The ongoing demand for EUROPEAN WALNUT has prompted us into making it the subject of our latest featured veneer section.

EUROPEAN WALNUT

Also known as	:	English Walnut, French, Italian, Persian, Circassian etc. Walnut, Royal Walnut, Common Walnut
Botanical name	:	Juglans regia
Origin	:	Europe, western and central Asia

"A woman, a dog and a Walnut tree - the more you beat them the better they be." So said a sixteenth century English proverb probably best ignored these days.

Mature Walnuts are usually handsome trees with wide-spreading branches and heavy, large leaved foliage. The leathery leaves, up to around eight to nine inches or so long, are made up of a number of individual leaflets with the largest of these being at the tip. When crushed in the hand they have a pleasant, fairly rich smell not unlike shoe polish, and the juice from them may leave a brownish stain on the fingers.

They do not usually flower until several years old and will then produce both male catkins and female flowers on the same tree. The flowers will be wind pollinated and through the summer months the familiar nuts will develop, fully ripening around October.

Both the Greeks and the Romans regarded the Walnut highly for its oil and food value. Not indigenous to the UK, it is thought that the Romans were the first to introduce the trees here, mainly in the southern counties where, in some parts, they have naturalized. In south and central Europe and western and central parts of Asia they are plentiful and often commercially grown in orchards. Naturally they tend to be seen in ones and twos as they appear to dislike growing close together in clumps, favouring space and light. Indeed the roots of the Walnut tree secrete a substance known as Juglone which inhibits the nearby growth of many other trees.

The timber and veneer produced from mature Walnuts is handsome and highly prized. Heartwood colour varies from light greyish brown to rich dark brown sometimes also showing even darker streaks and other markings. Some logs may display additional colours with streaks of yellowy orange to pinky brown while others may also show a pretty mottle figure. The precise growing location and soil type has a major bearing on the ultimate colour of the wood.

Across Europe Walnut has been used for fine furniture and architectural interior joinery for many hundreds of years. In England so called Queen Anne furniture was almost exclusively made from English Walnut and is still greatly admired today while very fine examples of decorative carved work in Walnut can still be seen in certain historic Italian churches.

For veneer production the logs are flat sliced in order to yield as much crown material as possible. There is always a central defect, sometimes very large, which will be clipped out by the mill at the trimming stage, resulting in virtually every log containing halves which may be straight grained or half-crown. The lighter coloured sapwood will usually be left on, some mills trimming more off the edges than others.

Architectural grade logs, i.e. those approaching three metres long or over, clean with a nice colour, pleasing heart structure and good straight halves are not always easy to source and will usually command premium prices. When used for a prestigious project however this veneer can be an inspired choice. Our company was pleased to be chosen to source and supply the considerable quantity of English Walnut veneer that was used for wall panelling and furniture in the London Stock Exchange. The end results were very well received and do look extremely impressive.

The term "figured Walnut" can sometimes be a little confusing as to some people it refers to the mottle figuring previously mentioned while others intend it to mean wild grained or butty material with plenty of movement and colour contrast. There is no denying however that both can be quite beautiful, if totally different in appearance.

Wild or butty wood, so called because it is taken from the butt or base of the tree just above root level, has for many years been the timber of choice for high quality gun stocks. The inherent stability of Walnut makes it ideal for this purpose. Matching veneers from this part of the log will often quarter into very attractive patterns and this style was fashionable on dining and bedroom furniture back in the 1920's and 30's.

Some logs have a high proportion of light coloured sapwood, only developing a very small area of dark heartwood. This "Sap Walnut" yields elegant veneer of a much lighter shade than normal, although there will often be a small amount of darker material visible on some of the bundles. It is a useful choice where a slightly softer look is required.

At its best, the burr from this species is superbly decorative. Individual logs will vary in colour just as the main length does, with shades from light sap colour right down to a rich dark brown, possibly also displaying additional random streaking and/or other markings. Actual burr content will also vary from log to log and may be a mix of burr and wild twisty grain (sometimes known as a burr-butt or cluster) or possibly a tight all-over burr (full burr). This valuable veneer is used for special furniture and car and yacht interiors.

Where the main length or trunk of the tree forks away into the first branch there is a small area of wood that displays a curl or crotch figure and from this part Walnut Curls are sometimes sliced. Although inclined to be faulty and fairly small in size, these very pretty veneers are useful for detail work, small drawer fronts etc.

Working still further up the tree, oysters are produced from the branches (or limbs) by sawing across at an approximate 45° angle. Usually around four to six inches (100 - 150mm) or so long and a little less in width, oysters show an oval shaped transverse section displaying the annual rings. They have a specialist use for highly decorative furniture and frames.

It can clearly be seen that with care and planning in conversion, not much of the Walnut tree needs to be wasted. From just above root level all the way up to the outstretched limbs there is beautiful veneer to be obtained for a multitude of different uses.

European Walnut is not often available with an FSC or PEFC chain of custody certificate, mainly in view of its preferred growing locations. Not being much of a forest tree, often growing on farms and orchards and sometimes occurring naturally in hedgerows, it tends to originate from areas that are not certificated - it is mainly forests that are covered by the certification schemes. However it is regarded as sustainable and replanting and cultivation is ongoing.

CROWN EUROPEAN WALNUT	STRAIGHT GRAIN EUROPEAN WALNUT	MOTTLE FIGURED EUROPEAN WALNUT	BUTTY OR WILD EUROPEAN WALNUT	EUROPEAN WALNUT Image Copyright © Georg Slickers 2004
EUROPEAN SAP WALNUT	EUROPEAN WALNUT BURR	EUROPEAN WALNUT CLUSTER BURR	EUROPEAN WALNUT CURL