| Walnut Cabinet Doors |
 Walnut cabinet doors vary between light creamy colored sapwood to dark rich brown heartwood. The grain pattern is semi open.The Persian Walnut, and the Black Walnut and its allies, are important for their attractive timber, which (except in young trees) is hard, dense, tight-grained and polishes to a very smooth finish. The color ranges from creamy white in the sapwood to a dark chocolate color in the heartwood. When kiln-dried, walnut wood tends toward a dull brown color, but when air-dried can become a rich purplish-brown. Because of its color, hardness and grain it is a prized furniture and carving wood. Walnut burls (or 'burrs' in Europe) are commonly used to create bowls and other turned pieces. Veneer sliced from walnut burl is one of the most valuable and highly prized by cabinet makers and presitige car manufacturers. Walnut wood has been the timber of choice for gunmakers for centuries, including the Lee Enfield rifle of the First World War. Today it is used for exclusive sporting guns, by makers such as Purdy of London. The wood of the Butternut and related Asian species is of much lower value, softer, coarser, less strong and heavy, and paler in color. In North America research has been undertaken mostly on Juglans nigra aiming to improve the quality of planting stock and markets. The Walnut Council is the key body linking growers with scientists. In Europe, various EU-led scientific programs have studied walnut growing for timber (e.g. in the UK). Parkland and garden trees Walnuts are very attractive trees in parks and large gardens. The Japanese Walnut in particular is grown for its huge leaves, which have a 'tropical' appearance. Walnuts are not particularly well suited to smaller urban gardens. They drop numerous small twigs, leaves, branches or nuts, so are considered "messy" by some people; the falling nuts in late summer and early autumn can be quite dangerous. Both the fallen leaves and the roots secrete a substance called juglone which kills many popular garden plants, such as tomato, apple and birch; all walnuts produce juglone, but Black Walnut produces larger amounts than other species. Juglone appears to be one of the walnut's primary defense mechanisms against potential competitors for resources (water, nutrients and sunlight), and its effects are felt most strongly inside the tree's "drip line" (the circle around the tree marked by the horizontal distance of its outermost branches). However, even plants at a seemingly great distance outside the drip line can be affected, and juglone can linger in the soil for many years even after a walnut is removed as its roots slowly decompose and release juglone into the soil. An old English rhyme states: A spaniel, a woman, and a walnut tree; The more they're beaten, The better still they be. The meaning of this is the source of some debate, with three different takes on it given in the BBC's Gardeners' Question Time. Health benefits of walnuts Juglans regia walnuts. Juglans regia walnuts. A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that eating walnuts after a meal high in unhealthy fats can reduce the damaging effects of such fats on blood vessels. Researchers from Barcelona's Hospital Clinic conducted a study on 24 adult participants, half of whom had normal cholesterol levels, and half of whom had moderately high levels of cholesterol. Each group was fed two high-fat meals of salami and cheese, eaten one week apart. During one meal, the researchers supplemented the food with five teaspoons of olive oil. The researcher added eight shelled walnuts to the other meal, the following week. Tests after each meal showed that both the olive oil and the walnuts helped reduce the onset of dangerous inflammation and oxidation in the arteries after the meals, which were high in saturated fat. However, unlike the olive oil, the walnuts also helped the arteries maintain their elasticity and flexibility, even in the participants with higher cholesterol. Lead researcher Dr. Emilio Ros said walnuts' protective effects could be because the nuts are high in antioxidants and ALA, a plant-based omega-3 fatty acid. Walnuts also contain arginine, which is an amino acid that the body uses to produce nitric oxide, necessary for keeping blood vessels flexible. Source: Journal of the American College of Cardiology - Oct. 17, 2006 edition Walnuts in the future Walnut species are deep rooted and already play an important role in slope stabilisation, for example, in the Himalayas. Some species may become more suited to northerly climes with climate changing, becoming more productive for both timber and nuts (in the British Isles and northerly US states, for example. Their dark quality hardwood is potentially a valuable domestic timber for temperate areas and therefore an alternative source timber to that of tropical sources such as Mahogany. Fast-grown hybrid walnut may produce a viable wood product for wood energy systems under Short Rotation Forestry. Information on Walnut, used in manufacturing cabinet doors, derived from Wikipedia Cabinet doors are available in just about any species of wood so it is impossible to list them all. Please call with any questions about other wood species availability. |