Walnut stain from walnut husks

[fa38]

I have a lot of walnuts falling off the two trees in my front yard and was thinking about how to go about making a walnut stain from the hulls. Not something I have to do but would like to know the process of making the stain from the hulls and maybe using the stain on one of my single shot stocking jobs.

Thinking about throwing the nuts and hulls in a pail and filling with water, letting it set for a week or so and straining out the nuts and the hulls from the water. Then letting it evaporate down to a sort of slurry and wiping that on the stock.

Does this sound okay or just stupid?

Any suggestions?

Marty

 

[Eddie Harren]

I boil them in 5 Gal. metal buckets in water. I dip my new traps in the brew to dye them before I wax them.
Never tried the brew on wood. It usually tints the traps a pale green.

 

[clowdis]

Your stocks will turn green in a few months. Best to just buy a walnut stain from the hardware store.

 

[fa38]

Well another bad idea bites the dust. Thanks

 

[fguffey]

Does this sound okay

I have no clue as to what Walnut tree you are taking about, I have Black Walnut trees. I filled a quart jar with dried black walnuts complete with dried husk, and then I filled the jar with water. I placed the jar on the patio in the sun for about a months. it was about that time the jar got knocked over and broke. The stain in the jar stained the concrete patio for years, the stain was black.

And if you want to get your lunch stolen take a sack full of hickory nuts....with a hammer.

F. Guffey

 

[223Randy]

I used to mix walnuts husks in water in a tub and let them sit for a couple of days then strain out the particulates and we dipped wicker baskets in it and would hang them to dry, if not dark enough dip again. Never had one turn green.
Don't see why it would not work on wood

 

[fguffey]

I used to mix walnuts husks in water in a tub

223Randy, my wife makes baskets, the only way she can get that stuff to bend is by soaking it in water. If she is not staining she uses the bath tub.

Turn green? I have removed the husk from pecans before the husk dried, that is when the husk is green. I have never had my thumbs turn green,

F. Guffey

 

[LarryDScott]

When I was young( a long time ago), we put the walnuts in the driveway and ran over them with the car to crush the green shell. If you touched these w/o rubber gloves, you were going to have black fingers for a loooooong time. Only time would wear the stain off. LDS

 

[joshb]

I learned this as a kid. Soak a bunch of black walnuts in a five gallon bucket for a Week or so. Pour the "water" on the lawn and the worms come up to the surface like magic. It may work as a stain, too.

 

[JLT]

Walnut husks are used to make fountain pen ink and the stuff is quite permanent once dry. There's no reason why a water-based ink wouldn't work well as a wood stain. Check out the the following thread for a couple of recipes:

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/232797-homemade-black-walnut-ink/

I made a gallon of it several years ago - a lifetime supply, even though fountain pens are my writing instrument of choice - and I can tell you that stray drops WILL permanently stain unfinished wood. I used the 'cooked' recipe as the saturation is better.

I'm definitely going to try the 'worm trick'! The kids will get a kick out of it, I'm sure, and then we'll go fishing.

 

[GaryL1959]

I learned this as a kid. Soak a bunch of black walnuts in a five gallon bucket for a Week or so. Pour the "water" on the lawn and the worms come up to the surface like magic. It may work as a stain, too.

Black walnut dye made this way and poured into a small pond or slow moving stream will do the same thing to fish. Brings them right to the surface. Probably illegal almost everywhere, but might come in handy in the right (or wrong?) situation.

 

[B Nettesheim]

Why not try making the stain and then testing it on a piece of scrap I'd be interested to hear about how it turns out

 

[Barlow]

Funny this would come up. I have a Black Walnut tree on the edge of my yard that is loaded this year. I picked and husked about 100 last evening. I had a pair of yellow fuzzies on, my thumbs and fore fingers are black and it looks like they are going to be that way for a while. Barlow

 

[dolek]

I have had luck with it,never have I seen it turn green .I reduce the liquid down on the woodstove and get a very dark stain that can be diluted if need be .I have also added dried hulls with linseed oil(heated slightly and strained),with mixed results...kinda dark and muddy.

 

[Stephen Frith]

I have had luck with it,never have I seen it turn green .I reduce the liquid down on the woodstove and get a very dark stain that can be diluted if need be .I have also added dried hulls with linseed oil(heated slightly and strained),with mixed results...kinda dark and muddy.

Some Indians used, I believe, ground walnut husks for fishing as a toxic stunning agent introduced into a stream or pond.
S