Odd walnut stock

[Phil Mueller]

I purchased this 1/2” piece of walnut (S4S) that looked perfectly fine. I then applied grain filler and after sanding this appeared. At first I thought this had been a glue up, but there’s no evidence of that on the end grain or opposite side.

Here you can see a distinct straight line down the right side of the board...grain does not flow across the line.

406671

Here’s the opposite side with no noticeable line (which would be down the left side) and grain flows perfectly.

406672

And here’s the end grain...no noticeable “glue up” line.

406673

Any ideas what’s going on here?

[Cary Falk]

Milling marks playing tricks on your eyes?

[Steve Kohn]

Uneven exposure to the elements, especially the sun?

[Bryan Lisowski]

It's wood and at times can be very unique even within 1 board.

[Andrew Seemann]

Any chance the stripe is slightly lower and more grain filler stuck on it? The stripe is suspiciously straight and even, almost like it was from minutely uneven milling. Sanding might not have taken the unevenness out, especially if starting with a higher grit.

[Phil Mueller]

Thanks folks. All good thoughts. All of which should resolve itself with some planing or sanding. I’m doing some finishing at the moment, but once that’s cleared out of the way, I think I’ll go after it with a plane and/or some aggressive sanding and see what I get. Will let you know.

[Matt Day]

Nature doesn’t make straight lines.

[Steve Jenkins]

Walnut will lighten with exposure to sunlight so it looks like another board was on top of most of it for some time and it did what comes naturally

[Pat Barry]

Walnut changes color, lightening up, due to loght exposure. My guess is the light area was exposed to the sun in a stack and the darker areas were covered by a board on top, thus the straight line due to the edge of the board on top of this one in that stack.

[Lee Schierer]

I purchased this 1/2” piece of walnut (S4S) that looked perfectly fine.

That is extremely light colored walnut....

[Steve Clardy]

Looks like it's had a fill strip laid into that one side.

[johnny means]

Looks like burning from a wide belt sander to me.

[Tom Bender]

A quick pass thru the planer will fix it.

[daryl moses]

That is extremely light colored walnut....
My thoughts exactly. Really light colored for "Black Walnut" unless it is mostly sapwood. Could be "English Walnut" I suppose but I have no idea what that lumber looks like.

[Steve Clardy]

Sapwood on those edges under the bark. And American walnut has more sapwood than Black walnut.

Oops, wrong thread!!

[Prashun Patel]

I wonder if the board was ripped then re glued. After milling, sun fading would even out. Also that line would have required a perfectly straight board be placed perfectly parallel to the edge on the milled face. Unlikely.

If the board was ripped and reglued it is possible that one face and the edge look seamless. If planing does not remove that line it it supports this theory more.

[Marshall Harrison]

Interesting thread. Looking forward to your followups Phil.

[Al Launier]

Finished 4 sides at the sawmill. I suspect a false cut, then adjusted for the correct thickness at the sawmill, yet there are no telltale sawcut marks (???).

[Phil Mueller]

Just to circle back around, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that it appears it was just a very small mill line that was highlighted by the filler. After a bit of 100 grit sanding it dissapeared. Funny though, it sure looked like the grain didn’t flow across the line, but must have been something with the filler.

And yes, it is walnut on the lighter side with sapwood tones. I’m ok with that as it gives me more color contrast for this particular project.

Before sanding:
407361

After sanding:
407362