There is no doubt walnut is a popular choice when it comes to corporate furniture. But we know there are lots of veneers and solid woods to choose from, so why all the walnut then? We asked our team of experts this question. Here's a summary of what they said.

 

Walnut veneer has been popular for years and continues to dominate. A variety of factors likely go into choosing walnut. First, there is a certain prestige to saying something is walnut - a higher end wood. It's also a darker veneer providing a nice color complement to the current design look.

 

One of our team member's notes, "I and others have seen the trend to dark woods, notably walnut and to a lesser extent mahogany, sapele and khaya as a 'conservative color' reaction to economic and political uncertainties."

 

Plain sliced and quartered walnut - the most common cuts chosen and represented in this newsletter - are also straight-forward, dark brown colored patterns, lacking in figure and flashy grain (creating that conservative look).

 

Walnut does come in a variety of looks, however. Walnut burls and figured slabs are also selected, but far less frequently. Still, this diversity may also increase walnut's popularity. It is also an American wood, not subject to import fluctuations, and readily available as Forest Stewardship Council ® controlled wood to help with FSC ® and LEED specifying.

 

One hiccup the team notes, however, is the availability of high quality solid walnut. Veneer slicing companies pay premiums for the best walnut logs to turn into veneer. Solid wood consequently ends up coming from trees not considered good enough for creating veneer. The trees used to create solid walnut are less consistent when it comes to color and grain, and often include sapwood and knots, making finding great solid walnut for table edges a challenge. Walnut also follows a different grading system than other hardwoods, so even if WallGoldfinger is specifying the highest grade walnut lumber for your project, it is not equally matched to the quality of the highest grade cherry, mahogany or maple, for example.

 

Thankfully, there are lots of edges options when it comes to furniture. In this newsletter, one table featured maple edges (providing a dark and light contrast, which we have seen in other tables this year) and one featured beautiful walnut edges. Some will also tell you there is a growing trend toward understanding that wood is a natural material with imperfections that should be embraced. That is a move we would certainly support to help reduce waste.