Juglans nigra
Black Walnut
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.
- Cultivé hors d’Europe et importé par des dépôts européens.
- Groupe botanique. Les résineux sont des conifères, les feuillus sont des arbres à feuilles larges.
- Famille botanique à laquelle appartient l’essence.
Être informé du prochain arrivageEssence de référence. Aucun plateau en stock pour le moment.
Convient-il à votre projet ?
Idéal pour
- Live-edge dining and conference tables
- Mid-century-style casework and credenzas
- Dark-toned kitchen islands and breakfast bars
- Desks and writing tables with figured tops
- Gunstocks, knife scales and high-end tool handles
- Turned bowls and hollow forms
Aucun plateau en Black Walnut dans la sélection actuelle
Essences similaires en stock
Aucun plateau en Black Walnut pour le moment. Ces essences conviennent aux mêmes projets et sont disponibles.
Soyez informé des arrivages en Black Walnut
Nous vous envoyons un e-mail lorsque de nouveaux plateaux en Black Walnut arrivent chez KORENA. Chaque plateau est unique, mieux vaut donc être prévenu rapidement.
Aspect du bois
Son aspect
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.
- Chocolate to purplish-brown heartwood
- Pale cream sapwood, often steamed for uniformity
- Darker streaks and figure on wider boards
- Lightens slightly under UV over the first year
- Deepens and warms under oil finishes
- Generally straight; can be irregular or wavy. Medium texture.
Travail du bois
Son travail en atelier
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.
Finition
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.
Séchage
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.
De combien va-t-il bouger ?
Le bois gonfle et se rétracte en largeur selon que l’air devient plus humide ou plus sec. Estimez le mouvement saisonnier d’un plateau en Black Walnut avant de concevoir les fixations.
Mouvement saisonnier attendu
environ 9,1 mm
Fixez le plateau avec des taquets ou des équerres à trous oblongs, sans colle ni vis trop serrées.
Modèle de retrait linéaire : largeur × (retrait ÷ 28 % de point de saturation des fibres) × variation saisonnière d’humidité. Utilise un retrait tangentiel de 8 % pour le Black Walnut. Il s’agit d’une estimation de conception, pas d’une garantie.
Son prix
Sécurité et origine
- Cultivé hors d’Europe et importé par des dépôts européens.
- Statut sur la Liste rouge de l’UICN : évaluation mondiale de la conservation de cette essence.
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.
Lire le guide completNotes détaillées sur la figure, l’évolution de la couleur, le travail et la stabilité.
What Black Walnut actually is#
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.
The steaming question, which matters more than most people realise#
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.
Questions des acheteurs
Questions fréquentes des acheteurs
How is Black Walnut different from European Walnut?
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.
Is Black Walnut steamed, and does it matter?
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.
Does Black Walnut fade?
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.
Is walnut dust dangerous?
Propriétés mécaniques
Données techniques
Valeurs de référence publiées. Lorsque les sources divergent, la plage est indiquée et la valeur courante sert aux échelles ci-dessus.
| Densité (kg/m³)Masse par mètre cube à environ 12 % d’humidité. Un bois plus lourd est généralement plus dur et plus résistant. | 560–660 kg/m³valeur courante 610 kg/m³ |
|---|---|
| Dureté Janka (N)Force nécessaire pour enfoncer à moitié une bille d’acier dans le bois. Mesure standard de la résistance à l’enfoncement. | 4,100–4,900 Nvaleur courante 4 490 N |
| MOR : module de rupture (MPa)Résistance à la flexion : charge à laquelle une poutre casse. | 100–110 MPa |
| MOE : module d’élasticité (GPa)Rigidité en flexion : fléchissement d’une étagère ou d’un plateau sous une charge. | 11.0–12.0 GPa |
| Retrait radialRetrait perpendiculaire aux cernes, du bois vert au bois anhydre. Les planches sur quartier travaillent dans ce sens. | 5.0–6.0 % |
