Handling & safety. Walnut dust is a mild sensitiser for some people and is toxic to plants (keep shavings out of the garden). Extraction and a mask for machining are sensible.
Suitable uses
Fine furniture, cabinetry, interior joinery, panelling, gunstocks, decorative work, turning.
Browse projectsProperties
| Latin name | Juglans regia (European) / J. nigra (American black) |
|---|---|
| Species type | Hardwood |
| Origin | European walnut from France, Italy and UK estates; American black walnut from managed North American forests. |
| Density | 640 kg/m³ |
| Janka hardness | 5,410 N |
| Modulus of rupture | 111.5 MPa |
| Elastic modulus | 10.81 GPa |
| Crushing strength | 50.2 MPa |
| Specific gravity | 0.64 |
| Porosity | Semi-ring-porous |
| Movement class | Medium |
| Tangential shrinkage | 7.5% |
| Radial shrinkage | 5.5% |
| Volumetric shrinkage | 13% |
| T/R ratio | 1.4 |
| Durability (EN 350) | Class 3 |
| Relative cost | Premium |
Density and mechanical properties are typical values at around 12% moisture content. Shrinkage figures represent total dimensional change from fibre saturation to oven dry. Individual boards vary.
Walnut is the timber people ask for by name when the piece matters. It’s genuinely beautiful — a rich, dark chocolate-brown hardwood with a depth and warmth nothing else in the trade quite matches — and it works and finishes as well as any timber going.
It’s also expensive. And it’s the species where the gap between what people expect and what they get is widest. That gap isn’t about quality. It’s about colour variation, and it’s the thing to understand before you buy.
Walnut varies far more than people expect
You’ll find pale honey-toned boards, grey-tinged boards, and deep purple-brown boards — sometimes all out of the same pack.
Heartwood and sapwood contrast sharply. The sapwood is a pale creamy colour, which makes it obvious, and in most furniture work it’s unwelcome.
And walnut lightens with exposure to light over time. So a board’s colour on the day you buy it isn’t where it will end up.
So the real question is: can you get a matched set?
That’s the practical question with walnut. Not “what species” — but whether you can get boards from similar stock that will move through their colour change together.
If you’re building a table, a set of drawers, or anything with several visible components, this matters more than any other decision you’ll make. A matched set is a specific ask and often takes longer to source. It’s worth making at the outset rather than discovering the problem three boards in.
If you’re making something small — a box, a turning, a single panel — you have far more freedom, and walnut is a delight to work.
It’s not a difficult timber to work
Worth saying, because the colour conversation can make it sound fussy. It isn’t.
Walnut machines beautifully. It planes clean, it turns well, it takes an oil finish superbly. If you’ve worked with oak, walnut is easier on your tools and more forgiving on the finish.
One finishing note: walnut’s depth is in the timber, but the surface can lighten. Oiling brings it back. Most walnut work is oiled rather than film-finished, and it’s where the timber looks best.
American or European?
Different timbers, different colour, very different prices.
- American black walnut (Juglans nigra) — typically darker, more uniform brown, often with good figure.
- European walnut (Juglans regia) — often lighter and more grey-toned.
Both are good timber. They don’t match each other, so if you’re adding to existing work, which one you’re being offered matters a great deal.
Working the timber
Works beautifully — machines cleanly, steams and bends well, and finishes to a lustre few timbers match. Figures are European walnut; American black walnut runs slightly lighter at 610 kg/m³ and 4,490 N with similar behaviour.
Finishing & gluing
Needs no stain — the colour is the point. Oil and wax finishes deepen the chocolate tones; filler is only needed for a glass-flat surface given its semi-ring-porous grain.
Glues reliably with standard PVA and polyurethanes. Washed or steamed walnut can present a slightly greasy surface — a fresh-machined pass gives the best bond.