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Walnut

G

Greg Kaldor

Joined
Mar 8, 2005
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Hi all,
Will walnut work well for salad bowls in the 14 dia. range? How will it turn and take a finish for artistic bowls? I do a lot of these in Birdseye and Curly Maple using polymerized tung oil. ONe more question. What about spindle turning for walnut, will it cut smooth with the skew like cherry does?
 
Greg,

I use Claro walnut for peppermills and the skew works great for me for the final rounding of the cylinder. Next I have to screw up enough courage to do a whole mill with the skew.

Jim
 
Thanx Stoppy,
That tells me part of what I need to know. I am wondering just how on large face grain bowls how the endgrain will respond to the gouge? Also it will take a finish and rub out (buffing)?
Greg
 
I can't speak to bowls, but I have done some faceplate & spindle turnings with most common furniture woods. Things like table legs, I've turned up walnut to about 4" diameter and I've had turn up to about a 10" turning on a face plate for a missing furniture part. I've used various skews & gouges without a problem. Note though, none of this was internal turnings so I don't know how it works that way.

Good luck

Paul
 
Greg,
Walnut works very nicely for Spindles and bowls it is a bit softer than cherry and a bit harder than soft maple.

Fresh cut you can get spectatular contrast between while sape wood and heartwood. when sanding I usually put a sealer on the sapwood to keep the dark dust out.

Walnut has a chmbered pith. So if you leave the pith in any work it need some special consideration. ripping the pith will expose small cvities along the lenght (the chambers) cross cutting may expose a hole.

happy turning,
Al
 
Thanx Hockenbery,
How does the bowl take a built up oil finish. And after the full curing process, how will it buff with carnuba?
Greg
 
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Hi Greg

I think walnut works great for 14" salad bowls. There are a number of people I know who say walnut will not sell for them, but I sell all the ones I make, and I have lots of walnut. Here is one I turned a few years ago that just happens to be 14". It is finished with Watco Danish Oil and buffed with the Beall system.

Bill
 

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Hey Bill how did you.........

Bill Grumbine said:
It is finished with Watco Danish Oil and buffed with the Beall system.

Bill
Click to expand...

get the walnut to stay so light. I have used both Watco and General Finishe's Danish oil and even in bright light do not have the contrast your piece shows. I realize it is well lit for the photo but still is, in my opinion, quite light in color. 😕
 
Thanx everybody,
Bill... loved your DVD by the way, Question. How many coats of danish oil and how long do you let your piece cure before buffing? I assume you go thru all three steps with the beall. I have heard that some people don't use tripoli, just diamond and then carnuba.
Greg
 
Hey Jake,

I don't know about Bill but, around here, walnut will vary strongly in it's darkness and contrast depending on where it grew, how it grew, and whether it was european walnut grafted onto american walnut root stock. I've also gotten some from my dad in TN and it was distinctly different from local wood. You're problems in getting it to look like Bill's might not lie in your treatment of it. It might just be how the wood is.

Dietrich
 
Black walnut

I just finished 2, 14 inch black walnut bowls that were twice turned (First a year ago). I sand to 1200, and really don't want to put a finish on, but feel obligated since people will use, and I don't want it to get furry. The higher the sandpaper, the shinier it gets. So I use Danish oil.1-2 coats on the walnut. I don't like "shine" but satin luster, but I am afraid this is shinier than I like, but what loads of others like. In other bowls I hand buff with the ultra synthetic "steel wool", but didn't want to change visible scratches on such nice bowls that I spent alot of time on. I have the Beal system but don't use because of the shine. Gretch
 
love walnut

In November I acquired about 500 bd feet of walnut that was barn dried for the past 30 years. I would not have been interested but about half the pile was 2 to 4 inches thick and up to 16" wide. Oh yeh the price was only $300, a steal. Have been turning platters. Even through it is dry I must rough turn it and let it rest a few days becuase it will warp enough to be noticable if I finish turn in one session. I don't like to over shine walnut either and use Mahoney walnut oil & wax. It looks great inlaid with malachite.
Frank
 
Walnut is my # 1 choice of woods to turn. Bowls, platters, vessels, boxes, goblets,etc. I put a sealer coat of Deft Clear Wood Finish for the first coat. After I will apply several coats of Tung Oil Finish. It is great for segmented turning. GT
 
Jake Debski said:
get the walnut to stay so light. I have used both Watco and General Finishe's Danish oil and even in bright light do not have the contrast your piece shows. I realize it is well lit for the photo but still is, in my opinion, quite light in color. 😕
Click to expand...
Hi Jake

This particular piece was quite unusual with its color and grain, at least compared to a lot of walnut around here. It is lighter than what I am used to, but then it has those stripes too. Most of the walnut I get is a lot darker than this piece.


Greg Kaldor said:
Thanx everybody,
Bill... loved your DVD by the way, Question. How many coats of danish oil and how long do you let your piece cure before buffing? I assume you go thru all three steps with the beall. I have heard that some people don't use tripoli, just diamond and then carnuba.
Greg
Click to expand...
Thanks Greg, and I am glad to hear that you enjoyed it. I usually do one very heavy coat of Danish Oil, two if it looks like it dried out more than I wanted with the one, and then let it cure for as long as possible before I buff it. Sometimes that is 24 hours, but most of the time I will let it go for a week if I can. With buffing, it is actually the white diamond that I skip on walnut, as it will fill all the pores and give it a very unattractive look.

Bill
 
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