Black walnut, where to get it

[allanyed]

This is more of "what if" post as I think getting this wood from my new found source could be problematic.   The kids and grandkids took us to a dog park in Leavenworth, KS over the holidays and it was in a grove of eastern black walnut trees.  The ground was littered with thousands of nuts.  VERY hard to get open, but when you do, tasty as can be.  These are walnut trees, not the trees from which the brittle grainy stuff is harvested for kits.   

 

Pics of part of the grove and this old man up one of the trees with two of the grandkids.    Proved a point that one is never too old to do stupid things like climbing trees.  

 

Allan

[ccoyle]

In California, where 99% of US walnuts are produced, English walnut scions are grafted onto black walnut root stock. My grandparents lived in San Joaquin county -- there were walnut orchards everywhere.

[tlee01]

We had a couple of black walnut trees come down during a storm in September.  I got some really nice pieces, here is what I am using for my base for the Pram.

 

I have to up my game if I want to use this wood in the models.  The grain might be a little big for planking.

[Roger Pellett]

Allan,

 

It looks like a good time with the Grandkids.

 

In Ohio where I grew up there are a lot of Black Walnut trees.  The farmers who had trees on their property, put the nuts in burlap feed sacks and put them on the road in front of their houses.  Cars running over them effectively removed the green husks.  Cracking the shells and picking out the nut kept them busy on long w inter nights.

 

The wood is certainly nice to work with.

 

Roger

[allanyed]

Roger, very clever!!!   We did this with bags of tent worms but had to run into the woods if the car stopped to raise some Hell with us.  Hopefully the grandkids will look at the photo many years from now and show their own kids what great grandpa was willing to try. 

 

The green husks come off with a little effort but I defy anyone to crack the inner shell with a nutcracker.   Two or three nuts will keep anyone busy for hours.  I decent size vice does the trick though.   (Chestnuts are easier) 

 

Allan

Edited December 30, 2021 by allanyed

[Jaager]

Allan,

 

I at first thought that the post title was a question.   Instead, it is a statement.

What professional woodworkers mean by Black Walnut is Juglans nigra .   Just what you are displaying.

For furniture, rifle stocks,  it is a much favored wood.  Local to me, a quick search finds it readily available.  Premium with little sapwood 8/4  >9.5" wide lists @ $13.00 /BF.

For our uses, other than as baseboards and case framing,  even this species is less than ideal.  It is open pore.  It is probably too dark for use on a model.

It has a limited range - Eastern US.   The European Juglans regia is not as rich in color, but also has the same grain problem.  The stuff in mass market kits is probably not any species of Juglans.  Likely it is a tropical species of Mahogany with even larger pores, grain that is coarse and brittle and with only a passing glance as far as the color of Black Walnut.   It is pretty much wrong in every way for a ship model.

 

Real Black Walnut  wood is not the worst species of wood for ship modeling, but it is low on the list.  If it is an exotic import for someone who is considering it, much better choices can be made.

 

The husks have commercial value.  They are a source for a Walnut shade dye.  I think that picking up fermented husks barehanded tends to leave fingers with an interesting color.

I think it was The Radio Reader narrating Conrad Richter's The Trees where I heard just how large and formidable were the Black Walnut trees in the Ohio country at the end of the 18th century.  Before they were savagely attacked, felled, and mostly burned to open the land to the Sun.  An awful waste.

 

Edited December 30, 2021 by Jaager

[mtaylor]

If I'm remembering right, wasn't the Black Walnut husks/shells ground up and used for cleaning jet engines?  The engine would be turning at idle and the husks/shells bits would be fed into the engine intake.  I remember the mechs making a mess of an area on the parking ramp doing this but not sure if was Walnut or some other nut husk/shell.

[Cathead]

Black walnut trees are pretty common here in rural Missouri, not just in the wild but in local plantings where a longsighted landowner has set out a grid of trees for valuable timber decades down the line. I can buy local black walnut meats at a health food store in the area. We have many wild ones on our place, some of which we’ve cut during timber stand improvements. I have a lifetime supply of small scale model wood sitting around in my shop!

 

Great photos of you and the grandkids, well done! That’s the kind of memory I have of my grandfather as well.

[bricklayer]

I hope that this walnut tree will never come in touch with a chainsaw. It grows in my parent`s yard. We harvest (collect) some 120 kilos of walnuts every autumn. Most of it we give away. The thickness of the shells varies depending on the weather during summer. The less rain falls and the more water evaporates, the thinner the shells become. But the amount  and quality of walnuts is almost the same year by year. The ugly, first green then brown then black, peal around the shells removes itself after a while in most instances. Some 40 years ago I climbed the tree for the last time. I should do it again.