Hi All,
Very, very new to this forum. I am reaching out with a question regarding a piece of walnut wood. We had a walnut tree that was cut down, and my wife wanted a few side tables made. My question is this: I notice a huge discrepancy in the exterior sapwood color when I stripped off the bark and sanded it down. Much of it is a beautiful light brown, and there are sections of it that are yellowish-white (see photo).
I would love any insight into why there is this color difference? Is it that the lighter wood has not dried out enough yet? I really like the lighter brown, and curious why this is happening. I had another piece I made that had very little of this yellowish-white sapwood (There was still a little). The stumps have been sitting for a year, FYI.
Any thoughts are appreciated. Thank you.
Replies
What you are seeing is the the difference between sapwood and heartwood and is quite normal. Many commercial lumber mills will steam walnut before drying and the steam will leach some of the heartwood tannins into the sapwood reducing the contrast. I don't know if it's feasible on a small scale or not but the wood would definitely need to be further seasoned or kiln dried.
Thank you for your reply. I thought the interior of the stump was the heartwood, the beautiful dark center. I didn’t realize that the heartwood was on the exterior sides of the stump as well - The sides where I pulled the bark off…. The top of the stump with the warm contrasting colors is beautiful, it’s the sides with the sporadic yellow white finish that I don’t love.
The heartwood is the center. Ther outside is the sapwood and in walnut can be very light in color. It is the heartwood that is the brown we usually associate with walnut.
@bobr2 that is what I thought. Any ideas on the sapwood color? Peculiar to me that their is the yellowish white patches. Curious if those will fade over time?
Actually just the opposite, walnut heartwood will fade over time and exposure to sunlight.
Not likely. It may change in color, but I have pieces that have been in my shop years and don't change a great deal anyway. The sapwood is unattractive in my opinion and beyond my skill to blend in with the heartwood using stains or dyes. I'm sure there are many on this this site that can make recommendations for that if you want to try to blend the color.. I prefer to work only with the heartwood myself.
I would be very interested in purchasing that walnut if you have some decent lengths.
Do you know how to start a private conversation on this website?
Thanks
A little late to this party but I decided to feature the sapwood instead of condemning it. Floating top - kind of - as demonstrated in a previous FWW'ing issue.
Nice!
Beautiful!
That look like an old log of walnut, what you are refering to as a white patch in the center is likely water stain or fungus .
I believe what he did was join two slabs on the sapwood edge. If you look close it appears to have a glue joint down the center. Regardless it is a great example on turning what many see as a flaw into a beautiful asset.
I was refering to the original post.
@gulfstar I am actually referring to the side of the stump. The discoloration of white. Does that make sense?
Yeah, pretty obvious from the way the wane reverses on the far table in ysu's photo.
I am not concerned about the top, rather the color contrast on the side of the stump,
Actually you are lucky to get any brown coloring on the outside since this is the sap and is naturally white. This section of the tree has grown in a way that the sapwood is very thin towards the right side thus allowing some brown coloring all the way to the edge.
Trees are not just heartwood and sapwood. From the center is heartwood, sapwood, cambium, live bark, dead bark. It looks like just the dead bark has been removed. The other patches you see on the outside are parts of the inner layer of bark. You'll probably want to remove that.
The piece is already starting to crack. If you leave it as is, stresses from drying will probably tear it apart. You should split that into halves if you want to make sure it's usable.
Back story on the walnut tables with sap wood. I bought the wood from a local dealer for a project with my son. It was overpriced IMO but was interesting so I bought it. It was 'skip planed' down to just over 3/4", lots of tear out, not enough good wood for the original project. So now I am stuck with this turkey.
I used some of it to make charcuterie boards that were sold so I feel a little better about the expense. I figured that I could use the sap wood as a center feature and had enough wood for two tops. I had leftover walnut from other projects for the base. I liked the floating top design from Dave Welter's article and did a slight modification on the float suspension. I think he had the top attached to the long axis, I attached to the short axis because it seemed stronger to me. Both are good.
So now I have two tables and don't know what to do with them. I was taking the to a local craft show this summer but got the time wrong, site closed, and could not drop them off. There was a fine furniture store just down the street so I thought why not. They took one look, bought them on the spot for more than I could get at the craft show.
So in the end it all worked out. I recovered my initial expenditure. Time spent building the tables worked to about ten cents per hour - but I am retired so that is all good. I found some walnut at another supplier for my son's project so he is happy. And I am happy because the tables are gone and I have more room in the shop.
And if any gentile readers are truly interested, let me tell you about the rustic mid-century coffee hickory in progress out in the shop.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled