Claro Walnut

[George Walnut]

Hey,

I am wondering if anyone has ever dried any Claro Walnut? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
George

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

Year ago claro walnut referred to either a species called California walnut or a combination graft of an English walnut root stock and Juglans hansii top.  Today, many refer to all western walnuts as Claro to differentiate it from its eastern cousin of black walnut Juglans nigra.  So, it is important to identify the wood as closely as possible.  We find the grafted Juglans hansii was often used as an orchard tree, so it grows out rather than up like a forest tree would do.  Orchard trees are especially difficult to dry due to bacterial wetwood and lots of tension wood.  So, you need to end coat very well and then dry slowly.  Even then, unavoidable warp can occur. For thick stock, maybe a year air drying under an open shed would be best prior to kiln drying.  If kiln drying green, a slow DH unit might be the best opportunity but times may exceed 3 to 5 months.  This is one case where vacuum will be very attractive (Den Socling our moderator can likely help locate a unit for a test or for production).  However, as claro is not as high priced as eastern black walnut and does not have the same color (and may have some streaks) and may warp more, be careful that your drying costs and quality losses do not become a loss.  As far as a schedule, dry it like American black walnut, but be conservative (10 F cooler) and use the best drying practices.

[Montana Sawyer]

I have air dryed quite a bite of Claro Walnut when I lived in Washington state.
I had a connection to the very southern tip of Oregon so I found it similar to black walnut in very predictable and easy to dry.
As Gene stated it was somewhat prone to warp and twist. It has a much wider
color variation than black and woodworkers in the west value it for that color variation.
On the coast (western) it can dry very slowly due to the realative humidity.
Plan on 1.5 years per inch.

[rooster 58]

   Claro Walnut is highly sought after for gunstock blanks. Think Weatherby rifles ;)

[Left Coast Chris]

I have dried a fair amount of claro walnut which is from orchard trees with Calif Black Walnut root stock grafted to English Walnut.  It may exist, but I have not seen any eastern black walnut with the color variation and amount of marbling that claro has.  Hence the high use in upper end gun stocks.

I have also dried a fair amount of California black walnut which is very stable and easy to dry even in high heat.

The claro grafted black walnut generally has larger growth rings due to the trees being fertilized with faster growth.  There is some more percentage of warping but not a lot of difference.



  

  

 

[Farmerjw]

I have dried a fair amount of claro walnut which is from orchard trees with Calif Black Walnut root stock grafted to English Walnut.  It may exist, but I have not seen any eastern black walnut with the color variation and amount of marbling that claro has.  Hence the high use in upper end gun stocks.

I have also dried a fair amount of California black walnut which is very stable and easy to dry even in high heat.

The claro grafted black walnut generally has larger growth rings due to the trees being fertilized with faster growth.  There is some more percentage of warping but not a lot of difference.



  

  

 

Those are beautiful slabs!!!!!!!!!  Would love to get some scraps off of them for pen blanks! 

[Left Coast Chris]

Send me a PM and lets try and coordinate.  I have plenty of scraps.