Thread: english wallnut

Originally Posted by mongrell

have aquired some english walnut [juglans regia] and noticed that the heart wood is very small. in a 18 inch log the heartwood is only 6 inches is this normal and when they make gunstocks out of it do they only use heartwood or all of it ,havent had it milled yet .has anyone carved it and whats it like for carving and turning also?theres some quiet large pieces left that would ideal for those uses ,any other info would be helpful too thanks .

Hi mongrell

I have carved a very small amount, it was a small cube sample I got amongst heaps of different Aus. woods and some exotics. The piece was moderately hard, about the same as say old growth Myrtle but easy to carve as it had a very tight dense grain, in fact it was hard to see the grain in it at all. It has a very oily feel to it, sought of like some, but not all Huon pine and suspect it may be difficult to glue. It's colour was an unusual mid-grey mushroom brown which I can't compare with any Aus. woods.

thanks spring, what you had must be the sapwood as the heart is deep brown of some sort, i spose if its good to carve its good to turn so ill grab what i can before they burn it

b, b, bur, bur, b, BURN IT!, your freakn joshn me, grab it with both hands you won't be disappointed mongrell. It's hard to explain the colour of the bit I had, it was more grey than brown. Being oily it could be good for a fret board but I'm no musician, just a thought.

English Walnut is used for gun stocks as is a number of other timbers.
But only selected pieces are used ,usually picked for the direction of the grain so that the narrowest part of the stock (the wrist ) has the grain flowing through it in the correct direction to give strength .
It's usually expensive as only a few pieces from a whole tree are suitable.
I have seen some gun stock blanks sell for up to $2000.00 or more depending on grain and figure.
A close friend of mine had a beautiful English shotgun restocked recently ,the blank was around $1800.00 and to have it made and fitted was about that much again .
The work was done by a fellow in Melbourne (can't recall his name ) but he did an absolutely fantastic job .The fit between steel and timber is perfect ,and the finish on the timber superb.

Kev.