The Walnut tree is a common find in the agricultural region of northern California. This is where this stunning table top pictured here hails from. Most people aren’t aware that California’s walnut orchards actually combine two species in each individual tree. The tree used to produce nuts, commonly referred to as walnut. English Walnut (Juglans regia), is actually a native to the Caspian area of Central Europe. However, this tree does not thrive when planted in California’s soils and climate. Over time, walnut growers learned the most vigorous nut production occurs when English Walnut is grafted onto California’s native walnut (Juglans hindsii), also known as Claro Walnut.
This grafting practice is common with nut and fruit growers who utilize local, disease-resistant species as the rootstock and then graft on top a better fruiting non-local species in order to maximize both the hardiness of the tree as well as its productive capacity. The result of the grafting process described above is that when orchard walnut logs are milled, you get a mix of two distinct woods in each production run. Claro Walnut is notable for its chocolate color, its swirling grain, and its “figure”—a prized grain feature that captures and reflects light in an eye-catching manner. English Walnut is much lighter in color and the grain tends to be relatively uniform.
Walnut trees from the orchard are felled after around ~40 years of age. This coincides with a decline in fruit bearing capabilities. The fate of a vast many many trees is that they are burned for fuel or simply put in the wood chipper. However, there is some good news, some of the trees are reincarnated and go on to live a new purposeful life...just like the example pictured above. If you would like to own one of these Claro Walnut pieces, please reach out to me via the contact page.