I was fortunate enough to get my hands on several board feet of walnut and am planning on building my wife a bedroom set which includes a headboard, a chest on chest dresser and and armoire. Now that I’ve got the wood, my peers have been telling me that they would never build furniture strictly out of walnut because they don’t like how it looks. I bought it because from my research, walnut seemed to be the wood of choice for quality furniture and pictures that I’ve seen in several magazine (including Fine Woodworking) looks absolutely beautiful. What have I gotten myself into? What do I need to be aware of when working with walnut?
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Replies
if you(and wife)
like how walnut looks tell them to jump in a lake.
1. it will be in the bedroom,
generaly not a pulic area, you wont pain their eyes with its brownness.
2. if the sapwood is present, i think it should be shown,
i adore the contrast between the brown and the cream colour.
espalier
Walnut is one of the premier woods consistantly used in North America, and the rest of the world, for quite some time. It is obviously a dark wood. It works extremely well, and finishes beautifully. It's an open pore wood, so you may wish to fill the pores before finishing. That is an aesthetic choice.
Keep in mind that walnut shavings and dust are considered toxic, so wear your respirator when sanding. When I work with walnut, I consistantly develop a cough for a day or two if I don't wear my respirator.
Whoever told you that walnut wasn't a good wood choice hasn't been paying attention.
Jeff
Walnut is beautiful and generally nice to work with. The saw dust can be irritating to nasal passages and lungs (and if spread ont he ground kills plants).
It has it's own personality. It's sort of like oak in terms of its open pores, but more like cherry in its relative density (i.e., not as hard as oak). It planes and cuts well.
I suppose large pieces of furniture in the darkest walnut (it comes in many shades as well has having heartwood/sapwood contrasts comparable to cherry) could look expecially heavy and imposing. But really this stuff is all personal taste.
After some initial small projects when I got in to woodworking about 15 year ago, I felt ready to take on larger and more complex projects. At that time I didn't know much about lumber species. At a well regarded supplier I found a good supply of walnut, and bought a bunch. In the following years I built a dining/kitchen table, a bed, night cabinets and some misc. stuff. Over the years, many family members and friends who have seen the walnut furniture have admired it.
I have since built furniture out of mahogany, oak, cherry, ash and so forth. I would have no hesitation in using walnut again for a major project. It is good to work with, and is stable. BTW, if I had to do it again, I would eliminate more of the sap wood.
I should also mention that I do not stain any project, and over the years have used a variety of oil finishes. Some of the heavy looking furniture may seem so because of use of dark stains. In my view, suitably finished walnut is beautiful.
Good luck with your project, and have fun doing it.
"Now that I've got the wood, my peers have been telling me that they would never build furniture strictly out of walnut because they don't like how it looks."
Whaaattt!!!??
I guess the American furniture industry better stop making all that walnut furniture that is so popular with all the people who love walnut for its beautiful color, grain and figure. And all the woodworkers who love it for its workability, durability and gorgeous finishing qualities.
Yup, better throw that awful stuff out.
No. Wait. I'm going to do you a big favor. Send it to me at once! Then you can use a lesser wood for your furniture.
Rich
GowithGod,
Hmmm, I guess my black walnut timberframe is bad!
Others have spoken about being irratated by black walnut. I have worked with it for 5 years without effect and seldom ever wear a dust mask.. (unless it's very dusty) walnut doesn't need to be sanded as much as other woods, I can usaully plane it nice and smooth.
It's one of the premiere woods.
It's all fads and fashion.........
Walnut used to be more popular than it is today, since the fashion has moved to lighter woods in recent years.
I would take a small sample of your walnut, and apply whatever finish you intend to use on these various projects. If you like the result, then have at it.
********************************************************
"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
You must have a lot of walnut! I'm jealous. It is one of the world's most beautiful woods and that is not just MHO. BTW, it will probably get lighter with time if you don't stain it (heaven forbid!). I have some walnut pieces I built going on 40 years old. Compared to a piece I did last summer, it is extremely lighter & more pleasing. I wish to disagree with the person who recommends mixing in sap wood. If you think that you will like that, I suggest test finishing a piece with heart and sap wood then exposing it to sunlight for a month in order to judge for yourself. Don't listen to us. LOL!!
Cadiddlehopper
I agree with your pals, there Gowith. Walnut is a hard wood to work with. Unstable, tears out with even the sharpest plane and the darkness of it is almost Demonic. Hell to me would be having to work with walnut, and only walnut for eternity. So what I am saying to you is I have been a bad boy.very bad indeed. I deserve to be punished for eternity. So, in order to save you and your family from the Satanic seirein call of the juglans nigra I will offer to take it off your hands and punish myself with it. I may be a bad boy but I am a considerate one. You ship it to me and pay the freight and we are square.
Wicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
Gowith,
Don't build those friends any furniture.
Ron
GwG,
All that really counts is whether you and your wife like it; if so, then go for it. Walnut is a great wood to work with. Cuts, planes, carves, and finishes easily; gets better looking with age.
Make yourself some walnut furniture that you'll enjoy!!! (Let your friends be happy with that soul-less, plastic-covered IKEA/TEMA particle board stuff, if that's what they like....)
Tschüß!
Mit freundlichen holzbearbeitungischen Grüßen aus dem Land der Rio Grande!!
James
Your peers are 100% correct.
To make sure you do not embaress yourself, you can send it to me for disposal.
LOL
" There'll be no living with her now" - Captain Jack Sparrow
Go with what you and your wife like. Your peers won't be the ones using it anyway. I love walnut. I was fortunate to find 60 tons of walnut logs (that is 2 1/2 log truck loads)and sawed 11,000 BF on my little woodmixer LT 15. Air-dried, the color is amazing, ranging from light chocolate brown to darker brown. Some boards have red, green and blue streaks. Anyway, I digress. I have found that a coat of danish oil like Minwax Antique Oil really brings out the perfect color. Once the oil is dry, I used oil based varnish for the final coats to protect it. I am finishing up a blanket chest for my daughter. Once finished, I may work up the courage to post it in the Knots gallery. Good luck with your project.
Get new peers!
I have another name for those folks............and it ain't "peers"!! - lol
The beauty (or lack thereof) of a wood species or a furniture style is definitely in the eye of the beholder. I've never liked that dark, heavy, spanish mission style furniture and think that anything Victorian is best used for firewood. - lol
On the other end of the spectrum, I like the look of finished poplar. I've done a few pieces with just a polyurethane finish and the customers have loved them. I haven't been gutsy enough yet to use the black, purple, or dark green wood but that subtle light green looks pretty nice.
I have always thought that poplar was underated as a lumber species.
A kindred spirit!! Actually, I have used a lot of tulip poplar as primary wood finished with tung oil varnish &/or polyurethane. It gets even more pleasant as the years pass. Don't sweat the green stuff. It turns a fantastically beautiful brown with time. Let's hope that our idea doesn't catch on or we'll be paying more for it at the lumber yard.BTW, you left that severe-looking Arts & Crafts furniture out of the list you defamed. How come? It actually can be attractive if light colored wood is used. Interestingly, walnut lightens with age which enhances its beauty.Cadiddlehopper
I just finished a walnut bed for my wife. See http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=fw-knots&msg=32377.1&search=y&redirCnt=1
I am building the dresser and night stands in my head now, hopefully in the shop in a few months.
I was talking to a furniture salesman once who told me that women tend to love walnut, but men usually prefer something lighter.
Make furniture for your wife, not your peers. ;)
I can take a guess as to why they don't like the way it looks! I think modern woodworkers view their work as unusual solely because its actually made of wood. I mean, compared to what you can buy, which typically isn't made of wood, homemade/custom made furniture is a dramatic departure. But as I see it, for these modern woodworkers the design becomes solely the material. Woodworkers are making things and thinking or hoping that the material alone will create the allure. Walnut is a dark wood with a tight grain. Vertical surfaces in a dimly lit room will become a colorless brown blob. So its little wonder why modern woodworkers almost universally prefer lighter woods like maple or cherry or even oak where the grain is easier to see.
In the early 18th c, walnut was the preferred wood. They liked dark furniture. Their windows were small, their houses dimly lit. Their walls were almost always plain plaster. So the dark furniture provided a strong dark-light constrast.
Regardless of the validity of my dark-light theory, that early furniture had strong design elements in its shape- like scroll work, turnings, things that would be easy to see in sillouette.
So my advice would be to think of Walnut like a piece of black construction paper. Make a strong design in the shape you can cut out. Don't make shaker, clean lines, deconstructed stuff or you'll end up with large brown boxes in your bedroom.
Adam
P.S. I just finished an article on design for another magazine that I hope all of you read. I think its my best article thus far and provides never before seen info on the subject that I feel will be invaluable to woodworkers. Its based on years and years of research. Of all of my articles, this is the one to cut out and save.+
And to all:"material alone will create the allure"Maybe not, but it is an extremely important element which I usually want to be my foremost design feature. No matter what I do to create a piece, the beauty of wood (even lowly tulip poplar) exceeds any effort that I, & probably you, can make. (Whew!! Humility!! I think I just found religion!)"in a dimly lit room will become a colorless brown blob"Turn on the lights! We aren't nocturnal creatures, groping around in the dark. Thomas Edison was one of us. Lay claim to the legacy he left us & enjoy wood more!!I like the older work of Wendell Castle. It has powerful shapes, yet the wood grain is what makes it outstanding. Without light its artistic value is greatly diminished.Cadiddlehopper
GoWithGod,
Well, based on my calculations which I have totaled up here on my computer, you got a 100 percent response in favor of the walnut.
And, you know what the Bible says about picking your friends carefully. They can be an evil influence.
But, if you give in to your friends, you will have plenty of people willing to take that walnut off your hands -- me included.
Alan - planesaw
Yeah....it looks lousy:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/boardmanWI/2.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/boardmanWI/furniture021.jpg
Trouble with that corner cabinet is you can't put anything in it or you'll block the view of the beautiful wood! ;-)
The woman I built it for wanted the hole drilled so she could put a cord thru for a light inside. It hurt....but I did it.
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