American Walnut

Distribution: This walnut tree is native to North America. It grows mostly in Riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia, northern Florida, and southwest to central Texas. Wild trees in the upper Ottawa Valley may be an isolated native population or may have derived from planted trees. American walnut trees grow widely across the eastern USA in mixed hardwood forests and on farms, concentrated in central states but spread from Texas to the eastern seaboard. The trees are one of the few hardwood species planted as well as occurring and regenerated naturally. They grow relatively tall and straight with few lower branches.

Color: The creamy white sapwood and the light brown to dark chocolate brown hardwood makes a clear distinction between both the hardwood and the sapwood. Sometimes the heartwood has dark, even purple, streaks. American walnut is quite different from European walnut, which tends to be lighter in color. The wood frequently contains alternate light and dark stripes that give specific detail on boards and veneers.

Texture: The walnut wood texture is generally straight-grained, although sometimes with the wavy or curly grain. Due to these characteristic wavies or curly grains the American walnut is sought after by many designers and sculptors for ornamental and decorative purposes.

Odor: Most parts of the Black walnut tree that includes the leaves, stems, and fruit husks tend to have a very peculiar pungent or spicy odor. This odor is lacking in the nut itself.

Workability: American walnuts work easily with hand and machine tools. It has excellent planing, turning, and molding properties. It has good nailing and gluing properties and can be stained and polished to an excellent finish. The wood dries slowly and has good dimensional stability when dry. It can be satisfactorily kiln-dried and holds its shape well after seasoning. Black walnut is normally straight grained, it works easily with hand tools, and has excellent machining properties. The wood finishes beautifully with a handsome grain pattern. It takes and holds paints and stains exceptionally well. It can be readily polished and satisfactorily glued.

Black walnut Uses: The Black Walnut is considered one of the supreme species for high-end furniture, cabinets, doors, hardwood flooring, and interior joinery. It is used for flooring and paneling and it is widely used to contrast with other hardwoods because of its distinct chocolate color. Black walnut is used chiefly for furniture and fixtures, and for radio, television and phonograph cabinets, sewing machines, gunstocks, novelties, and interior finish paneling. It is used either in the form of solid wood cut from lumber or in the form of a decorative veneer made by gluing sheets of plain or figured veneer to one or both sides of a core.

 Black walnut is used primarily for the dining room and bedroom furniture. Bookcases, desks, living room tables, and many other pieces are also frequently made of walnut. The wood has also been sought after for office furniture. For the highest grade cabinets, plywood panels, faced with figured veneer, are used. For a striking yet classy finish in the interiors of cafes and public buildings the American walnut tree is used. The wood is particularly suitable for gunstocks because of its low movement after seasoning, fine machining properties, uniformity of texture, and slight coarseness that makes it easy to grip. It is sufficiently strong and shock resistant without being excessively heavy. Figured black walnut stocks are prized for expensive shotguns.

Products: Black walnut slab: One of the most popular domestic hardwoods, Black Walnut is prized by many woodworkers because of its beauty and workability. Black Walnut’s grain colors are a combination of rich dark brown and subtle tones of purple in the heartwood, with lighter creamy straw tones in the sapwood. Its ability to glue, stain, and even steam easily contribute to Black Walnut’s popularity among woodworkers. Most walnuts produced in the States are steamed to blend the dark color of the heartwood into the light color of the sapwood. The combination of the heartwood and lighter colored sapwood edge makes for a beautiful contrast. Black Walnut lumber is widely used for gun stocks since it is lightweight and has good shock resistance.

Products from the tree are varied. Its seeds - black walnuts - are a popular nut, although less common than the Persian walnut because they are more difficult to extract. The shells of walnut seeds are ground for use in a variety of applications, and dyes found in the hulls of the nuts have been used for centuries in traditional woolen and handicraft applications. Black walnut timber is very highly prized for its straight, dark, heavy, strong, fine-grained heartwood, which is used to make fine furniture, valuable gunstocks, flooring, oars, and coffins. Because the species is now relatively rare in the wild, the timber is currently used for veneer as well. It is a popular export timber from the United States.

Types of walnuts: Although there are many types of walnuts all around the world, the two main walnuts worth mentioning here are the English walnut, and the Black walnut. English walnut ( also called Persian walnut ) originated in Iran, while Black walnut originated in North America. Both are deciduous trees ( the leaves drop when in dormancy ) and live more than a century. 

Both trees are cultivated worldwide for their nuts and their high-quality timber, which is widely used in furniture, car interiors, doors, and the gun industry. However, we can say that English walnuts are cultivated more for nuts and less for timber. On the other hand, growing Black walnut trees for timber is very common in the US and other countries and is regarded as an investment option that will make great returns in the long term. The wood is rated as very resistant to heartwood decay and is one of the most durable American hardwoods. The heartwood of black walnut ranks with the most durable woods, including cedars, chestnut, and black locust, even under conditions favorable to decay.

Therefore in short, 

1. English walnut. English walnuts are scientifically known as Juglans regia and are also called Persian walnuts because they originated in the Middle East. English walnuts are a light gold color, have a mild flavor, and have softer shells that make them much easier to shell. These are mainly grown for the nuts.
2. Black walnut. Black walnuts are scientifically known as Juglans nigra and are native to the eastern United States. They are a darker color, have a stronger, earthier flavor, and have very hard shells that make them much more difficult to shell. Another variety of the black walnut is the California black walnut (Juglans californica), native to California. These are mainly grown for the timber.