Staining Wood With Wodka & Walnuts

This year is going to be The Year Of The Walnut.

It's been, already, The Year Of The Cherries - never I've seen so many cherries on one tree, the trunks sunk almost one meter in the ground. No kidding.

It's also been The Year Without Meat, The Year With The Big Beer Compensation & The Year Of The Biggest Hangover Ever. In that order.

Whatever. We have so many nuts this year that there's going to be a serious risk for Earth Rotation Deviation, and since I'm seriously concerned about the earths well being, I've started to gather some nuts prematurely.

I made my first walnut stain.

I know, it's very well known, it's very easy, but for the welfare of us all it's also very necessary.

Gather some nuts, put them in a plastic bag and smash them to tiny pieces.

A wooden hammer can be helpful.

Or a cat - but beware of those claws, they can perforate the plastic easily.

Better is a small dog, in fact.

Or the jawbone of a water buffallo - depending on the region where you live.

Put that walnut mash in an empty bottle - it's better to give too much advice than not enough - and add some kind of alcohol.

Vodka is great, but so is pure ethanol, methanol or whateveranol - just see what you can get, depending on the region where you live.

Close the bottle & wait one day.

Or a few days.

Poor the blackish liquid in a glass & start staining.

Of course waiting more days may be an option.

Of course filtering may be another option.

Of course using only the husks may also be an option.

Of course using only the husks of mature nuts may be the Ultimate Option.

But of course, I used the whole.

I didn't wait & I didn't filter. No finickin', as always.

I gave it one shot, two, four, seven, a dozen.

And I became a fan of this homemade product.

I don't know it yet - I used 'cleaning alcohol' - but I'm sure that the vodka version might be the first stain you actually can drink. Really.

The results? Look at those pics & judge.

I tested it on a reinforced poplar cutting board since I wanted a very clear wood to see the effect of the staining at full potential.

It's like a kind of olive by now, due to the amount of chlorophyl that's still in the mixture, but I'm sure the greenish will greyish.

Simply beautiful, and so it's a go for me. Definitely.