Know Your Wood: Black Walnut

Black Walnut

The heartwood and sapwood found in Black Walnut is unambiguous. Broadbent Canadian Furniture produced this distinctive work.

Common trade names: Black Walnut, Walnut, Eastern Black Walnut

Genus: Juglans nigra

Janka Hardness (pounds-force): 1010

Description: Walnut ranges from a pale brown to deep sienna hues. The sapwood is quite pale, and nearly white. A very distinctive and easily identifiable wood. Medium texture and pores, usually straight grained, and has some of the wildest burl figures among all species of wood. Considered by many the standard of all the American hardwoods.

Location: Eastern North America from Southern Ontario through South Dakota across the northern bound, south through Eastern Texas on the western range of distribution, and covering northern Florida on the southern range. This large deciduous thrives mostly in riparian zones of the United States and Canada, but has been farmed in Europe since 1629. Domestically, over 60% of the US wild harvest is sawn annually in Missouri. Those Ozarks are good for something besides Yakov Smirnov!

Common Aliases: American black walnut, American walnut, Eastern walnut, gun wood, nogal, Nuez meca.

Performance: Glues and finishes well, and is very easy to work with hand and machine tools. The American woodworker familiar only with domestics would consider this stock to be quite hard, and it is indeed hard enough for most every application. Black Walnut, though relatively expensive for a domestic, is still prized by craftsmen for the distinct coloring and figure of the species. Walnut is very resistant to rot and weathering decay, although insects occasionally like the taste of it.

Love ‘em, hate ‘em, or leave ‘em, Aggie claims to know something about putting down roots. I guess. I didn’t read the article to determine how to dig the thing up and start over.

Common Uses: Fine furnishings, cabinetry, millwork, tables, chairs, veneers, handles, paneling, plywood, scientific and musical instruments, sculpture, toys, turnings, gun stock, audio cabinets, coffins, fuelwood.

From: The Wood Database

Common Name(s): Black Walnut
Scientific Name: Juglans nigra
Distribution: Eastern United States
Tree Size: 120 ft (37 m) tall, 3 ft (1 m) trunk diameter
Average Dried Weight: 41 lbs/ft3 (655 kg/m3)
Basic Specific Gravity: .51
Hardness: 1,010 lbf (4,490 N)
Rupture Strength: 14,600 lbf/in2 (100,700 kPa)
Elastic Strength: 1,680,000 lbf/in2 (11,590 MPa)
Crushing Strength: 7,580 lbf/in2 (52.3 MPa)
Shrinkage: Radial: 5.5%, Tangential: 7.8%, Volumetric: 12.8%, T/R Ratio: 1.4