Black walnut stability question

[custard]

Interesting. I heard that a lot of the ABW in this country comes from Romania.

I understand that a small amount of Black Walnut (Juglans Nigra) is to be found growing outside of the US, but virtually everything that finds its way into the UK is US grown, and of that the vast majority has been kilned and sawn in the US. The massive commercial scale of the US timber industry, allied to the costs of transport, means this is the only method that makes commercial sense.

What can cause confusion is that the certification documentation that often accompanies timber imports will detail processing stops along the way, so there are a few dubious stories that have sprung up concerning origins. For example you'll sometimes hear about a mythical forest of Black Walnut in the south of France. Not true, but there's a very large French company that is one of the very, very few European operations that imports the whole Walnut log from the US. They chiefly service the high end continental volume chair manufacturers who want high grade, unsteamed Walnut for chair components. Happily for small volume UK furniture makers, if you know where to look, you can snag some of this waney edged good stuff in this country.

Another confusion regarding Walnut comes from the fact that it's English or European Walnut (Juglans Regia) that's used for nut crops. But to facilitate farming this is often grafted onto the root stock of local varieties of Walnut. I used to work on the west coast in the US, where they have a love affair with a local Walnut called Claro Walnut. I'm no botanist, but I'm convinced that what was often sold as Claro Walnut was in fact grubbed up orchard trees, or English Walnut grafted onto Black Walnut or Claro Walnut rootstock.

Here's another common problem in the naming of timbers. The timber yards that process the logs generally request that the foresters and loggers name and code the species during felling, after all they're the guys who see the tree in its natural location, complete with branches and leaves, so they're the ones in the best position to identify it. In practise they often don't bother, or the documentation gets mislaid, so the timber yards get an anonymous log, take an opening cut, and kind of guesses what timber it is!

There are so many myths, half truths, and outright deceptions surrounding timber identification that I smile when someone posts a blurry photo on this forum and asks what species it is! But amidst all that confusion you can be reasonably certain that all the Black Walnut you'll ever likely see in the UK was grown, processed, planked, kilned and steamed in the US.

 

[MIGNAL]

I have a box making amount of ABW that was grown here in the UK. It was occasionally planted as a decorative tree. It's a bit more varied in colour than your typical ABW, perhaps nearer to Claro Walnut.

 

[custard]

I have a box making amount of ABW that was grown here in the UK. It was occasionally planted as a decorative tree. It's a bit more varied in colour than your typical ABW, perhaps nearer to Claro Walnut.

I guess it's possible, there's supposed to be a whopper of a Black Walnut in the grounds of some UK Abbey or Cathedral, I forget where. But these are one-off, ornamental trees, which are unlikely to ever have much of a presence in a commercial timber yard! I'm friendly with some of the Forestry Commission guys here in the New Forest, I'll ask them if they know of any Black Walnut trees growing in the UK.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

But these are one-off, ornamental trees, which are unlikely to ever have much of a presence in a commercial timber yard! I'm friendly with some of the Forestry Commission guys here in the New Forest, I'll ask them if they know of any Black Walnut trees growing in the UK.

I'd say you're about right with regard to your first point.

I know of several and various walnuts growing here in the UK, native north America, including black walnut, but they're in a group at Thorp Perrow arboretum. The same arboretum also have other north American species including red oaks and examples of the genus Sequoia, none of which are grown specifically for logging and milling of course. Slainte.

 

[MIGNAL]

Yes, that's why I said a box making amount. Mine came from Kew, planted by Queen Vic. My point was that it does look a bit more interesting than your average piece of ABW, largely because of the colour. That could be down to local soil/climate conditions.
If I finish the more bland looking ABW I put a bit of colour in the varnish or shellac. Brown and Red will add warmth.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

My 2d's worth on walnut - whether Nigra or Regia or some other genetic variant - is a species, a bit like sweet chestnut and others, which prefers a warmer climate - grown in the UK, it's at the upper limits of its natural climatic range - it's always one of the "last in" and "first out" for leaf cover i.e. its growing season is short here (a bit like ash, which is a member of the olive family). I think walnut grows much slower here than in, say, the US and this perhaps helps to explain why the timber is more interesting to look at (maybe tougher too?). I believe that it was often planted near farmyards, because - whether the farmers knew or not I don't know - the leaves probably have an anthelmintic effect (killing internal parasites in farm animals that might eat them). Cheers, W2S