black walnut ne

[ryan34]

just turned a black walnut ne, when i was turning the sap wood was a nice clean cream color but when i started to sand the sap wood started to look "dirty" as if the dust from the bark had been absorbed into the sap wood. is this something that usually happens or did i not do something right? should i have waited until the piece dried alittle before sanding? the piece is approx 1/8" thick now, is it too late?

 

[dkulze]

You got it in one, Ryan. If you let it dry and use nice, clean sandpaper, you can avoid that dirty look. Worse comes to worst, take a fine cut to clean it up and apply a couple of coats of urethane oil, thinned shellac, etc. and let dry before resanding. This will fill pores nicely and avoid that dirty look.

Dietrich

 

[MichaelMouse]

You're moving dust with colored solubles into wet sapwood. It'll color it. They steam walnut to blend sapwood in the industry. Same principle. Wait to final sand until after it dries. Sands a lot easier and dirties a lot less.

Same-o cherry.

 

[ryan34]

You're moving dust with colored solubles into wet sapwood. It'll color it. They steam walnut to blend sapwood in the industry. Same principle. Wait to final sand until after it dries. Sands a lot easier and dirties a lot less.

Same-o cherry.

thanks for the help. I'll give it a final sand and will have to accept what I get.
live and learn.

 

[hockenbery]

As mentioned above, what happens with wet walnut is the moisture from the heartwood stains the sapwood. It is rare to see sapwood in Kilndried walnut because this staining takes place in Kiln drying process.

In addition to using sealers and clean sandpaper on the dry wood,
I often bleach the sapwood to white with a two part bleach by klean-strip.

I apply with a foam brush and hold the piece so that if a run occurs it doesn't go down the heart wood. Runs can be sanded out easily as the bleach is very shallow.

happy turning,
Al