Juglans nigra
American Black Walnut is the chocolate-brown hardwood that built mid-century furniture. Imported into European yards as kiln-dried slabs, it works cleanly and finishes to a deep, warm tone that ages well.
Ahora mismo no hay Black Walnut. Estas especies sirven para los mismos proyectos y tienen piezas disponibles.
Te enviamos un correo cuando lleguen a KORENA nuevas tablas de Black Walnut. Cada pieza es única, por lo que conviene enterarse pronto.
Aspecto de la madera
Heartwood ranges from chocolate brown to a purplish or greyish brown, often with darker streaks. Sapwood is pale cream, usually steamed at the mill to even out the contrast, but you'll still see some on wide slabs. Grain is generally straight, though figured boards (curl, crotch, burl) turn up regularly and command a premium. Medium, even texture takes detail well.
Cómo trabajarla
Easy across the board. Sawing, planing, sanding, turning and carving all rate 4 out of 5. Glues and screws without complaint. Steam bending is the one weak spot (3/5), workable for gentle curves, not the species you'd choose for tight bentwood seating. Sharp tooling keeps the surface clean; dull blades will burnish rather than tear.
Finishes beautifully with very little fuss. Hard wax oil and Danish oil deepen the brown without muddying the grain; a thin shellac seal coat helps if you're spraying lacquer over oily patches. Sanded to 180–220 it feels silky in the hand. Black walnut lightens slightly with UV exposure over the first year, the opposite of cherry, so a UV-inhibiting topcoat helps on pieces near windows.
Slabs arrive kiln-dried to roughly 8–10% MC. Movement in service is moderate, radial 5.0–6.0%, tangential 7.5–8.5%, so wide tops still want a breathable build (breadboard ends, slot-screwed cleats, or fixed-and-floating fasteners). Acclimatise to your shop for two to three weeks before final flattening.
La madera se hincha y se contrae a lo ancho cuando el aire gana o pierde humedad. Calcula el movimiento estacional de un tablero de Black Walnut antes de diseñar las fijaciones.
Movimiento estacional previsto
unos 9,1 mm
Fija el tablero con lengüetas o soportes ranurados, no con cola ni tornillos apretados.
Modelo de contracción lineal: ancho × (contracción ÷ 28 % de saturación de la fibra) × variación estacional de humedad. Usa una contracción tangencial del 8 % para Black Walnut. Es una estimación para planificar, no una garantía.
Walnut dust contains juglone and is a known respiratory and skin sensitiser. Run a dust extractor at the source and wear a P3/FFP3 mask when sanding. Juglone-laden offcuts and shavings are toxic to horses and to some plants (tomatoes, apples), so don't compost or use as bedding. Cured finished surfaces are food-contact safe.
Juglans nigra is the darkest wood in this catalogue and the North American counterpart to European walnut. Where Juglans regia is a lighter grey brown full of streaking, black walnut is a deeper, more uniform chocolate.
The other significant difference is commercial rather than botanical. Black walnut is grown as a forestry species across eastern North America, so it comes in larger, straighter, more consistent sizes than European walnut, much of which is salvaged from orchards and gardens. If you need matched material across several wide boards, black walnut is the easier species to source.
A large proportion of commercial black walnut is steamed during kiln drying.
Steaming drives colour out of the dark heartwood and into the pale sapwood. The result is a board that reads more uniformly brown, with the sapwood muddied to a dull tan rather than staying cream. For a factory producing matched furniture components, that uniformity is the point.
For a live edge slab it is usually the opposite of what you want. The sharp contrast between pale cream sapwood and near black heartwood is one of the most striking features this species offers, and steaming destroys it.
Unsteamed black walnut keeps that contrast. It is worth asking which you are being offered, because the difference is permanent and not visible from a description alone.
Preguntas de compradores
Black walnut, Juglans nigra, is darker and more uniformly chocolate brown, where European walnut runs lighter grey brown with more streaking and marbling. Black walnut is slightly softer at 4,490 N against 5,410 N but slightly stiffer at 11.0 GPa. Black walnut also comes in larger, more consistent sizes because it is grown as a forestry species rather than an orchard tree.
Much commercial American black walnut is steamed during drying, which drives colour from the dark heartwood into the pale sapwood and makes the board look more uniformly brown. Unsteamed walnut keeps a sharp contrast between cream sapwood and dark heartwood. For a live edge slab where the sapwood line is a feature, unsteamed is usually what you want, and it is worth asking.
Yes. Like European walnut it lightens with light exposure rather than darkening, mellowing from deep chocolate toward a warmer, lighter brown. This is the opposite of what oak and cherry do. A UV inhibiting finish slows it without stopping it.
Propiedades mecánicas
Valores de referencia publicados. Cuando las fuentes discrepan, se muestra el intervalo y se usa el valor habitual en las escalas anteriores.
| Densidad (kg/m³)Masa por metro cúbico con aproximadamente un 12 % de humedad. La madera más pesada suele ser más dura y resistente. | 560–660 kg/m³habitual: 610 kg/m³ |
|---|---|
| Dureza Janka (N)Fuerza necesaria para hundir una bola de acero hasta la mitad en la madera. Es la medida estándar de resistencia a las abolladuras. | 4,100–4,900 Nhabitual: 4490 N |
| MOR: módulo de rotura (MPa)Resistencia a la flexión: la carga a la que se rompe una viga. | 100–110 MPa |
| MOE: módulo de elasticidad (GPa)Rigidez a la flexión: cuánto se comba un estante o tablero bajo carga. | 11.0–12.0 GPa |
| Contracción radialContracción perpendicular a los anillos de crecimiento, desde verde hasta completamente seca. Es la que afecta a las tablas aserradas radialmente. | 5.0–6.0 % |
Native to the eastern United States, not Europe. KORENA sources kiln-dried slabs through established North American timber channels and lands them in EU yards already at furniture moisture content. Expect FAS or better grading on slab stock, with provenance tied to a specific US mill or broker.
IUCN Least Concern, no CITES listing. Decay class 2 (durable) but this is an indoor wood, the value is in the colour and workability, not outdoor performance. As a North American import, the supplier chain-of-custody back to the mill travels with the slab. EUDR due diligence is in preparation and becomes mandatory for large operators from 30 December 2026, and KORENA is building each slab passport to carry the provenance evidence a buyer will need.


Heartwood runs mid to dark chocolate brown, sometimes with purple or grey undertones when freshly cut. Sapwood is pale cream and, if unsteamed, sharply demarcated.
Grain is usually straight, which makes plain black walnut easier to machine than figured European walnut. Crotch, burl and curly figure occurs and is priced accordingly.
Check whether the sapwood has been steamed by looking at the transition: a sharp line means unsteamed, a blurred or muddy gradient means steamed.
Black walnut lightens with light exposure. It does not darken.
This is the opposite of oak, cherry and most other furniture timbers, and it consistently surprises people. A slab chosen for its deep near black colour on the day it was surfaced will mellow over the following years toward a warmer, lighter brown, and the contrast with the sapwood will soften as it does.
Plan for the wood the piece will become rather than the wood it is on the bench.
At 4,490 N it is softer than European walnut and noticeably easier on tooling than oak or ash. It machines cleanly, turns and carves well, glues reliably and finishes beautifully.
Straight grained stock gives very little trouble. Figured crotch and burl material tears out and wants light cuts, sharp tooling and a scraper for the final surface.
Oil finishes suit it particularly well and deepen the colour, though bear the fading in mind: an oil that looks perfect on day one is sitting on wood that will lighten underneath it.
Black walnut contains juglone and is a documented sensitiser. Skin and respiratory irritation are reported and some woodworkers sensitise over repeated exposure, so extraction and a mask are worth the habit.
Juglone is toxic to many plants, so shavings should not go into mulch or compost. They must never be used as animal bedding, and walnut shavings are specifically associated with laminitis in horses.
Decay class 2 makes black walnut genuinely durable, better than European walnut at class 3 and on a par with oak. That is unusual for a furniture hardwood and is part of why it was used for gunstocks and exterior joinery.
Volumetric shrinkage of 11.0 percent is low for this catalogue, with tangential at 7.5 against radial at 5.0 percent. A comparatively narrow differential means it behaves well in wide flatsawn tops.
Fine furniture, wide tabletops, cabinetry, turned and carved work, and any piece where a dark timber is the design intent and consistency across boards matters.
It is the wrong answer where a European supply chain is required, and where the lightening over time would undermine the design.
Not CITES listed and assessed as Least Concern. It is native to eastern North America, so European buyers are generally importing, with the longer documentation chain and higher transport carbon that implies. European grown Juglans nigra exists in small quantities. Where a dark European alternative is acceptable, Juglans regia covers similar ground with a shorter chain.
It contains juglone and is a documented sensitiser, with skin and respiratory irritation reported and sensitisation developing in some woodworkers over time. Run extraction and wear a mask. Walnut shavings are also toxic to many plants and must never be used as animal bedding, particularly for horses.
Decay class 2, which is genuinely durable and better than most furniture hardwoods, including European walnut at class 3. It has been used for exterior joinery and gunstocks partly for that reason. It is still not a species to put in ground contact.
| 7.5–8.5 % |
| Contracción volumétricaCambio total de volumen desde verde hasta completamente seca. Un valor menor indica más estabilidad. | 11.0–12.5 % |
|---|
| Durabilidad natural (EN 350)Norma europea de resistencia natural a la pudrición, de 1 (muy duradera) a 5 (perecedera). | Class 2 — Durable |
|---|
Dureza Janka: 4490 N
Un 10 % más blanda que el roble europeo
610 kg/m³
11,8 % de contracción volumétrica
4,0 / 5 de media en el banco
Clase 2 según EN 350
Precio actual de venta de la madera de Black Walnut en Europa, por metro cúbico antes del IVA. Pulsa cualquier precio para ver los detalles.
¿Por qué cuesta más una tabla?
Estos son precios de madera en bruto. Una tabla es el mejor corte de un tronco, secado durante un año o más y después revisado y medido pieza por pieza. Solo una pequeña parte de cada tronco se convierte en tabla.
Fuente: Índice de la madera de KORENA · Últimos datos: 24 sept 2026
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