any black walnut experts?

[Charlie Fox]

just milled some black walnut - some is great, some is so-so. a friend said come get it so i did. said it was 1-2 years dead, but i am thinking 5-10. i figured if 50% valid it was worth the time and labor, and thats about what i got. got 4 really solid 8/4 slabs 6' long and 14-19' wide, plus numerous smaller stuff i can have a blast making wine racks and shelves etc

but i am befuddled as one log had some regular heartwood, then the rest of it was a very light heartwood, density and softness about like balsa, but still attractive and spalted, about 12" wide, so definitely not sapwood.

it sands out very pretty, so if i work it soon should it be ok if i give it copious amounts of danish/pure raw tung oil?? below are pics - put some mineral spirits on it in one pic to see how it would look finished.... i think it will be ok for joinery, but does anyone else have any experience with this?

photo 1 (2).jpgphoto 4 (3).jpg

[Charlie Fox]

this is the other end of the slab, showing typical dark heartwood

photo 3 (3).jpg

[John TenEyck]

No expert, but some of the spalted wood I've cut was so far gone that it was very light and soft. Maybe that's what happened to yours.

John

[Ian Moone]

http://www.rogervardystockwood.com/

Far from an expert but some folks do mighty fine out of any walnut wood!

OK I lied - I established a walnut orchard of about 20 acres for an investor once.

[Danny Hamsley]

I think that what you have is butternut, not black walnut. Butternut is much softer, and is sometimes called white walnut. The heartwood of butternut is more brown, too, not as dark as black walnut. Both are in the genus Juglans. Butternut nuts are longer and not as round shaped. Also, butternut has a terminal leaflet whereas in black walnut, the terminal leaflet aborts.

Butternut bark is more brown. Black wanut bark is more black.

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology...heet.cfm?ID=31

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology...heet.cfm?ID=32

[Prashun Patel]

Hmmm, I vote that it's black walnut. And beautiful black walnut.

Your pictures of the sap wood, do show some progressed spalting. The top part appears to be 'punky'. When a hardwood starts to feel like balsa wood (at least from my turning experience) it's a sign that it's too weak for joinery or structural applications.

The sap wood will take a good deal more finish than the heart wood. You can speed your finishing by sealing with a a couple coats of shellac. Don't build a film; you're just sealing. Sand that back smooth, and then continue with your top coat. Like any pre-conditioner, it'll make the final color a little lighter than if you went straight to an oil topcoat. If that is an issue, put on one coat of the topcoat first, then seal with shellac, then do the rest of your topcoats. You can skip the shellac altogether, but it will take longer drying time and more coats to achieve the same level of sheen/sealing with strictly danish oil.

[Cody Colston]

No expert here but I have sawn a lot of Black Walnut. Some of it was several years dead and on the ground but the heartwood was completely sound. The sapwood was almost totally gone from rot. I've never seen Black Walnut heartwood spalt.