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White Walnut / Butternut

Some time ago, I posted to this ng to say that I had just felled what I was told was a walnut tree. Being in England I expected English Walnut and was somewhat disappointed to find the wood to be a very plain cream and lacking in character. The owner had previously had walnuts from the tree, and I assume it was a White Walnut (I believe that in the US you call it Butternut)

Anyway, I trimmed and sealed the ends of most of the logs and put them into storage - except for a few which were left kicking around the garage - I simply ran out of time. I have now managed to get to grips with the remainder (4 or 5 months later) - the ends of which were well cracked. I chainsawed these back to fresh wood to seal the ends and noted that the wood had started to change colour. Almost all of the pieces were similar - the outer sapwood had changed to a light brown (milky coffee) colour. One or two also had very faint signs of spalting, even though they had been in a fairly dry environment.

A few simple questions: Is this White Walnut? Does this colour change continue, or will the heart stay creamy colour? Will this change continue once I have processed into blanks and sealed the ends? Now that it has started to dry, am I too late to encourage more spalting?

TIA

Reply to
Richard Hatton
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" > A few simple questions:

Sounds like what I would call Butternut on this side of the pond. Don't know about the color or the spalting,someone else might be able to help with this.

I've turned a few pieces of Butternut, and I liked it. The first time,the grain was very pale,and unassuming, after puting an oil finish on,the color and grain nearly jumped off the bowl. Keep the stuff and turn it,try not to do a lot of heavy sanding,keep your tools sharp. Jim

Reply to
James E Gaydos

Butternut never looks all that good until after it's finished. I use an oil finish. The wood is on the soft side and needs to be cut cleanly. It is one of the prettiest native woods after the finish is applied. Try turning a piece thin and apply some oil finish. Then let us know if you're impressed or not. Greg in Oshkosh

Reply to
Greg Kulibert

When you cut a living black walnut tree, the sapwood is white. Only the heartwood is colored on a living tree.

The sapwood will turn light brown over time The color difuses out of the heartwood over time.

I also had a gift of some logs I could cut. I was told was walnut. It turned out to be butternut. THe wood was lighter amd the grain pattern reminded meof ash. Hope this helps. DOes this make sense?

Reply to
Ralph Heasley

Today I moved about 200 bf of butternut lumber and turning squares from a pile in a dark part of my storage building to bins where I can get to it. It has not changed color in the last 4 years. Would it have changed color, darkened, if exposed to sunlight? I don't know. I suspect so.

I have a bandsaw mill and saw my logs . Many logs will discolor with bacterial stain if left in the round in warm weather. I end coat with "anchorseal" and saw as soon as possible. If I were not to to saw them I would split them to promote drying.

Drying stops spalting and staining.

Butternut is prized by wood carvers. The annual rings do not resist the knife and it cuts smoothly.

Reply to
Bruce H

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