it. I used a new lid and shook the bejezus out of the jar a few times a day for a week, leaving it in the sun as with "sun tea," then strained the resulting mess through cheesecloth into a pint canning jar. I can attest to LD's note about odor; my version wasn't sterile so became smelly. However, it does indeed make an excellent stain and you can enjoy the satisfaction of having done it yourself...

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Reason I asked was I'd like to try and use it to stain my project squirrel rifle stock when I am finished building it.

AH so you have a "window" of opportunity right now as the walnuts are ripening and falling.
So get two containers. I use quart and pint Mason jars for a lot around the house and recycle them so that's what I use...,

Take two, pint sized Mason jars..., and into each put in the crushed and broken husk of one or two green walnuts. Into the first pour in boiling water to cover the husk...you could also add a small hunk of pre-washed 4-0 steel wool. Into the second, pour cold, 90% rubbing alcohol to cover the husk, OR you can use cold, HEET brand gas-line antifreeze (it's methyl alcohol). Some folks do three tests, and test both rubbing alcohol and HEET versions of the stain. After three days, use a cotton swab for each, and test each stain by applying a small amount of the stains to the inside of your barrel channel. See which of the two or three versions does the trick that you want. If any of them work for you, then you know to go collecting walnuts.

There is another dye/stain that is made with vinegar and iron oxide, and I suppose you could add walnut hulls to that. It's called vinegaroon, and works great on leather BUT reports are that it tends to cause corrosion of iron or steel buckles due to the acetic acid left over from the vinegar. SO...., I'd not try that on a gun as the lock and barrel would then be sitting in contact with the acid.

LD

 

[Eric Krewson]

I crushed up some husks, boiled them in water and poured off the dark liquid pulp and all. I rubbed the pulp and liquid on arrow shafts for a very dark stain. After about 6 months in the jar mold had covered the top of the liquid. I made another batch and used 50-50 denatured alcohol and water in my liquid this time, no mold.

I still have this jar of stain 15 years later, when it dries out a bit I add more alcohol, shake it up and use it for arrow shafts like I did initially.

I just looked at my jar of stain, looks like it is time for more alcohol, the pulp makes the stain much darker when I use it. I use the stain then wipe the pulp off the surface of the wood.