# Walnut and Sunlight



## gideon (May 26, 2010)

I have a client who wants a walnut desk built to sit in front of a large window. 

I know that there is no real long term solution to what oxygen and UV will do so I was wondering the following:

1. bout how long will a uv blocking finish last before color changes?
2. if I were to use butternut and stain with an oil base to walnut, will that be better or will it fade over time as well?
3. is there a darker species of wood which will hold it's color over time? teak maybe? 
4. any other ideas?

The client won't consider putting the table anywhere else as the view while working is what he wants. 

Thanks in advance for any and all advice you all can provide.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Personally I think sunlight and walnut are a good thing. When good heartwood is freshly finished it has a almost purple look to it. After years of exposure to the sun it gets a nice golden brown look to it. The darkness doesn't change all that much, it just takes the purple color off of it. Anyway it will take a long time before anyone sees the difference and if you are really concerned about the UV exposure Kwick Kleen makes a product called Sun Block. It's like a sun screen made for wood. You use it on the wood prior to finishing it and then topcoat with a UV protective coating.


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## gideon (May 26, 2010)

Steve Neul said:


> Personally I think sunlight and walnut are a good thing. When good heartwood is freshly finished it has a almost purple look to it. After years of exposure to the sun it gets a nice golden brown look to it. The darkness doesn't change all that much, it just takes the purple color off of it. Anyway it will take a long time before anyone sees the difference and if you are really concerned about the UV exposure Kwick Kleen makes a product called Sun Block. It's like a sun screen made for wood. You use it on the wood prior to finishing it and then topcoat with a UV protective coating.



My client wants a consistent coilor (dark) throughout and wants it to stay that way. I spoke with him about how walnut will turn golden brown over time, that it doesn't hold the black color forever - we'll see where it goes....

How long does it take for walnut to bleach? Cherry, I built a desk which went firey orange in a matter of 16 months - but that had a lot of light exposure.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

gideon said:


> My client wants a consistent coilor (dark) throughout and wants it to stay that way. I spoke with him about how walnut will turn golden brown over time, that it doesn't hold the black color forever - we'll see where it goes....
> 
> How long does it take for walnut to bleach? Cherry, I built a desk which went firey orange in a matter of 16 months - but that had a lot of light exposure.


I've never done any testing on the fading of walnut. I have furniture I made 40 years ago that except for the purple is about the same color as it was when I built it. I think in a place getting constant direct sun it would be more than 5 years before you could see it getting any lighter and I wouldn't use the word bleached, just a slight shade lighter. In that enviroment no wood is exempt from a little fading. Given the wood itself is dark and doesn't depend on artificial coloring is a plus.


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## HowardAcheson (Nov 25, 2011)

>>>> How long does it take for walnut to bleach?

Hard to say. Depends on the walnut itself and how much and how long the wood is exposed to the sunlight. It also depends on whether the window has any UV reducing coating. I had one customer who had a couple of large windows UV coated and the color held up better.

I personally have a couple of small walnut tables that sat in a shaded ares for 12 or more years. They had little of no color change during that time. I moved to coastal North Carolina and one item was placed in a area that had long term sunlight exposure in front of UV coated exposure. In six years of exposure, the item has lightened noticeably. I'll give it a couple of more years then strip it, stain it and clear coat it.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

HowardAcheson said:


> >>>> How long does it take for walnut to bleach?
> 
> Hard to say. Depends on the walnut itself and how much and how long the wood is exposed to the sunlight. It also depends on whether the window has any UV reducing coating. I had one customer who had a couple of large windows UV coated and the color held up better.
> 
> I personally have a couple of small walnit tables that sat in a shaded ares for 12 or more years. They had little of no color change during that time. I moved to coastal North Carolina and one item was placed in a area that had long term sunlight exposure in front of UV coated exposure. In six years of exposure, the item has lightened noticeably. I'll give it a couple of more years then strip it, stain it and clear coat it.


+1

My experience with Walnut also, sunlight bleaches it pretty fast. Imbuia (Brazilian Walnut) bleaches even faster in the sun.


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## Fred Hargis (Apr 28, 2012)

Here's an example. I built a huge TV cabinet out of walnut ply. It had a removable crown molding on the top, and right next to it sat a torch-aire lamp with a large flourescent bulb. The lamp was almost always on, and after 5 years you can see the fading. That dark line that looks like a shadow at the top of the pic is actually the area covered by the crown molding, the light are under it is what the lamp did. The finish on this piece was a light coat of BLO for color, then top coated with a waterborne clear finish.


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## gideon (May 26, 2010)

that is a great comparison photo.

I'm going to try the uv sun block stuff and hope that it stays pretty color stable.

But, I've refinished older walnut which had faded in color. Sanding it down brought a little of the black back to the pieces but they were still faded. 

It really didn't look bad tho. Wish I could get that point across to people.


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## HowardAcheson (Nov 25, 2011)

Be aware that UV additives work by absorbing UV. As they absorb the UV they become increasingly ineffective and will get to the point where they will no longer absorb UV. 

Boaters will lightly scuff-sand varnished wood surfaces and then apply a couple of new coats of UV containing varnish. But the UV additive is intended to protect the varnish, not the wood underneath.


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