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Thread: Help confirming wood identity? American Walnut?

  1. #1
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    Question Help confirming wood identity? American Walnut?

    I need some help confirming the identity of some wood flooring that I got at some point. I'm pretty sure it's American Walnut, but wanted to get the thoughts from others to confirm my thinking. It smells walnut-y, looks walnut-y, so it must be, right?

    IMG_20150304_100404.jpgIMG_20150304_100352.jpgIMG_20150304_100423.jpgIMG_20150304_100428.jpgIMG_20150304_100504.jpgIMG_20150304_100514.jpg

  2. #2
    Looks like walnut to me.

  3. #3
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    I work with black walnut a lot. I don't know about American walnut but the photos you have posted look exactly like black walnut. This wood can vary a lot from tree to tree and that is the variation you are seeing. Some of it is quite grey in color and other samples are much more reddish or brown.

  4. #4
    Yep, looks exactly like the black walnut I work with quite a bit. There can be a lot of variation in the browns so it can be tricky to match up, depending on the project.
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    Mark Patoka
    Stafford, VA
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  5. #5
    It's definitely Eastern Black Walnut. I've got a decent sized stack I'm sitting on in my garage. As far as I know, there's only one other kind of native walnut to the US, which is Claro walnut which grows down in California/Southern Oregon.

  6. #6
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    So I had some scraps of Black Walnut lying around from a previous project and put it on top of the wood. It does look like it's a match:
    IMG_20150304_112653.jpgIMG_20150304_112643.jpg

  7. #7
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    I use a lot of walnut and it does run from reds through black/browns through yellows. Your material walks like a duck (that is; its walnut).
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  8. #8
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    Perfect. Thanks, everybody!

  9. #9
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    @ Jeffery, there is one other American Walnut, Bastogne. Also only grows in Northern California. It is, I believe, a natural cross between Claro Walnut and California English Walnut.
    Bracken's Pond Woodworks[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by glenn bradley View Post
    I use a lot of walnut and it does run from reds through black/browns through yellows. Your material walks like a duck (that is; its walnut).
    And purple and almost orange.

    Orange dye, or for the faint of heart garnet shellac or an orange #3 shellac, do wonders on walnut.
    When I started woodworking, I didn't know squat. I have progressed in 30 years - now I do know squat.

  11. #11
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    I used some NGR Dye from Behlen, Hickory color. It imparted a wonderful chocolate brown to get the brown and reddish walnut matched up nicely.
    Wood: a fickle medium....

    Did you know SMC is user supported? Please help.

  12. #12
    Sure looks like walnut

  13. #13
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    Yup, thats Juglans nigra.....aka Eastern black walnut. I'd bet $1 on it. I could close my eyes and make a positive ID based on the smell of an off cut, its got a unique aroma when sawn. Sort of....nutty!
    "A good miter set up is like yoga pants: it makes everyone's butts look good." Prashun Patel

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