Bending Walnut

[Lew's Canoes]

Can anyone comment on the "bendability" of walnut? I am thinking of trimming a new canoe in walnut, but this will require prebending upsweep into the outwales. Would you compare it to Ash? Cherry? I hope it is not as tempermental as mahogany...........I have some good quality 18 foot walnut boards drying. Any thoughts will be much appreciated! LEW

 

[chris pearson]

walnut

I think it will bend ok but its heavy.

 

[Max Peterson]

Walnut steam-bends quite well. Be careful with the strap and clamps. Walnut, like oak, will stain black when in wet contact with iron.

 

[Max Peterson]

Another thought: don't dry them too much. You will have the best results if the moisture content is around 15 - 17%.

 

[Todd Bradshaw]

uuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh......In case it matters, it's traditionally supposed to be bad luck to use walnut on boats. You might want to laminate a couple rabbits' feet into the layup someplace to combat the bad ju-ju.

 

[chris pearson]

Funny!!!!

Check this out.

http://www.burnyourbonus.info/rec.boats.building/thread121.html

 

[Max Peterson]

The "bad luck" of walnut in boat building may stem from the fact that it simply doesn't hold up well in water.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

???

"Its rot resistance is rated very good."

"it simply doesn't hold up well in water"

Not sure which to believe, but I'd lean toward data from the Forest Products/"FS".

With that said, one of our members has used a lot of it for trim in his canoes and it looks stunning.

Dan

 

[Max Peterson]

You may be right Dan, and I may have misspoken. Walnut has just never been on my list of woods that hold up well outdoors.

 

[MikeCav]

The biggest problem with walnut on a boat is that, unlike cherry and mahogany and some other common boat woods, walnut gets lighter in color with age and exposure to light. It will go from that nice, rich brown to a blah tan in short order.