Author Topic: Natural Walnut stain made by mother nature  (Read 2994 times)

Offline Cliff Fendley

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Natural Walnut stain made by mother nature
« on: May 28, 2017, 10:59:24 AM »
I went to no extra effort making this past years batch of walnut stain. I generally gather walnuts each fall and peel the green husk and after making a big tea bag with them in an old shirt I boil them making a stain.

Last year having plenty of stain on hand I gathered walnuts but decided to try something different. I decided to let them sit gathering rain water and freeze and thaw all winter to see what happens. Hey the Kentucky temperature swings work in aging bourbon by working in and out of the charred barrels so why wouldn't it work the color out of the walnuts?

We didn't get a lot of rain or snow this winter so the buckets didn't start to run over until early spring after they had all winter of changing temps to "brew"

At that point I dumped them off into clean buckets through pieces of screen and I've been very happy with the results. This is a strong batch of stain and only requires a short soak.

Here is a Quigley belt that was soaked in the stain for about an hour. Allowed to dry hanging in the sun. The next day it was reconditioned with pure neatsfoot oil followed by skidmores cream a couple days later and then topcoated with bagkote.

What I really like about this batch is the way it leaves the project highlighted and the natural "aged" look I'm getting. Upon drying you can see it stained the edges darker and left protected areas lighter. As normal with the natural walnut stain it doesn't look like much after staining but once conditioned the neatsfoot and skidmores really makes the colors pop.




 
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Offline Graveyard Jack

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Re: Natural Walnut stain made by mother nature
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2017, 01:44:45 PM »
I really like the way that turned out. I intended to gather walnuts last year but never got around to it. How long do you let it soak? I assume you're dipping?
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Offline Johnny McCrae

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Re: Natural Walnut stain made by mother nature
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2017, 02:48:08 PM »
Howdy Cliff,

Your color from Mother Nature looks great!

My last batch of dye brewed with fresh Green Black Walnut Hulls lasted over seven years. Rest assured that when fresh Green Hulls are available in my area again, I will stock up.

The quality and workmanship on your Quigley Belt is outstanding.
You need to learn to like all the little everday things like a sip of good whiskey, a soft bed, a glass of buttermilk,  and a feisty old gentleman like myself

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Re: Natural Walnut stain made by mother nature
« Reply #3 on: Today at 06:17:04 PM »

Offline Marshal Will Wingam

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Re: Natural Walnut stain made by mother nature
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2017, 05:14:42 PM »
Beautiful, Cliff. That really came out good. Thanks for the pics.

I may have to try making some myself that way. Since black walnuts aren't common around here, I'll probably soak up the dry ones I have and see what that does for a season. I suppose I could put some acorns in there, too. We have plenty of those and they sure make dark streaks on the patio. It could be an interesting experiment to find out what that will do.

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Offline Cliff Fendley

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Re: Natural Walnut stain made by mother nature
« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2017, 09:23:11 PM »
Thanks everyone. Craig that belt was soaked for about an hour in the stain. I keep a batch in a big canning pot and dip the whole thing in it. The more you move the piece around and work it in the stain the less highlighting you get but if you just dip it in and let it sit for a little while you get the highlights.

I hang in the sun to dry which also darkens it some.

Johnny, thanks for the compliment, I'm VERY happy with the way the Quigley belt came out. I had a friend/customer ask for one saying there were a bunch offered but none look like the one in the movie. So as I had done with the Gus holsters in the past I looked at images and watched the movie closely to try and make an exact replica.

Something I did find out that I had not realized before is the belt Selleck is wearing on many of the movie covers and adds with the white lacing was not in the movie. The one in the movie is border stamped (actually there were two used in the movie and Selleck kept one and it's thought the propmaster kept the other). I found images of the original belt that Selleck had kept from the film and donated for auction a few years back and also watched a close up in the movie and I happened to have what looks to be the same stamp. It's an old vintage stamp I got with some stuff at an auction.

The rest was just laying out the spacing to get it right and the size of the customers belt seemed to work out exact for the number of cartridges and spacing. I happen to be the same size so I made two so while I was at it so I have one for myself. The one difference is I made it about 1/4 inch narrower than the movie belt because we wanted them to look the same with 45-70 cartridges as the movie belt did with 45-110.
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Offline Marshal Will Wingam

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Re: Natural Walnut stain made by mother nature
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2017, 11:21:10 AM »
The one difference is I made it about 1/4 inch narrower than the movie belt because we wanted them to look the same with 45-70 cartridges as the movie belt did with 45-110.
That's a good call. Sometimes you have to adjust things to look right.  8)

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