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I'm building a writing desk for my girlfriend in black walnut. We chose wood with visually striking elements - sapwood, swirled grain lines, and yes, a few knots. The knots have some voids, so stabilization is important, as is filling the void (wouldn't want to try to write with the paper over a void).

What's the preferred technique for dealing with this? Epoxy fill? Wood putty? I'll be finishing with Tried & True Original Wood Finish (a polymerized Linseed oil + beeswax combination) that gives a patina, so this is not going to be a high gloss finish. I'm thinking the epoxy might look out of place?

rlabbe39021.5161342593

I used epoxy on a knot in some buckeye burl, and as long as the backside was blocked from light the epoxy looks black, and not out of place at all.

Al

The table will have an apron and drawers, which will block the light, so epoxy it is, pending a finish test on scrap. Thanks.

The famous woodworker Sam Maloof is known for his use of Walnut in the rockers, chairs and other funriture he has designed.

What people do not realize is that Sam has often said that the key to the success of his Walnut furniture has always been in his use of #3 8/4 Walnut. Note that walnut has its own grading scale in the US because it is our most valuable native commercial hardwood and that standard allows more knots and imperfections than other hardwood of the same grade would be allowed.

That means that #3 Walnut is relatively poor quality. The reason why Sam always used #3 walnut is that around those knots was the prettiest and most interesting grain and color.

George Nakashima made his signature pieces of furniture by keeping the knots, splits and other imperfections and emphasized them by using butterfly wedges across cracks and voids to stabilize the wood but to also draw attention to the nature flaws (that he considered beauty) in the wood.

As far as the finish, one of the advantages of an oil finish is that the oil penetrates different grain differently so that where there is denser grain (such as around knots) that the oil finish emphasizes rather than equalizes the character of the wood, as it should be...

It should look great.