European walnut

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WALNUT, EUROPEAN

Juglans regia
Juglans regia of the family Juglandaceae. This is a European variety of walnut and has numerous names, many of which include country or area names such as British, Carpathian, Caucasian, Circassian, English, European, French, Italian, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, and probably more

It is ranges from being indistinguishable from American black walnut to being highly figured, more like claro walnut. When it is from the Circassia area of the Caucasus (part of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Russia) it is called Circassian walnut and is often highly figured and expensive. Tecnically, Circassian walnut is ONLY the walnut that grows in the Caucasus but wood vendors are not known for their technical accuracy, so caveat emptor.

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank listed as English walnut / Juglans regia --- the upper area is weakly colored heartwood and the lower area is sapwood

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above --- the heartwood is on the right and the sapwood is on the left and that is more clear in the end grain closeup below than it is in these face grain pics

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

first face and the end grain of a sample of English walnut / Juglans regia (presumed). This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION B

the second face, before and after slicing off 1/8" showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.

end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.

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both sides of a sample plank of French walnut / Juglans regia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This piece appears to be basically sapwood.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of sinker ("river recovered") European walnut / Juglans regia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of burl circassiian walnut / Juglans regia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above. The white spots/streaks are sanding dust filling the pores in the swirly grain, not a characteristic of the wood

veneer sold to me as European walnut

sample veneer sheet of Caucasian walnut veneer / Juglans regia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION D. Note that the collection has two sheets of Juglans regia, this one labeled Caucasian walnut and the one below labeled French walnut. Both common names are valid.

/ Juglans regia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION D. The label has this as Juglans "rigra", which is incorrect. Note that the collection has two sheets of Juglans regia, this one labeled French walnut and the one above labeled Caucasian walnut. Both common names are valid.

quartersawn figured European veneer --- the curl is weak, but it is somewhat stronger than what shows up in these pics. There is too much red in these pics --- the color is shown more accurately in the web pic directly below.

the web pic posted by the vendor who sold me the lot that the samples above were taken from. Except for the excessive shininess (which is absolutely typical of her pics) this is a very accurate representation of the wood.

French walnut veneer from COLLECTION E --- HUGE enlargements are present.

web pics:

European (English) walnut log end

slabs listed as English walnut

plank listed as European walnut / Juglans regia

planks listed as European walnut

planks listed as Juglans regia

planks listed as English walnut

planks listed as French walnut

English walnut / Juglans regia from the BogusColorVendor which is why the color looks ridiculous

listed as English walnut / Juglans regia, waxed bowl blanks, all from the same vendor and all with both levels of enlargement present.

listed as marbled crotch English walnut and I'm doubtful about the color

three English walnut pics (crotch slab, bookmatched veneer, and a "marbled" slab) all submitted by Don Restall, whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The marbled slab appears to have been moistened for the pics and the others appear to be raw wood.

fiddleback European walnut planks

plank listed as figured European walnut

veneer listed as curly English walnut even though the curl is tight enough to where most vendors would have listed it as fiddleback

veneer listed as European walnut

flat cut veneer listed as French walnut

European walnut veneer all from the same vendor

European walnut veneer sheets with both levels of enlargement (the grain looks correct in the enlargements)

bookmatched veneer sheets listed as European walnut. These were not listed as figured although they obviously are, and the color is very unlikely

flat cut veneer listed as figured French walnut

NOTE: all of the veneer in this section is from the same vendor and it is listed variously as
French, European and Circassian. I would not be the least bit surprised if all these were
from the same country and just advertised as being from different areas.

Also, this particular vendor does some kind of photographic manipulation
to make the wood look more shiny than it really is.

figured European walnut veneer, flat cut on the left and quartersawn bookmatched on the right

veneer listed as curly European walnut, obviously flat cut

flat sawn fiddleback veneer listed as European walnut

quartersawn fiddleback veneer listed as European walnut

flat cut quilted European walnut veneer, bookmatched

curly French walnut veneer and a closeup of the last piece

fiddleback French walnut veneer --- see "curly" directly above --- another case where "fiddleback" and "curly" are used somewhat interchangeably.

figured Circassian walnut veneer.

figured Circassian walnut veneer and a closeup, then another piece and a closeup

END OF "FRENCH / EUROPEAN / CIRCASSIAN VENEER FROM A PARTICULAR VENDOR

Circassian walnut veneer --- three shots of the same piece

French walnut --- flat cut veneer, veneer with fiddleback figure, and then a veneer sheet closeup, then quartersawn figured veneer

crotch veneer listed as European walnut / Juglans regia

crotch veneer listed as European walnut / Juglans regia and all from the same vendor

European walnut burl veneer; some of the pieces are bookmatched

European walnut cluster burl veneer

butt veneer listed as European walnut

bookmatched Italian walnut burl veneer

Italian walnut burl veneer

guitar sets listed as European walnut then French walnut

Circassian walnut pics (both sides of a burl, a gun stock blank, and a gun stock) submitted by Don Restall, whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Clearly, these are all moistened/finished, not raw wood.

These two pics of large slabs of Circassian walnut were contributed to the site by exotic wood importer Patrick Dean whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

Turkish walnut gun-stock blanks --- mostly crotch areas

English walnut pistol grips

bowl listed as English walnut --- if I had seen this at a quick glance with no ID, I might have thought it was zircote

paperweight of English walnut. I bought this from master turner Tom Laser in 1983. Don't know what finish he used but it's hard and shiny. A chunk of wood this size would be quite light for a paperweight but Tom's technique was to drill out the center, fill it with lead, and cap it with a very nice, clean-looking, pewter bottom as shown in the 2nd pic. I have 3 very beautiful bowls of his on the bottom of the "walnut, claro" page.