I'm building a coffee table for our daughter out of walnut. I have cut out all the sap wood but still think I may have a few issues with a lighter color in some of the walnut. My plans are to use a finish like Sam Waloof. It contains tung oil, linseed oil and varnish. I have thought about using a little stain on the lighter parts. Any suggestions.
A little light coloring here and there is natural. Looks especially nice when bookmatching walnut veneers. I'd leave it alone.
Dave
Keith, are you sure that the light areas don't add interest to the project? Cheers, Bill
Of course, if you don't like the sapwood areas, you might try a modified version of what they do in the kiln. Take a batch of heartwood scrap and steam and boil it to get some of the extractives out. Use as a dye. Better with hulls as a source, but it will give a bit of color.
Experiment on scrap, not your project.
I have used Var Black Walnut stain over the sap wood a few times. It is still lighter than the heartwood but looks nice (kind of natural, like the other respondants said). That is all I use the stain for. I bought it to use on secondary wood I wanted to mix with walnut, but it looks like crap there.
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