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Walnut stain smells funky

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Muskyman:
I was going to stain a bow today and when I opened my walnut stain I made last year it had a bit of a funky smell. Is that normal or okay? I put a little denatured alcohol in it and that helped. It looks okay but just smells weird. It’s my trade bow and I don’t want to have it smelling funky.
Any thoughts, suggestions?

Piddler:
Sorry no answer from me but. I made some as well bottled up while hot and haven't opened it so don't know if it smells or not. I am anxiously awaiting an answer as to what to put in it or should have put in it as a preservative.
Piddler

Hamish:
Curious to know what kind of "funky" was it: fungal, ammonia , vinegar etc?

Muskyman:
Hard to describe the smell. Maybe like something soured. It seems much better after putting the denatured alcohol in it. Thinking about it now seems like it was pretty stinky when I was cooking it too.

Eric Krewson:
I made my first walnut stain with water; it started smelling and later developed a mold on top of the stain. My stain has all of the crushed walnut pulp in it, I didn't strain it.

 I scooped off the mold, added about a cup of denatured alcohol to the jar and stirred everything up, 20 years later I still use the same qt bottle of stain. I initially poured my stain into a plastic instant coffee jar with a lid, even well sealed the liquid will evaporate over time, I just add more alcohol to the mush when I want to stain something.

I apply the stain pulp and all and wipe off the pulp after the wood takes the stain.

I like the color; it looks good on hickory and arrow shafts. The first picture is my almost dried up stain before I refill the jar with alcohol. In the second picture I am testing the stain to see if I can use it on my M/L ramrods. The third picture is an arrow shaft that I stained with my homebrew walnut stain.

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