Walnut, New Guinea

New Guinea walnut is a large hardwood that co-occurs with the taun timber species in the lowland forests of Papua New Guinea. It is also found in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. New Guinea walnut is mainly used for furniture, panelling, turning and carving. Its most common form is as a decorative veneer.

The true wood of this species is grey-brown in colour, with an orange cast and bands of darker brown and black. The clearly demarcated sapwood, growing to a width of up to 100 millimetres, is cream-coloured. The texture of New Guinea walnut is moderately coarse and even; grain is moderately interlocked. Waviness of the grain often produces an attractive, broken striped figure on quarter-sawn surfaces.

The timber seasons readily, with a slight tendency to warp in the thinner sizes, and to check or distort if the drying is hurried.

New Guinea walnut is only moderately durable. It is susceptible to marine borers, but resistant to termites. It is resistant to preservative impregnation.

As small quantities of New Guinea walnut are only sporadically exported from growing regions, commercial availability of this timber is limited.