Butternut White Walnut Wood

The two are very closely related though butternut is lighter in color considerably lighter and less dense.

Butternut white walnut wood.

While the difference is not black and white the wood of butternut is considerably lighter colored than black walnut as well as being very soft and lightweight. Butternut is sometimes referred to as white walnut due to its light color yet similar grain pattern. People in new england make maple butternut candy. White walnut golden walnut.

It is often used to make furniture and is a favorite of woodcarvers. Butternut wood is light in weight and takes polish well and is highly rot resistant but is much softer than black walnut wood. Oiled the grain of the wood usually shows much light. Butternut wood is not as hard as black walnut but it is nevertheless valuable for furniture and woodcarving.

See illustration below. Butternut s fruit is more oblong or oval shaped while walnut is nearly round. Two important past uses of the wood have been for church altars and for wood carvers especially for duck decoys. It is a golden brown member of the walnut family with a cathedral grain pattern that looks like waves breaking on a beach.

Butternut trees can be distinguished from black walnut by looking at its fruit. Native americans and white settlers harvested the buttery fat left from boiling the nuts giving the plant its name. Butternut lumber angela raimato 2020 08 07t12 09 54 04 00. In fact the butternut tree shares the genus juglans with black walnut.