American Black Walnut Hardwood Flooring
Walnut Wood Flooring is hard to beat for natural beauty. It is
the only naturally occurring "dark" hardwood that grows
in North America from the southern part of Ontario, Canada through
to the central regions of United States.
Walnut Wood:
Walnut wood floors have a very distinctive colour with extreme
contrast between the nearly white sapwood from the outside of
the tree to the dark chocolate brown with a slight purple tinge
of the heartwood. Higher grades typically have a larger percentage
of heartwood and less of the white sapwood.
Often manufacturers "steam" the walnut in the drying
process, in an attempt to create less contrast between sapwood
and heartwood, but even then in the lower grades there can still
be significant colour variations in American black walnut. Hardwood
Flooring selection is mostly about making sure that you know exactly
what you are buying, so ask about seeing a larger display or at
the very least a picture to give you a clear understanding of
the overall appearance to expect.
The grain of a walnut wood floor is predominately straight, with
occasional burly patterns if the wood has been cut close to a
limb. In fact it is the burly grain patterns that give a walnut
wood floor its exotic appearance and customer appeal.
Janka Rating: 1010 - making
it a relatively soft wood in comparison to most other hardwoods
typically used for hardwood flooring. Thus you certainly have
to be a little more careful with day to day traffic if the occasional
dent is going to offend you. Many manufacturers only finish American
black walnut hardwood flooring with a "satin" finish
to make the denting less obvious.
Dimensional Stability: Walnut wood
floors are one of the most stable, thus a particularly good choice
in environments where maybe the humidity is not as well controlled
as you might like it to be. This makes it particularly suitable
for over radiant heating systems as well.
Machineability: Walnut is a
nice wood to work with, thus if your renovation project extends
to not only walnut wood flooring, but also baseboard, steps and
railings, you'll find this wood a charm to work with and relatively
easy on your saw blades.
More important than that is the fact that it requires no stain.
The beautiful colour is natural so to apply the finishing touches
only a clear polyurethane coat is needed on any accessories ....
no mixing and matching, no scratching of the stain to expose the
"real" colour below. In fact that is one of the biggest
advantages of American Black Walnut Hardwood Flooring.
Further Information:
Hardwood Flooring
Other Wood Species of Hardwood Flooring
Janka Ratings For Hardwood Lumber
