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Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge

REAL MILK PAINT

Working with Walnut.

Posts

Working with Walnut.

#1

Working with Walnut.

Joe in a Cleveland suburb


>Hi. Me again. Sorry...

I posted this question yesterday on the regular forum. But I thought you hand tool junkies might have some ideas to, so I'm posting it here too.

I am making a cabinet out of air dried Walnut. I don't have much experience with walnut at all. I'm using frame and panel construction. I am preparing the panels for finish prior to glue up. The walnut panels have some nice figure to them. It's almost like a ribbon pattern. I've planed them, used a card scraper, and a cabinet scraper on them trying to get them nice and smooth (I'm pretty confident my scrapers and planes are tuned properly). I'm afraid I'm taking too much wood off and the panels are going to end up with a sloppy fit in the panel frames.

My problem is after doing the above, there are areas that remain rough feeling and/or areas that feel fuzzy. I suspect these are areas where the grain is going every which way. Should I just give up and sand the whole thing? What am I doing wrong?

With Cherry I've always been able to get the surface real smooth using the above tools but I'm not having luck with this walnut.

Any suggestions? Ideas?

Thanks!

Joe

Re: Working with Walnut.

#2

Re: Working with Walnut.

Teacher


>This happens with Walnut. Try a very light layer of shellac...that helps to tame fuzz sometimes. Or, you could (gasp!) sand the wood. If you have nicely figured/grained walnut, it's worth it. Good luck.

Re: Working with Walnut.

#3

Re: Working with Walnut.

Joe in a Cleveland suburb


>Would you suggest something like Zinser Sealcoat diluted 50/50 with denatured alcohol then try scraping again?

Thanks,

Joe

Re: Working with Walnut.

#4

Re: Working with Walnut.

Teacher


>Should be fine, though I've never used that particular product. Just be sure to brush on a fine coat...nothing heavy is needed, and it could make scraping a pain.

Re: Working with Walnut.

#5

Re: Working with Walnut.

woodburnbob


>Interesting question. I've never thought walnut scraped very well. I guess you used some kind of panel plane to flatten the panels. Then you used a true smoother to get the thinnest shavings, I guess. What are you using for a smoother?

Re: Working with Walnut.

#6

Re: Working with Walnut.

Bruce, a MN Galoot


>I don't have a really good smoother, yet (still working on it), but I have a stack of air dryed walnut that has defied planing in some areas. I made two tables this summer, and admit to having destroyed some electrons in their making. There's just something nasty about the grain in some places. I wonder if this has to do with the fact that the tree wasn't all that big - the widest board is maybe 10"

Bruce, the original neanderdabbler

Re: Working with Walnut.

#7

Re: Working with Walnut.

woodburnbob


>I agree Bruce. There is something peculiar about walnut. I've got Bruce Hoadleys (sp?) book and will check what he says. To me, walnut is really soft and easy to plane, then suddenly what had been with the grain changes to against the grain. Once you take the tearout down, it switchs direction again and you're back to planing in the first direction. Planing cross grain helps a little, but that's not what I want either.

I remember building a chest high book case out of solid local walnut some farmer had stored in his barn. I was 15 and in sophomore shop class (1963). Me and another kid bought all the rough planks and took them to the lumberyard and had them thickness planed.

I remember the wood as really hard (I guess because no tools in the shop were sharp and no one ever bothered to show how to sharpen them).

I've still got a few boards from that bookcase (torn down). Seems really soft and easy to cut now...after 40+ years of sharpening improvement.

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