Finishing a walnut piece

[John_M]

Hi all,, am working on a large piece of walnut doing a Indian head bust but am wondering what to do as far as a finish? also it has some pretty good cracks in the wood should i fill them or let them be as they are? My main concern is the hair if i use a walnut stain am wondering if the hair will stand out or what? also the wood has some white in it that is why i would like to use a walnut stain. Am open to all suggestions and alot of help lol . would like this to come out looking really nice. You can send replies to my email address:: shadow061@yahoo.com thx John PS: im a newbie so please bear with me thx.

[BobD]

Hi John,
Welcome!
I moved you thread here. The Author Questions areas is moderated, and every reply must be approved by a moderator. In this area, anyone can respond!

Best regards,
Bob Duncan
Technical Editor

[John_M]

Hi Bob sorry about that still waitng for all the replies to come in lol. John

[Ron T]

Hi John M,

The questions you asked are quite general and depend a lot on personal choice. If you search the threads you will see how varied the answers are.

If you want to fill the cracks, you might want to check Davids answer to my "Diamond Willow wip" where I have a crack.

If you want to stain the carving, you might consider burning the hair, but either way, I think the hair texturing should show okay.

Good luck.

BTW, most members will post their answers here and not to your email address.

[A Willburger]

Hi John,
I have a walnut carving I did three years a go that had some light wood in it and used walnut stain. At the Beach - Wood Carving Illustrated Photo Gallery

To fix cracks use the same wood and make a thin wedge from it. Put a little glue on it and tap it in the crack make sure the grain of the wood on the wedge is going the same way as were you are putting it

[John_M]

Hi guys forgot to mention that the cracks are quite wide all i have are wood chips no dust maybe use walnut wood filler ? the piece of wood is pretty dried out and lke i say the cracks are quite wide and deep,, mostly on the face and sides. john

[squbrigg]

Cracks can give it character, or if too big, you can fill them with slivers/chips of the wood, glued in. Walnut looks great with just an oil finish, I wouldn't stain it, even with the light section, but that's just me. Can you post a picture, so we can see what you are talking about and help you better?

Bob

[jharris]

A. Willburger - did you laminate pieces together for this? Beautiful carving and no apparent lines of lamination. I've been wanting to try walnut, but have not been able to find a piece 6x6.

Jim

[John_M]

would you use Tung Oil ? I do want to have a high shine on it tho. A friend of mine gave me this walnut stump apx size is 10" dia X 18: high oh with using oil would you use a clear or color ? weatehr it be tung oil or ? Thx John sorry no camera for pictures

[dnstehly]

Hi John, RonT has refered you to his thread which details my favorite way of filling cracks and other blemishes. Also I posted a picture of the result on a recent thread "some different techniques in snake carving". I carve a lot of black walnut and generally just do a tung oil finish. I use Formby's satin. If the walnut is not as deep a shade as I would like I apply a first coat of Watco black walnut oil to enhance the color then finish with Formby's.