I am ready to start my first gun cabinet which will be for my son. Initial idea is for a cabinet to hold 6 long guns. He has specified that he would like it dark since he lives in an old farmhouse and most of the furniture is old and dark.
I’m in western North Carolina and my first thought was walnut which I think is available at the local lumber yard. I have been building with cherry which I suppose could be stained dark although I always wait for nature to take its course. I am looking for your input. Cherry, walnut, or something else?
And the finish – anything but glossy. I’ve never used BLO but am considering it for this project. Your comments on this compared to tung oil? Or other recommendations? (I don’t have spray equipment.) I will appreciate your ideas.
Roy
Replies
I'd use walnut. Cherry won't be dark on its own for a long time, unless you stain it. For finish, consider orange or garnet shellac, but buffed with steel wool to cut the gloss. It will make the walnut look warmer. Try it out on a test piece first. Try and get wood that matches as close as possible in color. If you only use BLO, it won't protect against scratching, or oil stains, etc. I'd use danish oil (oil & varnish mix) rather than straight oil. Just my two cents.
Mesquite.
Walnut's wonderful to work with. Compared to cherry, you'll find it a joy (I always have trouble with burn marks on cherry). It cuts cleanly and takes an edge well.
I'd use walnut alot more often, if it wasn't so darned dark. But if dark is what you want, go for it.
Your suggestions are appreciated and I think I'm about ready to buy some walnut. My one and only experience with walnut was building a rifle tote for my youngest son who shoots with the black powder cartridge guys. I had never seen one of these until he asked if I could make one. http://www.cal-graf.com/tote.html
I was pleasantly surprised with how nice the walnut was to work. And the suggestion to use shellac is accepted too. I just recently started using shellac and have found it takes much of the drudgery out of finishing.
Been using the Zinnser Amber. Is that close to the orange or garnet?
Roy
I'd use walnut alot more often, if it wasn't so darned dark..
I saw a cherry gun case once stained sort of 'Gun Metal Blue'.. I have no idea what stain was used but think somebody mixed a custon color.. You may think it would look 'funny' but it was quite beautiful...
If you go the walnut route, I used an oil finish that is called Sam Maloof Wood Finish which was really nice. As you probably know, Sam M. specialized in walnut and developed some finishes specifically to highlight walnut. I used the finish on a small box project and was very impressed with it. I got mine through Highland Hardware but I imagine it is available through other retailers as well.
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