Friends:
Walnut is lovely wood, especially when carefully air dried so as to preserve the rich chocolate, purple and black tones in the best of it.
HOWEVER, It fades like mad in sunlight. Furniture is touched by sunlight. Therefore, the lovely colors of the walnut go away — and it doesn’t take centuries. Today I spent 5 hours in an office with 1950’s vintage walnut furniture. All the outside surfaces of desk, credenza and matching file are a very light and uniform brown. Under the desk, and inside drawers, and other places the sun doesn’t shine the wood is still dark walnut in color.
In my bedroom is a large, late 19th century walnut wardrobe. It is a uniform medium reddish brown. It gets no direct sunlight, and probably never did, but the colors of walnut have gone. Now it looks like very light mahogany with walnut grain.
Are we fooling ourselves with our walnut furniture designed to show off color and grain, and the clear finishes to reach that end? Aren’t we really looking at temporarily lovely grain that gradually becomes boring — and eventually leaves the plain furniture designed to show it off as merely boring, too?
The same could be said of certain other woods. For example, purple heart does not stay all that purple.
About 30 years ago my grandfather bought a rustic lamp table from an old man in the north woods. The fellow had gone around and cut cross sections of twigs of all different colors of wood and made mosaic patterns on the table top. Now the colors are gone and the tabletop is just a disk with little round bits of brown and tan wood glued to it. It fits well into the decor of the log cabin in which it is, but no one looks twice at it.
So, how about it? Is design with the natural wood color of certain woods a losing proposition?
Joe
Edited 5/4/2009 9:43 pm ET by Joe Sullivan
Replies
We all get old and fade, and wood is no different. That doesn't make it a losing proposition in my book. In fact, what is lost is more than offset by what is gained as far as I'm concerned. Give me a faded old walnut piece with the patina of 100 years over a smart new one any day.
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?lang=e&id=1
David:I agree with you. I LIKE my old wardrobe very much, and other old walnut things, too.What I am challenging is the idea of designing for natural colors that will only last a few years. When they go, the design better be able to stand up for itself, eh?J
>>"Is design with the natural wood color of certain woods a losing proposition?"
Depends on your market -- who are you building for?
If you are building custom pieces for yourself, your family, and friends, then use what you love. Because you'll love what you've used
If you are building for specific (pre-sold) customers, then get to know them and what they love.
And if you are building for speculative sales, take your best guess, and put your work on display. If it sells, replicate it. If not, change it.
And now for the opinionated portion of my response........
And if you are building for speculative sales to decorator/designer types, buy your choice of either luan plywood, or birch plywood. Then stain it with the muddiest, ugliest, crude-oil-looking stuff you can find. And finish that with a satin-sheen product of some sort.
A quick example of the extent to which fading may occur.Here is an English Queen Anne walnut desk with veneer inside and out.It obviously shows the wear and patination of age but also the look most collectors are searching for in period pieces.F.
Edited 5/6/2009 1:09 pm ET by Floss
A beautiful desk indeed.To all who have responded -- I am not complaining about the color of aged walnut. I like my old stuff, too. My real point is that people who design furniture for the new color of the air-dried wood are going to be disappointed. I see many people who use simple designs and nearly clear finishes, and rely o the color to carry the piece. They will be disappointed.J
I guess what I am saying, is that, time will determine the outcome.Design for the present, but use sound technique to ensure that the piece will be around to exhibit the passage of time and use.The highest praise for any piece is that it is well used to the point of failure or fading.F.
Good Question
So why aren't stain and finish makers out there working on that UV-protective indoor finish?
Hmmm. I am at this moment sitting at a nice walnut desk, manufactured by Stow & Davis around that time. It's still nice, deep brown like you'd expect walnut to be. In fact, it perfectly matches the walnut wing I made to match it several years ago, as well as the interior parts of the desk.
I wonder if you aren't seeing the affects of furniture "wax" or "polish" that have been applied over the years, bleaching the color out.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Everything fits, until you put glue on it.
Furniture wax isn't the culprit in the fading of walnut.
It's also possible that commercial walnut furniture is lightly stained. That stain slows the actual fading, but also remains the same color maintaining the illustion that the wood hasn't faded. I have been surprised at how natural walnut can look with a thin pigment only stain in dark walnut shades.
"It's also possible that commercial walnut furniture is lightly stained."
Not possible - certainly. ;-)
Still, I wonder what effects modern furniture cleaners/"wax" have on finishes, besides building up a layer of muck that is.Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PAEverything fits, until you put glue on it.
You bring up an interesting point. There have been so many studies on the different aspects of woodworking but none on the environmental effects of aging woods and the finishes used on them. But these same conditions can some times enhance certain woods such as cherry. So yes one does need to think ahead when choosing the materials during the design process.
I have a house full of walnut antiques. They are what got me into woodworking nearly 20 years ago. I love the delicate orange-brown color of my over 130 year-old walnut furniture. I don't like the muddy color of kiln-dried, new walnut nearly as well. Now air-dried walnut is another matter. It is lovely, though I've found it does better with at least a coat or two of orange shellac during finishing to add to the warmth. I've found that natural cherry that has had a year or two to age as being the closest to the venerable, old walnut finish. As a woodworker, I have learned to appreciate the look of all woods throughout their various stages of maturity.
Isn't this why Ikea covers everything with that white stuff? (LOL)
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