Re: Good News for TN Walnuts
david weaver
My parents were avid collectors of walnut furniture, so I grew up thinking that it was really something special (whereas if they'd have been exposed to more early furniture, they probably would've had a taste for mahogany furniture).
when I started woodworking, I was surprised to find that not many people really wanted walnut (and good luck finding inexpensive mahogany, though you can certainly buy mahogany if you want it - it just doesn't come in large pallets at a local hardwood trim and millwork store).
At any rate, it's always been expensive here, but Cherry, Oak and Maple are all local and always cheap. Walnut grows locally, too, but not in nearly the same volume -I'm guessing that despite the low desire for most people to have it, the scarcity of local trees here vs. cherry and others kept the price up. I recall retail for walnut being about $2 more than cherry for *not wide* kiln dried 4/4 material. Always thought it was nice to work with but never made anything where it looked better than cherry, so I haven't paid much attention to it.
The time when it was the local rage (and my parents went on a buying rampage) was probably the early 1990s.....but I worked at aristokraft for a few summers after that, and we also sold more flat panel golden oak cabinets than anything else. Honey toned oak with brass and lots of frosted glass floral light fixtures with brass to go with it. Not looking to see those again.