Shannon's Lumber Industry Update

An 8/4, Kiln Dried Audio Podcast

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106 – American Black Walnut

08.16.2023 by shannon // Leave a Comment

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 106 – Featured Species Black Walnut

On this show I cover  why is Walnut so thirsty?  Sticker Stain?  Air dried vs Kiln dried for violin bow making.  I cover the featured species: American Black Walnut, my favorite species to work. Finally I spend some time talking about a few stories concerning gene editing.

Tree Gene Editing?

I have a few news stories sent my way this time and I wanted to broach the subject of gene editing in the case of the American Chestnut as well as making specific use wood species for things like pulp.  I'm so far from a geneticist nor do I play one on TV.  But I am fascinated by the work being done in these fields and the woodworker in my who has built pieces with Chestnut would love to see some of the gene work allow the Chestnut to make a comeback.  At the same time seeing a strain of Poplar specifically made for pulp production without the nasty byproducts that stink up paper mill towns sounds pretty compelling.  But gene editing is scary because I saw Jurassic Park (read it too) and you can't help but wonder what kind of zombie tree army might be created in the process.  

I'd totally watch that movie!

  • Gene Editing produces better pulp woods
  • American Chestnut gene editing

Featured Species: American Black Walnut

Juglans nigra or American Black Walnut is a hugely popular species all over the world.  Native to Eastern North America but now grown in just about every region of the the continent and cultivars and transplants in many regions around the world.  Black Walnut was exported like mad during the 18th century when furniture styles grew tired of Mahogany and sought something new from the colonies.  Today the wood is still exported in great numbers all over the world.  

American Black Walnut

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 It is my favorite species to work with hand tools and the semi ring porous structure is the perfect mix of hardness and softness that holds details well yet still is sweet under the chisel and hand plane.  Many of the regional variations of Walnut work very similarly with slight variations in the density.

The grading of Walnut is tough with its own special rules but thankfully more and more wood is making it into the market today with character grades and rustic and common grades being more in vogue.

Listener Questions

  • Mike is a violin bow maker and is experimenting with woods other than Pernambuco.  He has found issues with the kiln dried woods he is using like Ipe, Bloodwood, and Katalox and wonders if having them in an air dried form would make them perform better under heat bending conditions.
  • Robert just finished a dining table in Black Walnut and asks why the species is so thirsty.  It soaked up a significant amount of finish to get the same results he has seen with other, similar species.
  • Alex has identifies sticker stain on a few of his slabs and asks about how to deal with it.  I quickly cover what is sticker stain as well.

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