The natural color of walnut comes through.
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.
Color/Appearance: Heartwood can range from a lighter pale brown to a dark chocolate brown with darker brown streaks. Color can sometimes have a gray, purple, or reddish cast. Sapwood is nearly white. European Walnut can occasionally also be found with figured grain patterns such as: curly, crotch, and burl.
In a walnut tree, the heartwood gets down to the nitty gritty with rich colors that include a range of dark browns and light browns with some purplish hues, grays, reddish rays, and dark streaks included.
Twigs are moderately stout to very stout, gray-green or light brown in color and have a chambered pith which is tan to light brown in color. The fruit is a round nut, 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter composed of a single seed enclosed by a hard, corrugated shell and a green, semi-fleshy husk that eventually turns black.
Did you know? Black Walnuts are the only all-wild tree nut in the United States. Nearly all Black Walnuts come from trees growing in the wild, while English walnuts come from orchards. The main difference between Black Walnuts and English walnuts are the rich, bold, distinctive flavor of the Black Walnut.
Gather the nuts soon after they fall and while the hulls are mostly green. Collect them by hand or with our Nut Wizard – a handy nut-gathering tool with a long handle and barrel-like end that picks Black Walnuts up like magic! You do not need to remove the hulls.
Walnut. Walnut is a straight-grained hardwood that ranges from chocolate brown (when it's from the center of the tree) to yellow (from the outer portion of the tree).
The walnut is a rounded or ovoid fruit, according to the variety, with a hard and wrinkled shell or mesocarp of reddish-brown colour, that is formed by two valves, divided in two or four sections that contain the kernels or endocarps, of irregular shape, light yellowish colour and covered with a thin brown skin.
History and Characteristics of Rustic Walnut
The heartwood can vary in color from a pale brown to a darker chocolate brown with darker brown streaks. The sapwood is pale yellow-gray to nearly white. Generally the wood is easy to work with with planer tearout causing problems sometimes with irregular or figured grain.
Walnut wood can change color depending on the way it's dried or its age. The heartwood usually is a dark brown color and the sapwood is a light yellow color. When the wood is left out in the elements, such as the sun, the lighter wood will turn darker and the darker wood will turn lighter.
Dark hues. The chocolate-brown colors of the heartwood make unfinished Walnut flooring an excellent option for rooms that want a dark, rich flooring surface.
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. You can see the difference between a new table (left) and a four-year-old table (right).
The dark greyed-off brown Deep Walnut is a perfect for a feature wall inside to create a cozy moody space and a great main wall colour for exterior.
Walnut has a wider, open grain and a generally soft surface, while oak has a tight, slightly raised wood grain that results in a rougher, coarser texture. It's important to remember that hardwood products are natural products—just like the trees themselves, no two cabinet doors are exactly alike.
Collect the nuts while they are still green.
Gather the nuts when they're green to ensure that the nutmeat is still fresh and not too bitter or rancid-tasting. The nuts will have a yellowish-green color when they're mature. Don't wait until they turn brown or become mottled.
Walnut wood comes in a wide range of colors. Sapwood, or the outer part of the tree, ranges from yellow and gray to nearly creamy white. However, the heartwood or the inner portion of the wood come in dark or vibrant colors. Some colors may also be seen, such as reddish rays, purple marks, with some darker streaks.
Freshly sawn Walnut is a greenish-brown color heartwood with nearly white sapwood. This is a stark contrast for many who desire the appearance of all heartwood. The removal of the sapwood can be costly as the perimeter of the log contains the clearer, and hence more valuable lumber.
Both beautiful woods, walnut and brown maple make stunning wood furniture. Walnut has some darker colors, but still looks beautiful au natural with an oiled finish.
A pitted shell encases a fibrous, leather sheath that splits as the nuts begin to ripen in the fall and indicates that walnut tree harvesting is nigh. Once you are done harvesting the walnuts, you can eat them right away, but keep in mind they won't be quite like those purchased ones at the grocers.
Walnut tree owners will spend hours picking up the fruit some years. If you don't remove the nuts, you'll trip over them in the dark for the rest of the year (while they rot and mold on your lawn). Hire the kid down the street to pick up those dropped walnuts (just be careful not to pay per nut—you'll go broke)!
Black walnuts have a yellow-green husk that turns dark brown as it ages. The best time to harvest these black walnuts is from late September to October for most of the United States. Ryan picks a bucket full just from the ground. The husked nuts are about two inches in diameter.