{"id":8551,"date":"2022-10-03T12:51:33","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T19:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/?p=8551"},"modified":"2022-10-10T16:50:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-10T23:50:55","slug":"ultimate-guide-to-walnut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wood-conversations\/ultimate-guide-to-walnut\/","title":{"rendered":"Video: Ultimate Guide to Walnut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"video-container\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CN8J7Nhk40Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen> frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"postheadline wp-block-heading\">American Black Walnut is the Craftman&#8217;s Darling<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s dark, handsome, classy, and a downright joy to cut, shape, sand and finish into a wonderful project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there&#8217;s a downside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s really easy to look at a pile of walnut and assume it&#8217;s low in quality because walnut, the poor guy, has a lot of characteristics that you don&#8217;t find in other woods. That means even the best&nbsp;grade of walnut comes with appearance flaws and defects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Walnut is just different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Building projects out of walnut means doing more cutting, arranging and flipping of your boards than you might be used to because it&#8217;s more varied in color and grain than most other woods. Part of the art of woodworking with walnut is&nbsp;in figuring out&nbsp;how to deal with, hide, or include&nbsp;knots and sapwood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s what to know and understand &#8211; and what you can do about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"postheadline wp-block-heading\">Knots<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Sad but true: walnut trees grow with a significant&nbsp;number of branches, and branches create knots in lumber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Depending on your taste, you&#8217;re going to find some knots acceptable&nbsp;and others objectionable because they can be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>small or large<\/li><li>cracked or solid<\/li><li>loose or sound<\/li><li>near the ends, edges or middle<\/li><li>Knots are also the source of fascinating figure like curl, fiddleback, swirl, crotch or quilt<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So where is the line drawn? With the lumber grade.&nbsp;Lumber grades establish what you can reasonably expect from the lumber. That includes 1). calculating the percentage of clear wood in a board using math,&nbsp;2). &nbsp;defining the size of allowable defects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The grade of lumber we usually sell is called &#8220;Select &amp; Better,&#8221; which is a mix of the top 3 lumber grades money can buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s a quick summary of Select &amp; Better walnut (according the the NHLA Rulebook):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Minimum 83%<\/strong> clear on the best side<\/li><li>Knots 1-1\/4&#8243; in diameter are counted as one defect<\/li><li>Both sides clear is&nbsp;never guaranteed<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Gallery of Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"postheadline wp-block-heading\">Sapwood<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>All trees have a sapwood ring, which is the pale yellow-white section of wood between the bark and the heartwood. It&#8217;s the part that transports water and nutrients throughout the tree. Some&nbsp;species have a narrow sapwood ring, some have a large sapwood ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Walnut suffers on two fronts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The sap ring in walnut trees is pretty large<\/li><li>The color variation really stands out because the heartwood is so much darker<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Sapwood is&nbsp;<em>allowed<\/em> in all grades of walnut lumber, but with some limits. And, according to the rules, the <em>face<\/em> of a board must have less sapwood percentage than the <em>back<\/em> of a board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We only buy walnut lumber that&#8217;s carries a specification of&nbsp;a minimum 80% heartwood on the best side.&nbsp;That means some boards&nbsp;in the pile could have more heartwood, but, regretfully, it&#8217;s not guaranteed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why 80%?<\/strong> It&#8217;s a matter of economics and supply. On rare occasions, some walnut suppliers do have a selection of walnut with&nbsp;a greater percentage of heartwood, like 90%+. It&#8217;s very expensive, and it&#8217;s not available all the time. If you think walnut is expensive, you should see the price of 100% heartwood walnut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Gallery of Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nngg_shortcode_1_placeholder\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"postheadline wp-block-heading\">Walnut Lumber Is Steamed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>What and why? Steaming is&nbsp;how the walnut lumber suppliers do what they can to fix the color disparity between heartwood and sapwood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The concept is that steaming evens out the color, reducing the contrast between heartwood and sapwood.&nbsp;In non-steamed walnut the line between sap and heart is quite&nbsp;sharp and abrupt. In steamed material, it&#8217;s more graduated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do they do it? The lumber is stacked face to back, and loaded into a steaming chamber. Steam is fed into the chamber for just a couple of days, and then the lumber is left to cool down in the chamber. Then the lumber air-dries&nbsp;until it&#8217;s ready to be dried in a kiln.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The downside is that steamed lumber, after planing, generally has a grayish brown color devoid of the nuanced deep purples, browns&nbsp;and yellows you&#8217;d find in raw unsteamed material. To be fair, steamed walnut color jumps to life when it&#8217;s finished. Plus, all walnut lightens up over the years with exposure to UV light weather it&#8217;s steamed or not, and changes to a dark golden amber (unless the project is&nbsp;stained or dyed). So&nbsp;in the long run, there may not be a distinct advantage to using unsteamed walnut in a project &#8211; other than for the romance of working with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Gallery of Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nngg_shortcode_2_placeholder\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"postheadline wp-block-heading\">Here&#8217;s What You Can Do<\/h3>\n\n\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Expect a Waste Factor<\/strong><br><span style=\"font-size: 90%;\">This means you need to plan to have enough lumber&nbsp;to flip boards and arrange grain in a way that&#8217;s pleasing to you.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Work with Knots<\/strong><br><span style=\"font-size: 90%;\">Don&#8217;t be too put off by knots. First of all, if you run into one you don&#8217;t like, flip the board to find out what&#8217;s on the back side. Good chance you can just hide it on an unseen part of your project. Otherwise,&nbsp;you might be surprised at how well knots can blend in when filled with a dark filler. Plus&nbsp;knots have a charisma and grace that only wood can provide.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Use Veneer<\/strong><br><span style=\"font-size: 90%;\">The best, clearest, straightest walnut logs get turned into veneer, not lumber. It&#8217;s a matter of economics:&nbsp;veneer manufacturers pay a lot more for logs than lumber producers do, therefore they get the better ones. So if you <em>absolutely need<\/em> walnut that&#8217;s evenly colored, free of knots (even tiny ones), you need to use&nbsp;veneer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Finish for Color<\/strong><br><span style=\"font-size: 90%;\">Oil based finishes&nbsp;enhance the dark heartwood very easily. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 90%;\">You can also improve the natural contrast in the wood by using a dark-tinted Danish oil, or applying a dark (but thin) oil stain, or glazing over a clear sealer, or filling the grain with a dark brown filler. Basically, anything dark that locks into the open grain of walnut will pop the grain nicely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 90%;\">To control the color, a finishing recipe over the entire project of&nbsp; an orange-brown dye, clear sealer, and a&nbsp;glaze with a dark brown oil based gel stain does a marvelous job of blending sapwood, enhancing the wood&#8217;s dark grain contrast, and giving it a color that will last for years and years. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 90%;\">Otherwise, check out our tutorials:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"row well\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-6 text-center\"><i class=\"fa fa-paint-brush\"><\/i><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/woodworking-101\/tips-tricks\/heres-a-secret-to-a-better-wood-finish-on-walnut\/\">3 Tricks for A Beautiful Walnut Finish<\/a><br><small>Our blog covers 3 techniques you may not have thought of using before<\/small><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-sm-6 text-center\"><i class=\"fa fa-youtube-play\"><\/i><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wood-conversations\/3-great-ways-to-hide-sapwood-in-walnut\/\">A Finishing Trick for Even, Dark Walnut<\/a><br><small>Our step-by-step video shows you how to dye and glaze walnut for superior color control<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row well\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-6 text-center\"><i class=\"fa fa-bookmark\"><\/i><br><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=t_YDAAAAMBAJ&amp;lpg=PA63&amp;dq=dyed%20and%20glazed%20walnut&amp;pg=PA60#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&#8220;Tips for Finishing Walnut&#8221;<\/a><br><small>Links to an old but useful article from American Woodworker magazine that shows you several techniques<\/small><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-sm-6 text-center\"><i class=\"fa fa-bookmark\"><\/i><br><a href=\"http:\/\/rlmillard.typepad.com\/my_weblog\/2008\/09\/finish-walnut.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&#8220;Finishing Walnut&#8221; by Rob Milnard<\/a><br><small>More about dye and glaze on walnut<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<p><strong>Gallery of Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nngg_shortcode_3_placeholder\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s what you need to know to buy it, work it, and finish it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,324,5,181,3,83],"tags":[68,11,67,73,76,109],"class_list":["post-8551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ask-us","category-lumber-help-faq","category-tips-tricks","category-videos","category-wood-conversations","category-woodworking-101","tag-customer-service","tag-hardwood","tag-help","tag-tips","tag-walnut","tag-woodworking-basics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8551"}],"version-history":[{"count":105,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12302,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8551\/revisions\/12302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}