butternut

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NOTE: there is rarely any "standard" or "typical" look for a wood so take what's in this table with a grain of salt
the REST of the pictures on this page will give you a better overall feel for this wood

butternut / Juglans cinerea
5" x 5" flat cut, 5" x 5" quartersawn, 1" wide end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup. The fluted grain in the flat cut surface is a characteristic of butternut (although it doesn't occur in every piece)

Semi ring porous with medium sized sparse pores with vasicentric parenchyma, sometimes in radial multiples of 2 or 3. Growth ring boundaries are well delineated, marginal parenchyma is usually obvious, rays are present but are generally too thin to see even at 10X. It has diffuse-in-aggregates parenchyma which frequently cannot be seen even at 10X. Tyloses presence in the pores ranges from occasional to frequent but you will not likely see it with just shop level wood processing because the pores are too small for it to show up well at 10X without much finer end grain processing than the 1200 grit I use.

This is a close relative of walnut but it is generally lighter and softer than walnut and has slightly more graininess and is tan in color rather than the darker color of walnut.

FLUTED GRAIN IN BUTTERNUT

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions

plank and closeup; the closeup shows and area that is a perfect illustration of the fluted grain that sometimes happens in butternut (and occasionally in basswood)

crotch section cut out of the larger plank above and a closeup

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from both of a couple of smaller planks cut from the big one directly above

crotch plank

plank and end grain; this piece, which came from a wood-sample set I bought, is considerable harder, heavier, and less porous and grainy than the next two. I've only had a couple of planks and they were both like the 2nd and 3rd samples, but my reading indicates that the characteristics of the wood are often more like this sample than the next two. The color on all of these is quite accurate; no color correction was needed.

HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above

plank and end grain

end grain closeup of the piece directly above --- color is a little too dark

plank and end grain

end grain closeup (upside down) and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above

sample plank and end grain sold to me as butternut and BOTH / Juglans occidentalis and Juglans cinerea

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above --- color has a purple tint that is not in the wood

both sides of a sample plank of butternut / Juglans cinerea --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of butternut / Juglans cinerea --- HUGE enlargements are present.

end grain and HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above

first face and the end grain of a sample of butternut / Juglans cinerea. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION A

the second face, before and after sanding, showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.

end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.

first face and the end grain of a sample of butternut / Juglans cinerea --- This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION G

the second face, before and after sanding it down a bit, showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.

end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of butternut / Juglans cinerea --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of butternut / Juglans cinerea --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a butternut plank

the web pic of the plank directly above --- my colors are more accurate

closeup of the plank directly above

plank cut from the larger plank directly above, and medium-sanded

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

The 4 pieces in this section are all from the same tree and were sent to me for identification. I identified them as butternut and Mark Peet, who looked at it later, thinks that it is likely either a butternut/walnut hybrid or possibly is one of the Japanese walnuts. In any event, I have not included the end grain closeups of these pieces in the anatomy pages because of the uncertainty of the identification.

both sides of a small piece

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

two more pieces, which looks like one but you can see in the enlargement that it was cut in half (before it came to me). The pics below are from these two pieces

both faces of each piece (which, as you can see, make a bookmatched pair) and a closeup of one, taken after it was sanded smooth, because it has some nice ray flakes

both sides of yet another piece, this one being a transverse cut so that the "faces" are actually end grain.

a couple of HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUPs taken from a couple of the various pieces directly above

a face grain closeup of one of the pieces

planks shot in a wood store. HUGE enlargements are present. The last pic is an enlargement of a wormy area on the third plank

planks shot in a wood store and a closeup. HUGE enlargements are present

spalted butternut pair, moistened for the pic which was contributed by Todd Levy; thanks Todd.

both sides of a sample plank of buartnut / Juglans x bixbyi --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

A note on the name of this species: Japanese walnut / Juglans ailantifolia and North American butternut / Juglans cinerea hybridize readily and the resulting hybrid is named Juglans x bixbyi and is also known as J. cinera x ailantifolia

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of buartnut / Juglans x bixbyi --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of buartnut / Juglans x bixbyi --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

A piece of buartnut / Juglans x bixbyi sapwood. This is a hybrid of North American butternut (Juglans cinerea) and Japanese walnut (Juglans ailantifolia) and was contributed to the site by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Mark gave me this piece because of the really wild and funky bark pattern that you can see below. This hybrid generally goes under the name buart or buartnut and is considered primarily a butternut, not a walnut.

the end grain of the piece and the bark

two side grain closeups showing the weird bark

3 views of a pen, turned and photographed by Bruce Selyem from the buart bark shown directly above

long veneer sheet and closeup

veneer sheet and closeup

veneer sheet and two closeups

long veneer sheet and closeup

long veneer sheet and two closeups

veneer --- the last pic is a little too red

veneer with very accurate slightly reddish color (but too shiny) and chosen to show some grain variety

veneer from yet another lot

quartersawn butternut veneer --- HUGE enlargements are present. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION D

The Wood Book pics

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
butternut (Juglans cinerea, aka white walnut and oil-nut) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are present for all 3 views

web pics:

log half

slab sections dry and wet, all from the same vendor, all labeled butternut / Juglans cinerea --- enlargements are present

slabs, freshly cut and moistened for the pic

slab

portions of slabs

slab with natural edge; both levels of enlargement are present

plank with wet and dry sections

flat cut planks

flat cut planks, all from the same vendor, labled as butternut / Juglans cinerea --- the rich orange color is ridiculous.

quartersawn planks

planks

planks and closeup

planks with VERY unlikely colors

long turning stock

both sides and a closeup of a set of planks --- on the color, the left-hand pic likely has too much green and the other two are probably close to the true wood color (I suspect these are weathered planks, thus the gray color). The next two sets of pics, direcly below, are from the same vendor and also seem to have too much green in them, which is typical of this vendor's pics.

both sides and a closeup of a set of planks

pen blanks

turning blocks and bowl blank

color in this plank seems WAY too deep a brown --- I've never seen butternut have a chocolate color like this.

crotch planks

veneer with what appears to be accurate color

veneer

veneer that has been moistened for the pics (there are is a small dry area at each side); color seems a bit too gray to me

veneer with what I believe is definitely too much yellow/green tint

these are from the BogusColorVendor, so I seriously doubt that any of these pieces have any of the red or orange shown here.

butternut table, about 6' long and 3' wide, that I shot at a craft show. This pic really doesn't do the table justice. HUGE enlargements are present and they do give a better sense of the grain, particularly at the far end.