Western Colorado Walnut: Rare, and Worth the Wait

Walnut is not native to the Western Slope, and it does not come through our yard often. In all our years of milling we have cut exactly four walnut trees: one English walnut out of Cedaredge and three black walnuts. Two of the black walnuts were standing dead, and they came out beautiful, incredibly rich in color.

English or black

English walnut is the nut orchard tree, and black walnut is the classic dark furniture wood most people picture. Either one is a good day at the mill when it shows up.

Sapwood is not a defect

Walnut has light sapwood around the dark heart, and the sapwood is usable wood that works the same as the heartwood. Big commercial producers steam walnut to darken the sapwood and even out the color. Some customers want that even color, and plenty of others love the contrast.

How we dry it

Like all our hardwoods, walnut gets air dried to around 18%, slowly, covered and out of the sun, and our slabs only go up for sale after they have been kiln dried. Walnut is a forgiving wood to dry, which is one more reason it rewards the wait. The heartwood is also rated resistant to rot.

If a walnut is coming down

Call us before the saw comes out. Yard trees often hide metal, so tell us what you know about the tree’s history, and here is how to cut it so the log is worth milling. Walnut is rare enough out here that it deserves to become something.