Matching up different colors of walnut

T

Tinmasher

Regular
Rating - 100%
77   0   0
Does anyone here have any experience trying to match up different shades of walnut. Just trying to see if i cant match up some wood on a SMLE. Any help is much appreciated.
 
Take the darkest piece and stain the remaining pieces until they match. Each piece will take different amounts a stain to match up.
 
The color can be bleached out of walnut. Sometimes, the best approach is to bleach the color out of darker or off-color pieces and then stain to match the color of the primary wood. I have done that several times to get black walnut to match the original wood on restoration projects. Hydrogen peroxide and a lye solution are the active ingredients and the bleaching kits are, or were, commercially available. Due care is required for safety.
 

All of the wood between the mid and upper bands started as quite dark black walnut with appropriate grain. The color of the original wood has not been altered - just oiled with linseed.
 
Im having trouble with a few spots on a restoration project. It has had linseed oil applied already, and I'm not too sure how to get color though the oil, or if I can. As for the purists, its a restored sporter anyways.
 
Linseed oil can be tinted, and you could try thinning it with turpentine and tinting it. Thinning it would improve the penetration.
I doubt even the purists would object to restoring a sported milsurp.
 
polaris said:
Oh the horror!

All the milsurp purists will chime in soon and you will get it.
Click to expand...

Hey...at least we're not talking American Politics.....
:stirthepot2:

Tinmasher,
Not sure where you are in Ontario, but I've heard great thing from other members about Nick from Vulcan Gun Refinishing in Maidstone, Ontario.
Could give him a call...519-723-4009

Vulcan Gun Refinishing


Miniwax Ebony oil stain (black) will help darken most oil stains or BLO.

IxnArFM.jpg
 
Last edited:
I was stretching the forend on a Mk. III Ross. Original stock was yellow birch. Didn't have any of that, so bleached and stained a piece of walnut to match. Took a bit of experimentation. Colour was good, grain matched, successful restoration.
 
like Tiriaq said, it takes some experimentation.

Once I colour matched a Mauser handguard (the horror) and it took at least a dozen times before I got it right.
I have 6 different walnut stains since then.
 
polaris said:
like Tiriaq said, it takes some experimentation.

Once I colour matched a Mauser handguard (the horror) and it took at least a dozen times before I got it right.
I have 6 different walnut stains since then.
Click to expand...


Next time, melt down a little bit of BLACK KIWI shoe polish, add a bit of BLO, while it's still hot and again, while it's still hot apply it to the piece of wood you want to color match.

Allow to dry between coats, go over it with a hair dryer, set on hot, to help it soak in.

You need to let it cool and dry, then rub it down with a coarse cloth, to make sure the color match is right. It usually lightens up a bit when it's dry. If you need another coat or a couple more, repeat until you have what you're looking for.

Really simple and easy to touch up.

With this method, you can actually take a piece of Birch or Beech and make it look like Black Walnut
 
I use the oil paint + raw linseed oil method. Color is more natural than walnut stain, which could get too dark in the wood grains. Color intensity can be adjusted with either choice of color, or the amount of linseed oil mixed into the oil paint.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom