walnut

Today, black walnut is highly coveted and used for high-quality woodworking. “It works very well,” wood artist Robin Wade says. “It is good, hard, dense, sands beautifully, and makes really gorgeous furniture. That is exactly why it has always been such a good wood for making furniture.”

Most manufacturers choose to use only the rich, dark heart wood. They rip the white sapwood from the dark heart wood and toss it aside, or, in an effort to increase yield, steam the entire batch of lumber because the treatment creates uniform color throughout both the sap and heart wood. 

Wade believes in presenting walnut wood slabs in their natural state. “The change in color between the light sap wood and dark heart wood is really striking,” he says. “And its real.” Wade’s philosophy of keeping lumber as close to its natural state as possible helps him create very unique, organic furniture. Each of his black walnut pieces—a walnut dining table, walnut bench, walnut console table—celebrates this wood’s wonderful natural character.

"I prefer to showcase this most beautiful lumber the way nature designed it, imperfections and all." —wood artist Robin Wade