Knowing little about woods and having no access to expert examination, how can I differentiate between European Walnut (Juglans regia) and American Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) when examining a "mystery" stock blank?

Magic. I have been messing with walnut since before I went to gunsmith school in 1952 and I'll be damned if I know. I guess a lot and always have. I would never pretend to tell someone I KNEW what kind of walnut a piece was. I buy it strictly on color, grain flow, and grain size. If it's the right color,I like dark wood, and the grain flow is correct thru the pistol grip then I look at the figure as I probably am the exception on here who does NOT like highly figured stocks and would never buy one. I have only 2 rifles I ever comissioned ( quite expensive builds with costly wood) have very plain dark wood on them and I had my choice of some of the best available. One is quarter sawn one is board sawn. My rifles, my money, my likes. What kind of walnut are they ,I could really care less.

This question is a good one and IMO can only be answered in generalities, at least by laymen such as we are.

In general, the different species display slightly different colors and grain figuring. But individual pieces of any of the varieties can give every indication of belonging to another.

In general, the lighter woods are probably not Black (duh, grin). In general, the larger-pored examples are not juglans regia. In general, the black-marbled examples are not Black, while the darker flame-grained ones are frequently either Black or Bastogne. Claro, for me, is difficult to distiguish from English except for the honkin' big pores and relative softness under a fingernail.

I approach it like I did back when I was a young hot-rodder: You gotta buy the car (stock blank), not the story. Look at the wood and ignore the verbiage.
Regards, Joe

Different folks have different names for certain woods.

The ways that I find to be the most reliable are color and weight.

Claro and Black-Walnut tend to be reddish to purple in color and rather lightweight.

Claro ( Juglans Nigra ) is especially soft, porous and lightweight, because the majority of it is grown on tree farms that grow just for production - hence they are grown ASAP lots of water, etc.

Old growth walnut (also Juglans Nigra ) is still red and or purple but are harder and denser (thus hevier) due to slower growth rate.

Turkish, English, French, and Circassian are all Juglans Regia , it is hard, dense and is not very porous. Color all depends on where it was grown- California, Western Europe, Southern Russia, Iran, Turkey, etc.

Bastogne ( Juglans Hindsii ) - to the best of my knowledge - is a cross between Juglans Nigra and Juglans Regia . Thre result is usually that of wood that has the weight and density of Juglans Regia with the color and figure of Juglans Nigra .


Unfortunately, hardly any of the qualities of the different species of Walnut are static... I've worked Claro and Black-Walnut that were as heavy, hard and tight grained as most English I've seen. And I've worked on some English that was light, soft and open pored.


The only way that I have found to distinguish between Juglans Nigra and Juglans Regia without actually knowing what is was, was by SMELL. Sounds funny I know, but there it is.

I can't really describe the smell of either. Try to see if you can get a small, confimed peice of each and sand on them. You should be able to tell from then on.


Like J.D. Steele said, don't judge wood by what it is called, judge it for what it actually is, as each peice of wood is in some way different from the next.


Hope this is in the least way helpfull.

Take care,
Nemo.

quote:

The only way that I have found to distinguish between Juglans Nigra and Juglans Regia without actually knowing what is was, was by SMELL. Sounds funny I know, but there it is.

The fella I used for duplicating says the same thing, he can tell what kind of walnut it is by smelling it while he's carving it. Also, if you have a chance, you can take a pocket knife and try cutting a chip out of the edge of the blank. Black/claro walnut will tend to split ahead of the knife while english will not. Of course you better ask permission before whacking on somebody's stock blank with your knife!