question about black walnut

You are right, a decent price. But not if you cannot use it and don’t have the funds to spare.

-- Folly ever comes cloaked in opportunity!

Plane a little down and wipe with some mineral spirits. Air dried and aged walnut has a very reddish hue to the top fibers.

That said, some black walnut heartwood is very reddish, but you won’t be able to tell until you clean it up some. Or you may not have black walnut, you’re right on the cusp of where it’s natural range ends.

Even if it has a reddish hue can you afford to pass on 250 bf of Walnut for $1.60 a foot with a bunch of other barn wood thrown in? Even with the higher than normal waste percentage of walnut you’re stealing it.

Yeah Nathan, I agree on it being a great deal. I was even thinking if it is not walnut, my experience has been most wood with any color to it such as walnut tends to cost more so I am confident whether it is walnut or not it is a great deal.

I need to decide something before tonight though because I am set to meet this fella this evening.

-- Jerry Nettrour, San Antonio, www.topqualitycabinets.net

If it were closer to where I live, I would buy this wood in a heartbeat.

You can probably get the red out with a stain.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

Blasphemy!

Rich does hit on a good idea though, use an analine dye like TransTint Dark Mission to obscure the red without risking botch. Compared to paying 4-5 times the cost buying a couple hundred ML of TT is a cheap way to minimize your materials cost.

I got a bunch of walnut from my in-laws from a tree that was in their yard. Not sure if it was black walnut or not, but it does have a reddish hue to it as it sits rough-cut in my shop. After it is dimensioned, sanded and hit with oil, it looks a lot more brown. Some parts, however, looked a little purplish in a project I made.

Hope this helps.

I bought a big load of walnut a while ago and a few of the boards were like that…. I wish there were more. Lovely reds, golds and purples. I like grain and colour, even boards most think of as rejects, so I may be a little off to one side.

I’ve “heard” that commercially kilned walnut is steamed to even out the heart and sapwood to a uniform brown.

I also “heard” that walnut has a greater allowance for sapwood than other hardwoods when graded. They allow for more white on one side of the board

Does anyone “know” more about this? I am a fountain of unsubstantiated, internet generated, knowledge.

Thanks

Great work captain, the inlay really brings out the reds and purples.

I think really nice black walnut almost has a purple hue / red but more purple but when finished applied it goes very dark.

Also lot’s of wood stores sell steamed walnut, they introduce steam when it get kiln dried which makes the dark wood bleed into the sap wood, I think they do this to get better grades because usually the sap wood is almost bright white.

I like both ways but good old fasion air dried and touched up in a kiln is best.

Griphon your bang on

-- Paul Lemiski, Ontario Canada, Custom Wooden Rocking chairs and tables http://www.canadianwoodworks.com

Walnut Pornography:
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/walnut,%20black.htm

Thanks a lot everyone for the great information on this subject. I think I am going to go through with the deal. The fella had given me a loop hole, he told me to give some money down to show my seriousness and if it was not what I was looking for he would give it back. However it looks like I will go through with the deal.

Using the toner coat idea will probably work, I did not think of that. I use a mixol product in my finish coats and that likely could change things up a bit, I will sample that some. If not though, I think I will sell it on another job or use it for my own home furnishings.

To top off the deal the fella has a ton more wood that looks mostly to be oak with some maple, looked like maybe some alder but not sure. Just a mixed bag of nuts for the rest of it.

The fella is a great woodworker, showed off some of his work to me but he has become sick and doc says to quit.

-- Jerry Nettrour, San Antonio, www.topqualitycabinets.net