sawmill walnut

[bill sell]

I was able to purchase 1,000 board feet of prime black walnut from a local sawmill while mpicjing up some quarter-sawn oak.

I recently read an article about steaming walnut to obtain a uniform color in Wood magazine. Not having such capabilites, does anyone know of any other way to accomplish the same thing?

[John Hart]

Welcome to the Creek Bill! Steaming is a fairly easy thing to do, and it is usually directed toward wood bending but for your application, I expect all the same stuff applies. The steam box can be made out of wood or PVC or anything else you might have laying around. (Mine is PVC)
The steam source is also open to your imagination. I use a Wagner wallpaper steamer that I modified the hose to interface with the steam box. It works well. Here's some links that might get you in the ballpark.

http://www.fonerbooks.com/box.htm
http://www.ceolas.org/instruments/bodhran/santin/MakeBox.htm
http://www.megspace.com/lifestyles/njmarine/Steam.html

[Rob Russell]

Welcome Bill!

FYI, some folks prefer the look of air-dried walnut because it retains the wonderful purple hues. Steaming will take all that away. If you have a specific project in mind where you want even toning and color, steam it - but don't do it to the boards with the really nice colors. Save those for something special where you can show off the natural color of the wood.

Rob

[lou sansone]

I agree with rob... there is no reason to steam it unless you are trying to blend the sapwood with the heart wood. this is the main purpose it is done commercially, and the reason that I also buy saw logs and saw them myself rather than buy it from a commercial mill that will normally steam it.

What is the moisture content of the wood now? I assume you purchased it still wet and are now air drying it.

lou

[Jim Becker]

Argh! One of the wonderful things about air-dried walnut is the color...which steaming destroys. There are awesome browns, purples, greens and golds that just shimmer in this wood!

BTW, I believe the steaming in question needs to be done in the kiln while the material is being dried, not after the fact.

(Welcome to the 'Creek, Bill!!!)

[Martin Lutz]

IMHO -- Air dried Walnut is beautiful and steaming is not a required process. You can also blend and tone the sapwood during the finishing process if you so desire but remember Walnut tends to lighten a little with age. Have fun with your great purchase.

[Charlie Plesums]

Unfortunately my sources of Walnut here don't steam the wood... and they harvest it when it is young, with a high percentage of sapwood... and the federal government says sapwood isn't a flaw. So when I order high grade Walnut, it looks more like cheap maple - lots of white and just a little brown.

Since I cannot get enough "brown" walnut, I have had to turn down several commissions - artifically coloring the sapwood is just too time consuming to be competitive (and more like art than woodworking). Steamed walnut may not be as pretty as air-dried walnut, but white walnut doesn't do much good either. I would love to have a source of good walnut at a competitive price, naturally brown or steamed.

Jim is right about "steamed" walnut... it has to be done in the kiln... the first few days of drying, the humidity is kept high in the kiln, with a relatively high temperature (I seem to remember 230 degrees, but I am not sure). Then the humidity is reduced for a more traditional drying process. That steaming matures the chemicals that are already in the sapwood, that would become brown as the tree matures - I think of it as "carmelizing" like cooks do with sugar. It doesn't migrate the color from the existing heartwood to the sapwood, but the high temperature and humidity apparently weaken the natural colors in the heartwood. Once the sapwood is dry, it is too late to color it this way.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Bill, sounds like you have found a wonderful source for Walnut! I hope that you try using it without trying to steam it first! The different colors in Walnut is what makes it a truely beautiful wood!