Walnut Worktops

AMERICAN BLACK WALNUT JUGLANS NIGRA

American Black Walnut, singularly the most highly prized of all furniture hardwoods, and with good reason. The elegance and definition of the grain is at once so delicate yet strong, it seems impossible for a timber of such beauty to be as hard and durable as it is.

American Black Walnut grows throughout the mid eastern United States, from Georgia in the south to Wisconsin in the north. The further south one goes, the more the Walnut takes a purple tint, with a slightly cruder, more wavy grain structure. The really amazing Walnut comes from the far north, particularly Wisconsin, Illinois and all the northern New England States like Vermont and New Hampshire. It’s the distinct seasons which make all the difference. Warm wet spring conditions for strong leaf production, lovely lazy long summers for growth, followed by extended autumn vistas famous around the world, finishing with staggeringly harsh winters for consolidation and tightness within the grain.

THE FINEST RAW MATERIALS

Although we are lucky enough to be on the door step of the finest Appalachian Hardwood area in the whole country, particularly for Walnut, we still have to travel a bit for the ultimate in Walnut. Because of the sheer value of the timber, it is one of the few hardwoods which justifiably travel long distances in the USA. We are just finishing a batch of Walnut from Wisconsin, and are currently running a batch from Northern Vermont, high in the Appalachian Mountains. Because we dry our own Walnut, we quantify a batch as a kiln charge. This is the amount of timber required to fill a kiln, which is roughly three hundred thousand cubic feet; around 150 tons of Walnut or seven giant lorry loads.

PERFECTLY PREPARED

We specify the age (90 to 130 years old), minimum butt - trunk - diameter (850mm), thickness of cut (52mm), average length (minimum 2743mm, maximum 6401mm) and general condition of the butt. We process all the planks from the butt, which is known as ‘mill run’. We then separate the planks to allow air to flow freely though, and leave the timber in ‘T sheds’ – open sides but with a roof to keep rain and sun off the top of the timber – for about 4 months to slowly dry ready to go in to the kilns for a further 3 months. Here the temperature builds slowly to about 50 degrees Celsius until the optimum drying rate is achieved. If anything we dry our Walnut a touch too slowly – in effect we baby it - but considering there is £ 250,000 worth of Walnut stuck in there, a few extra days drying is worth paying for. This is one of the major differences between us and even the best timber merchants, for whom speed takes precedence over the finer aspect of quality.

A COMPARISON

It is worth understanding the differences between American Black Walnut and other Walnuts, real and imaginary. On the real front, there is European Walnut. A paler, softer wood, European Walnut is from much smaller trees which is why it is virtually unheard of in wide stave. Mostly from Turkey, it is fast growing, contains a lot of sap wood (the yellowish streaks) simply because of the narrowness of the butt, and is not generally used at all in furniture. On the imaginary front, there seem to be more and more types of “Walnut” discovered every year. At the moment, ‘African Walnut’ is the most common. Nothing to do with real Walnut, ‘African Walnut’ is in fact a coniferous tree with berries that look like Walnuts. The dark colour adds to the myth. Sadly, it is an unsustainable rainforest tree, and a victim of the slash and burn culture in Africa which has destroyed thousands of square miles of virgin rainforest. Please do not be taken in, you will be sorely disappointed.