Back to the original poster, who was being told that American Black Walnut is unfit for gunstocks.... this is patently untrue.
Black Walnut can be highly desirable for furniture and gunstocks. It is harder than European walnuts (including so-called "Turkish" walnut), and it is about 8% stronger in other measurements, like shear strength, elasticity, and rupture strength.
You can confirm this by consulting the data published by the United States Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Products Laboratory.
Last year, I posted a some photos of a rifle I had recently built, in my own Black Walnut. It is a takedown Mauser in 6.5x55mm, if you care to search for it.
There is a lot more to grading walnut than just the figure, but that is all the amateur can see.
