What's a good substitute for black walnut?

[Knottscott]

Hi. I'm building a black walnut hall table...nice chocolate brown stuff that looks great with just an oil. Unfortunately, I don't have quite enough available, but I do have some nice butternut.....it seems to me that I'd heard it makes a decent substitute for BW if treated with a BW stain. Can anyone confirm or suggest something else?

TIA!

[Bruce Cohen]

Mrs. Walnut ?

Bruce

[Black wallnut]

Mrs. Walnut ?

Bruce

Good one Bruce! I don't think there really is a suitable substitue for black walnut. I've also heard butternut is close but then so is some mahagony. There is so much variation in black walnut that it's hard to comment from a distance. I've seen walnut from very light (heart wood) to almost black.

[MilDoc]

There's variation in both. Have any butternut scraps? Try it out first.

[Knottscott]

I know there's no substitute for Mrs. Walnut!

Thanks...I'll have to try some butternut or even cherry scraps with some dark brown stain.

[Alex Franke]

This might not help you very much, but isn't there an "African walnut" out there somewhere too? Seems like I've seen that as a flooring option...

[gerti]

Instead of trying to make them appear similar (and possibly fail) maybe celebrate the differences? Eg tabletop one species, base the other, stained different (light and dark or medium and dark)?

[drumpriest]

Or better yet, skip the stain. Cherry and walnut look good together, as does my fav combo of curly maple and black walnut.

[cabinetman]

I've run into this predicament a lot, and learned to bite the bullet and do the project the way it was planned. I've done substitutes, spent the time trying magic to make them what they are not, and wound up kicking myself later.

Granted, even within the same species, color and grain can be different. So, at the onset of a project, I gather more than enough stock that is well matched, which is figured in with the percentage of overage when ordering.

Just as a note on the differences, my contract documents to the client carry a disclaimer stating that the products and materials to be used and incorporated, are from natural organic origins, and may differ in color, grain, and general appearance.
.

[Knottscott]

This was wood that was given to me by a mutual friend. There looked to be plenty for the project from a glance, but once I pulled it down I realized alot of it is unusable....bummer. I'm still torn...there's a part of me that wants to go out and get what I need, but I need such a small amount I doubt my supplier would bother to meet with me for $15 wood! Maybe I can find a buddy to make a swap with. Thanks for all the input!

[jackellis]

I have some black walnut and I'd swap, but shipping would be a killer from California.

[Knottscott]

Thanks Jack, but I think you're right about shipping!

So far, I'm finding I can get cherry very close in color and it actually looks really nice. Right now I'm leaning towards making the top from real BW and the apron and legs from "walnutized cherry". The groom's father is a woodworker and he'll know how picky his son is...I'm expecting that he won't be able to tell the difference but I want to check.

[ironhat]

<snip>
The groom's father is a woodworker and he'll know how picky his son is...I'm expecting that he won't be able to tell the difference but I want to check.

How 'bout tapping the groom's dad as a possible source?

[Knottscott]

How 'bout tapping the groom's dad as a possible source?

Hi Chiz - It turns out that I did exactly that yesterday...his dad is an extremely nice guy and just happened to have enough black walnut on hand to make up the shortage! I'll be picking it up from him tomorrow.
The original black walnut I have was given to me by a mutual friend of both families, but quite a bit of it was sap wood and/or unusable after closer inspection, thus the shortage. It's always neat when the original wood has a tie to the recipient in some way....that tie gives the piece a preordained history that always adds an element of interest to it. Both sources definitely qualify in this case! I'll post pics in a few weeks when I'm done...thanks everyone!