{"id":747,"date":"2014-01-01T18:20:12","date_gmt":"2014-01-01T22:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/?p=747"},"modified":"2018-01-26T17:07:52","modified_gmt":"2018-01-27T00:07:52","slug":"3-great-ways-to-hide-sapwood-in-walnut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/woodworking-101\/tips-tricks\/3-great-ways-to-hide-sapwood-in-walnut\/","title":{"rendered":"A Finishing Trick for a Dark, Even Color in Walnut Woodworking Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class=\"video-container\"><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0EjIjCvxVGI\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen> width=\"800\" height=\"500\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2648\" style=\"width: 342px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/walnut_001.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2648\" class=\"wp-image-2648 \" title=\"Even colored walnut lumber\" src=\"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/walnut_001-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"Even colored walnut lumber\" width=\"332\" height=\"221\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/walnut_001-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/walnut_001-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/walnut_001.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 332px) 100vw, 332px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2648\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Look close. This piece of walnut is not only finished with a clear lacquer but the light colored sapwood has been evened out to nearly match the heartwood. Woodworking with walnut today means dealing with the sapwood. Here are 3 ways.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Few people approve<\/strong> of pale sapwood in their walnut lumber,\u00a0 but in the words of\u00a0 Jim, a salesman at one of our faithful walnut suppliers back east, &#8220;When people ask me for a 100% heartwood face in walnut, I just tell them they&#8217;re dreaming.&#8221; You may be tired of hearing that sapwood isn&#8217;t considered a defect when it comes to grading lumber, however it is an industry fact. Lumber grade is a mathematical computation of the amount of clear wood in a board &#8211; so says the National Hardwood Lumber Association, the organization responsible for defining the rules of the lumber trade.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But it&#8217;s a defect <em>to me<\/em>,&#8221; says the woodworker.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So what&#8217;s a woodworker to do?<\/strong> Fortunately, lumber producers separate their walnut inventory not just by grade but also by color. The good news is 100% heartwood walnut can be had; the bad news is few can afford it. For the most part, about the best balance between color, cost, availability is called 90\/70 heart: that means 90% heartwood on the face, 70% heartwood on the back. Remember, lumber has two broad sides, a face and a back, and when building furniture and cabinetry, only one side is displayed in the final product.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, it&#8217;s possible to find <em>some<\/em> 100% heartwood boards from time to time, but on a consistent basis and in large quantities? Not really. And therefore, when you visit your nearest lumber supplier, you&#8217;ll never have a perfect pile of full brown walnut to select from. Full heartwood boards are the exception to the rule, so it&#8217;s time to look at how woodworkers are using walnut in today&#8217;s woodworking.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll find a number of discussions and blogs about this topic, and a good one in particular is this found at Lumber Jocks, <a title=\"lumber jocks discussion on how to deal with sapwood in walnut\" href=\"http:\/\/lumberjocks.com\/topics\/10565\" target=\"_blank\">www.lumberjocks.com\/topics\/10565,<\/a> which discusses three ways woodworkers overcome sapwood.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2942\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/walnut_dyed_stained-5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2942\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2942\" src=\"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/walnut_dyed_stained-5-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"Walnut board dyed and stained\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/walnut_dyed_stained-5-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/walnut_dyed_stained-5.jpg 950w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2942\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two walnut boards compared. Bottom is raw, top is dyed, stained, and finished to hide the sapwood. Can you tell where the sapwood and heartwood meet? Look closely.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>3 Ways to Deal with Sapwood in Walnut:<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Cut sapwood off, and\/or hide the sapwood on parts that will not be seen frequently<\/li>\n<li>Live with sapwood in your finished project<\/li>\n<li>Use a dyeing and staining process to make the color even<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Those first two are straightforward.<\/p>\n<p>Dyeing and staining needs some explanation, though. Since you&#8217;re not going to be able to go the woodworking store and buy a bottle of Sapwood Hider right off the shelf &#8211; alas, no such miracle exists &#8211; there are a couple of steps involved, but they&#8217;re easy.<\/p>\n<p>For this method, we&#8217;re specifically talking about <em>dye<\/em> and there are a number of dyes on the market, usually mixed with water or denatured alcohol. Dye is different from stain, as dye doesn&#8217;t obscure the grain, which is pretty important when using walnut.<\/p>\n<p>The basics:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Apply a very diluted dye<\/strong> in a color of your choice to the entire piece, heartwood and sapwood. Two nice choices could be Behlen Solar-Lux&#x2122; Medium Brown Walnut color or American Walnut color. Solar-Lux&#x2122; is UV resistant and fade resistant, which is great because when walnut is left natural, it eventually turns very tan.\u00a0There are several techniques to apply the dye (which we&#8217;ll cover in another post), but in general you&#8217;ll want to dilute it by maybe 50%, then apply it in 2 or 3 coats rather than one full-strength coat because it&#8217;s easier to get a better result that way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Seal the wood with a light coat<\/strong> of sanding sealer or shellac. This needs to be thin to allow for the next step to have some effect. Spray it or pad it on.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Apply an oil-based gel stain<\/strong> on top of the sealer. Wipe it on, wipe it off. When you wipe it off, use a bit of an artist&#8217;s hand &#8211; that is, don&#8217;t wipe too hard or too soft. You want to leave a light coat of stain right on top of the sealer while also lodging\u00a0pigment into the pores. In the end you get a gorgeous consistent color across the board.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Apply your clear finish<\/strong> of choice. Varnish, lacquer, etc.<\/p>\n<p>It should go without saying that you should always test your dye process on a few test pieces before committing the dye to your final product. You&#8217;ll need to test different dilution ratios of your dye before you get the color you want.<\/p>\n<p>Dyeing walnut is not very difficult, but it will take some time. However, you&#8217;ll greatly increase your yield of wood and you&#8217;ll make the beautiful walnut color last much, much longer than you would if if were to leave the wood natural.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2943\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/walnut_dyed_stained-7.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2943\" class=\" wp-image-2943\" src=\"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/walnut_dyed_stained-7.jpg\" alt=\"Walnut wood dyed to blend sapwood and heartwood\" width=\"800\" height=\"461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/walnut_dyed_stained-7.jpg 950w, https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/walnut_dyed_stained-7-300x172.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2943\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">In this dyed and stained walnut board, you get a nice, dark chocolate color that\u00a0will last a long, long time. The processed used also blends the pale sapwood so it&#8217;s not too different from the heartwood.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>width=&#8221;800&#8243; height=&#8221;500&#8243; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8243; allowfullscreen=&#8221;allowfullscreen&#8221;> Few people approve of pale sapwood in their walnut lumber,\u00a0 but in the words of\u00a0 Jim, a salesman at one of our faithful walnut suppliers back east, &#8220;When people ask me for a 100% heartwood face in walnut, I just tell them they&#8217;re dreaming.&#8221; You may be tired of hearing that <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/woodworking-101\/tips-tricks\/3-great-ways-to-hide-sapwood-in-walnut\/\">&#8230;<br \/><small><em><strong>Read More<\/strong><\/em> <i class=\"fa fa-arrow-circle-right\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/small><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,181,84],"tags":[24,70,61,67,76],"class_list":["post-747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-tricks","category-videos","category-wood-finishing","tag-custom-woodworking","tag-demos","tag-finishing","tag-help","tag-walnut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":64,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10113,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions\/10113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}