What is a good dark substitute foe walnut for planking?

[bigcreekdad]

I do not like walnut. Seems to be very easy to splinter.

 

Are there any decent darker woods out there, or should I just die/stain a lighter wood?

[NMBROOK]

I do not care for walnut either.I would go for pear,a lovely wood to work with and easy to stain if you want it darker than it already is.

 

Kind Regards Nigel

[mtaylor]

Pear, cherry are both nice woods. Even boxwood, swiss pear or maple.  I guess it depends on the effect you want.

[overdale]

Cherry takes a nice dark stain and is far easier to work than Walnut.

[Nirvana]

I will certainly try Cherry or Pear for planking in another project, so far the walnut has worked just fine for me, both bending and splicing.

Having a neighbor with Cherry and Pear, Apple orchard close by, gonna make sure to get some of the wood for kiln drying and cutting next year.

 

Two pieces of walnut with the one minute method gluing

CA points at the ends and in the middle and then regular Titebond I in between.

Works almost like epoxy, the CA grips directly and the.wood glue gives the strength.

[Bill Hime]

I agree on Walnut being brittle. Especially if cutting for planks, etc..I guess the question is, "what other dark woods are there?". Any wood can be stained dark. If you're thinking of celebrating a woods characteristics rather than covering it up, then look to African woods.

 

Wenge, is a dark dense wood with interesting contrast in it's grain.

 

Bublinga, has variuos tones of reds to almost black. Works well. it's used for instruments and fine woodworking from the smallest details to the largest projects. (this is one of my favorites)

There are others, but these are the two that stick out to me. In fact, i'm going to incorporate Bublinga into my current build

 

Of course there's Ebony, but for many reasons, you're better off ebonizing Boxwood in my opinion.

 

 

Warm Regards,

 

Bill

[LFrankCPA]

I too have found Walnut difficult to work. However, I have discovered that if you sand or file it with a medium grade something it works very well. Something else in a dark wood is African Blackwood. Can be as dark as Ebony, but not quite as difficult to work/

Larry

[Richard Griffith]

You could even consider an inexpensive wood called popular (populus spp. - this 'spp' means various species) which grows in Europe and North America.  Cottonwood is a close relative (populus deltoides).  These are white in color, tending toward grey, sometimes with pinkish brown and greenish streaks.  Both are medium weight and medium hard and tend to fuzz up like basswood so finishing is more involved.

 

However, both take stains, paint and glue very well, are widely available as above and in North America the costs are low.  As long as you are staining or painting, then these might work well for you.  As with most woods, avoid breathing the dust and wear eye protection.  These woods are not considered toxic, unless you are sensitized. 

 

Other names for popular:  peuplier in France, Pappel in Germany, and many others of related species. 

 

Hope this helps.               Diuff

[rafterrat_2005]

I just bought a pew pieces of Wenge at our exotic woods store and the owner told me that it is easy to make this type of wood look almost as black ebony, not only that but it is a very dark king of wood and over time it wood turn even darker look at some Rosewoods, and sinker cypruss wood. I have posted our stores web site. It is listed in the wood selection on pg. 3