The wood of black walnut is dark, hard, dense, and close-grained. Woodworkers value it for its strength, texture, and color. It polishes to an extremely smooth finish and ranges in color from milky white sapwood to dark chocolate heartwood. Natural walnut wood develops a beautiful patina over time.
Walnut wood is revered for its rich, dark color. There are many varieties of walnut trees, but just a few are native to North America. It's the Eastern Black Walnut (also called the American Black Walnut or American Walnut) that is most often used for woodworking.
Walnut is by definition a hardwood. That means it comes from a deciduous tree (i.e. one that sheds its leaves each autumn) called the black walnut, AKA American walnut. Walnut heartwood has a rich, chocolaty brown color.
Walnut wood is hard, heavy, and resilient, capable of resisting warping and suffering very little shrinkage. The grain is irregular but typically straight with a medium texture. The endgrain is semi-porous with distinct growth rings. Although susceptible to insects, English Walnut is quite resistant to decay.
Unlike cherry, maple, and oak (which all darken in color as they age), walnut wood will actually lighten slightly over time.
Ebony is considered a dark stain, but it is still lighter than dark walnut.
Old filler is often a problem with oak, walnut, and mahogany. Bleaching can also be used to even the color of a piece of furniture made with two or more woods. It can lighten the darker wood to match the lighter one. Before you use bleach on any piece of furniture, make sure the wood is suitable for bleaching.
If you want a lighter colored board go with Maple, and if you want a darker board go with Walnut. Maple is a slightly higher quality wood with many benefits. Still, despite that, it is a less expensive end product though Walnut offers its own advantages.
Due to its premium quality, unique beauty and durability, walnut is considered a high-end wood. In fact, walnut is considered one of the most luxurious non-exotic woods available for home furniture. Walnut is highly desired for its rich, chocolate-brown color, and lends a feeling of luxury to any space.
Other species of oak, such as American White Oak, have a light-to-tan brown colour with a straight grain. Walnut, on the other hand, can have a characteristically sleek cream-to-chocolate brown colour — often with an alluring tinge of purple.
Walnut wood offers rich, brown colors that range from light to dark brown. The sapwood (outer part of the tree log) is pale yellow to white and the heartwood (center of the tree log) has brown shades that vary from light brown to dark chocolate brown with some dark brown streaks.
Alder, poplar, red gum, oak, or mahogany can also be stained to resemble walnut. However, no two types of wood are identical. Even if you successfully stain your chosen wood to imitate walnut, the grain and pore structure will vary slightly. If you're looking for wood similar to walnut, acacia is the answer.
Walnut is lovely wood, especially when carefully air dried so as to preserve the rich chocolate, purple and black tones in the best of it. HOWEVER, It fades like mad in sunlight. Furniture is touched by sunlight. Therefore, the lovely colors of the walnut go away — and it doesn't take centuries.
As walnut is a dark colour, it pairs well with lighter colours. However, if you are looking to keep your space adaptable, then neutral colours such as white, magnolia and creams are complementary colours to walnut finished items.
Redwood – It's one of the lightest and most durable woods used for building. It's one of the many reasons why Redwood is such a popular building material. Heartwood redwood grades are the most durable. Cedar – At just 19.7 to 23 pounds per square foot (dry) Cedar is one of the lightest woods.
New walnut has a consistent dark-brown color but as it gets older, two changes occur. 1: Unlike maple and cherry, it gets lighter. 2: A rich honey color starts to come through the grain.
Following are the reasons why Walnut wood is expensive.
The tree takes around 50 years to mature, it is longer than most other trees. It is in high demand due to its desired characteristics such as durability, strength or aesthetic making it one of the best wood species around.
Walnut is rated at a 1010 on the Janka Hardness Scale. European Oak is a 1360 on the same scale. This means that Oak is more durable than Walnut and will stand up better against constant use and daily wear and tear. Walnut isn't the best flooring choice for high-traffic areas of the home.
Walnut and oak, while both premier cabinet wood species, can come at significantly different price points. Walnut will almost always be more expensive than oak. That's because walnut is not as populous, which results in it being harder to source and more expensive.
Pros: Walnut is a very strong and stable wood that can take intricate carving. The color can be beautiful. Cons: Some may not like the variation from dark to light that's sometimes found on a single wide board. Walnut is also one of the more costly woods.
Maple is generally the lightest colored hardwood. Its grain is very smooth, giving it a modern chic look. Maple is the best choice if you're looking for super blonde wood in its natural form. The color variations of Maple also vary greatly depending on the grade.
Yes, there are several woods that resemble walnut but are more affordable for woodworking. Some popular alternatives include cherry, mahogany, and even some varieties of ash and maple that have been stained to mimic the dark color and grain pattern of walnut.
For example, the elements frequently darken pale wood and brighten dark wood, so years of sun exposure will typically lighten walnut wood furniture. While some people stain walnut wood to preserve the darker hue in perpetuity, it is commonly clear-coated or oiled.
The kernel of a young, only torn walnut has a light color, after lying for several days, the kernel it darkens a little. This is a natural and normal process. After drying, the kernel takes on its permanent color.
Over time, however, the natural dark color of walnut wood can lighten and fade due to exposure to sunlight and other environmental factors. This fading can result in the wood taking on a lighter, more yellowish-brown color.