French Walnut Parquets

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The French Walnut on this page was hand selected by David Gunton in a wonderful walnut sawmill hidden away on a back road in France. By clicking on most pictures on this site you can see a larger version.

French Walnut

How do you describe the pleasure we gain from making floors like this? Today, the words for that fail me, so, instead let me try to explain the process of creation, in which the pleasure is derived from every element. The task begins when a customer has the courage to specify something unusual and to invest some faith. Believe me, there are very few customers like that! Most are followers, rather than leaders, when it comes to interior design. For the first floor made from this lovely timber, a whistle stop 2500 mile tour of sawmills specialising in French Walnut was necessary to establish who had the right quality of stock. It was very instructive. A second visit to France was needed to make the selection of the boards. Walnut is not grown for its lumber, but for the nuts. Thus the growers are not concerned to produce straight, tall, large girth logs. It is easier to collect walnuts from low growing trees, so most are pollarded when young to produce lots of low branches. Approximately 4 times the quantity of timber which was fitted to the floor is bought to ensure that there is enough for the cutting waste and plenty to choose from. There is rarely any left over that we can use elsewhere.

This is French Walnut laid up in a parquet pattern No.

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