Home made walnut stain?

[dikman]

Anyone on here made their own stain from walnuts?

[veedub3]

I have, but from the walnut husks, although I hear you can make it from the walnut shells as well. I found this method on one of the blade or bushwhack forums, I forget which one, but you can hit up google and will find many ways of doing it.

With the husks (I used black walnut), put them in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil, once at boil, reduce heat and start your clock. It needs to cook for about 1 hour. After starting your clock, you will stir every 10 minutes. At about the 30 minutes mark, remove the husks. Let the mixture continue to cook for the remaining time, stirring every 10 minutes. Once done, strain the liquid using a cheese cloth. I did this several times to get all the bits and pieces out of the dye. Once the mixture has completely cooled, (I waited until the next day) Use as you would any other leather dye. 

My batch produced a a dark stain, closely similar to a Fiebing's Dark Brown dye. YMMV  

Also this can be done using pecans husks for a lighter shade of brown with hints of red tones.

 

Hope this helps,

Karina

 

[dikman]

Thanks Karina. I made a small batch last year, using some dried whole walnuts ( including the husks) that I had, using a similar method. While it is certainly a dark colour itself it only produced a very light colouring in the leather (dipping it, as I'm reluctant to soak the leather), and over time most of the water has evaporated and left a thick dark syrup which is too thick to soak into the leather. I'm currently making another batch from this year's meagre crop - the walnuts/husks have been soaking in a bucket of water for several weeks and I have a nice dark brew. Once this is ready I'll add last years to it.

How do you apply your stain? Do you concentrate it by removing most of the water to thicken it, do you apply it several times to build up the colour or do you just soak the leather, and if so how long?

[veedub3]

I apply my stain using an airbrush. Actually, using an airbrush is how I dye all my leather. With the airbrush i had to go over it several times to get the nice even color that I wanted. Once dry, the color came out a very dark brown.

The husks i was using were from a black walnut tree, and I was told that the fresher they are, the darker the stain will  be. I was able to get my husk the same day they fell from the tree. When cracking them open, i didn't wear gloves and my fingers were stained black for days.

 

 

[dikman]

Hmm, airbrush.... I have a few lying around, haven't used them for years. Once I've finished brewing my dye I'll give it a try. My neighbour has a walnut tree, might have to ask him if I can have the ones that the birds are dropping on the ground so that I can make a bigger batch.

Thanks veedub.