Walnut Timber Handles Buying Guide
A walnut handle is a solid timber pull, cut from the heartwood of a walnut tree, with the grain left visible. This page holds walnut timber handles, also searched as walnut cabinet handles, walnut kitchen handles, walnut drawer handles and walnut knobs. It holds two pulls from Momo Handles: a teardrop-shaped Airlie and a curved Kimberley. The guide explains what walnut is as a handle timber, how it looks and changes with age, and how it compares with oak. It then covers raw and oiled finishes, what each pull measures, which cabinets it suits, and how to size, fit and look after it. For timber handles in every species, start at timber cabinet handles, and for handles of every material, cabinet handles.
What walnut is as a handle timber
The listings name the timber as walnut and do not name the species. The walnut most often sold for cabinetwork is American black walnut, which Forest and Wood Products Australia describes on its WoodSolutions site. Its heartwood is golden to rich chocolate brown, sometimes with narrow darker purplish-brown streaks, and its sapwood is creamy white. The grain is generally fine and straight, though it can be wavy or curly, which gives a decorative figure. Its seasoned density is 615 kg/m3.
The same source calls it only moderately hard, and it names what the timber suits: high-end cabinetwork and furniture, general joinery, doors, flooring and mouldings, and in Australia mainly as veneer for panelling and cabinetry. It machines well with hand and machine tools, carves and turns well and can be polished to a high finish. That is why it makes a good handle: a small, hand-held shape in a timber that works cleanly and takes a polish.
A trade magazine's announcement of the collection calls its walnut a strong and stable hardwood with variation in grain colour, and says the pulls are made in Australia and come oiled or raw. A retailer repeats the point that the grain colour varies. No two walnut handles are the same, and a set will differ in shade, which is part of the material and not a fault.
American and European walnut
The word walnut covers more than one tree, and the colour you get depends on which. A woodworking site separates American black walnut, the standard North American choice, from English or European walnut, which is often lighter and more variable, with tan, grey-brown, chocolate and dark streaks in a single board. The American Hardwood Export Council makes the same point, noting that American walnut differs from the lighter European walnut. Its heartwood ranges from light brown to dark chocolate brown, with occasional dark or purple streaks, and its sapwood is creamy white.
The Council adds that walnut lumber is generally sold unsteamed, and that some specialist producers steam it to darken the sapwood and reduce the colour contrast with the heartwood. For a handle this matters little, because a small pull is cut from heartwood. It does explain why two walnut products can look different side by side, since species, steaming and the individual tree all change the shade. Ask for a sample if the match with other walnut in the room matters.
Walnut against oak
Walnut and American oak are the two timbers most often chosen for timber handles, and they differ in a few ways. An Australian furniture maker gives Janka hardness figures of 6 kN for American oak, 4.9 kN for walnut and 4.8 kN for Victorian ash, and says all are fine for furniture. Walnut is therefore a little softer than American oak. That is no problem for a small handle, though a walnut handle can mark more easily than an oak one if it is knocked.
The colour differs more than the strength. American oak heartwood is pale yellow-brown to mid-brown, sometimes with a pink tinge, according to the same forestry source, while walnut runs from golden to chocolate brown, darker and richer. The furniture maker describes American oak as blonde to light brown with a tight grain from wavy to tiger-stripe, and walnut as fine-grained with swirls. For a lighter, quieter handle on pale joinery, oak is the match, and for depth and contrast, walnut is. See American oak timber handles and blackbutt timber handles for the other two species.
How hard is walnut?
Two sources give Janka hardness figures. A woodworking site gives American black walnut 1,010 lbf (4,490 N), against red oak at 1,220 lbf and white oak at 1,360 lbf, and says walnut dents more readily than oak or hard maple and is not waterproof. The American Hardwood Export Council gives a hardness of 4,492 N and calls the timber tough, hard and of medium density, so the two figures agree. Both sources also say walnut works easily, nails and glues well and finishes to an excellent surface.
For a handle, moderate hardness is an acceptable trade, since a pull is held and not struck. The risk is a dent from a ring or a knock, and the answer is to treat the timber gently. Oak is harder if you want the hardest-wearing timber handle, and blackbutt is denser still.
How walnut ages
The WoodSolutions description says the heartwood lightens with age, especially under UV exposure, which matters most for walnut in a handle. The woodworking site agrees. Prolonged light makes walnut lighter and warmer, often toward golden brown, while covered areas stay dark, so fading is uneven, and no finish stops the change completely. A new walnut handle is at its darkest, and in a room with strong daylight it will slowly lighten. How fast it changes depends on how much light reaches the handle.
This is not a defect. Raw or oiled, expect the colour to move over time.
Raw or oiled
Both pulls come raw or oiled. Raw leaves the bare timber, and oiled has a coat of oil. The listings do not say which oil is used, so ask the maker if you need to know. A furniture maker's care guide recommends polishing timber every few months with a natural oil-based product applied lightly along the grain, using the maker's recommended product for the finish. An oiled handle already has the oil that a raw one lacks. Raw is the simpler choice if you want the timber to age in its own way and are happy to oil it later, and oiled is the simpler one if you want the colour deepened from the start.
A kitchen designer writing for Houzz Australia in 2017 says a solid-wood handle is much softer and warmer to the touch than metal. That feel is the main reason to choose timber.
The two pulls, measured
Every figure below comes from the product listings unless a retailer is named. The hole centre is the gap between the two screw holes, and the overall size is the full length of the pull.
- The Momo Handles Airlie Timber Pull Handle is a timber teardrop in two overall sizes, 150mm and 300mm, on hole centres of 96mm and 192mm. A retailer lists standard 22mm handle screws with it.
- The Momo Handles Kimberley Timber Pull Handle is a curve pull in three overall sizes, 120mm, 200mm and 400mm, on hole centres of 64mm, 128mm and 256mm. A retailer lists a projection of 23mm for the Kimberley and describes it as having subtle curves and clean lines.
The listings give no width or thickness for either pull, so check the technical sheet if the depth of the handle matters to you.
The Airlie
The Airlie is a teardrop: a rounded end that tapers. At 150mm on 96mm centres it is a small drawer pull, and at 300mm on 192mm centres it is a long pull for a wide drawer or a tall door. Both sizes use the 96mm and 192mm centres that are common in kitchen hardware, so they often fit an existing pair of holes.
Several hardware retailers repeat the one-third rule, which says a pull is about one third the width of the drawer front. A 150mm Airlie suits a front of about 450mm, and a 300mm Airlie a front of about 900mm. A drawer 600mm wide takes a pull of about 200mm, so the two sizes bracket that, with the 150mm a little short for that drawer and the 300mm a little long. For other pulls in the same length, see cabinet pull handles.
The Kimberley
The Kimberley is a curved pull with clean lines, and its three sizes cover more jobs than the Airlie. The 120mm size on 64mm centres suits a narrow vanity drawer or a small door. The 200mm size on 128mm centres suits a standard drawer, and by the one-third rule it matches a front of about 600mm. The 400mm size on 256mm centres suits a wide drawer or a pantry door. For other arch and curved pulls, see arc shaped cabinet handles.
A retailer calls the Kimberley suited to modern kitchens and furniture cabinetry, with images that also show bathroom cabinets and drawers. The 23mm projection leaves room for the fingers, though clearance needs a check wherever two doors open close together.
Pairing walnut with cabinets and metals
Walnut is a dark, rich timber, and it pairs well with light surroundings. A Houzz Australia designer says matt black suits light cabinetry as a contrasting accent, and that polished or brushed gold, brass and bronze suit navy, charcoal, blue or green cabinetry, or darker walnut. A walnut handle on a navy or green door follows the same logic as a brass one: a warm tone against a cool one.
An Australian handle supplier calls timber warm, tactile and quiet against painted joinery, and recommends it for Japandi, coastal and Scandinavian interiors. Houzz adds that solid oak handles suit Scandinavian-style kitchens, especially with timber benchtops and open shelving. The point of a walnut handle on painted or pale cabinetry is the contrast, since it reads as a small piece of furniture on the door.
One hardware retailer has a rule for combining materials that applies here. Limit a room to two, repeat each at least twice so it reads as a choice, and carry the same finish through the house. If you use walnut handles on the vanity, repeat the walnut on the laundry or the wardrobe. See bathroom vanities and furniture for the cabinets they fit.
Using walnut with metal handles
Timber and metal can share a run. A restoration retailer advises mixing handle types by assigning each style a function and keeping one finish throughout, so a run of cabinets can use walnut pulls on the drawers and a metal knob on the doors, provided the metal repeats elsewhere. The Houzz designer says brass and bronze suit darker walnut. See brushed brass cabinet handles, bronze cabinet handles and black cabinet handles, and cabinet knobs for the knobs.
What the oil and the finish do
The woodworking site notes that walnut usually needs no stain, because the natural colour is the point. It lists the common clear finishes: oil-based polyurethane gives a warm, amber tone, lacquer a clear to mildly warm and smooth finish, and hard-wax oil a low-build, natural look that is easier to repair. The handles on this page are raw or oiled, and the care guide below says to polish with a natural oil-based product.
Walnut's limits
The limits are worth stating plainly. WoodSolutions lists walnut as not resistant to termites and susceptible to lyctid borers. That is a concern for structural timber and for untreated timber in a termite area, and much less for a small finished handle indoors. The American Hardwood Export Council rates the heartwood very resistant to decay, so the two descriptions cover different threats, rot and insects. It is still a reason to keep walnut handles to interior joinery and not to use them outdoors.
Because walnut is only moderately hard, it will show dents and scratches sooner than a harder timber. Treat that as part of the character of the material. The care guide below shows how to keep it in good condition.
Choosing a size
A hardware retailer's guide sets out a widely used rule: a pull is about one third the width of the drawer front. For fronts between roughly 450mm and 700mm wide, the retailer's table suggests 128mm, 160mm or 224mm centres, and beyond that, 256mm or 320mm centres, or two pulls, suit better. The Kimberley's 128mm and 256mm centres fall in that range, and the Airlie's 96mm and 192mm centres suit smaller and mid-width fronts.
The placement rule is simple. A pull sits 40mm to 60mm from the edge that opens, near the bottom corner of upper doors and the top corner of lower doors. Pulls sit horizontally on drawers and vertically on doors.
Replacing handles, and fitting
If you are replacing existing handles, match the hole centres. A new pull with the same centres goes into the old holes without drilling. Measure from the centre of one screw hole to the centre of the other, not from the edge of the handle. The listings give 64mm, 96mm, 128mm, 192mm and 256mm, so there is a size for most existing holes.
Check the screws too. A hardware supplier's example shows how screw length follows panel thickness: a 22mm screw for panels 16mm to 18mm thick, and a 38mm screw for panels 32mm to 34mm thick. A screw needs to bite into the handle and stop short of the door face.
Mark the holes with a paper template taped to the door before you drill. The tape test that a hardware retailer recommends shows the handle position before you commit to the holes. Buy one sample before fitting a whole kitchen, open the door with it, and look at the colour in the room's own light.
Caring for walnut handles
A furniture maker's care guide gives the routine for timber. Dust with a microfibre cloth, and for high-touch areas use mild dish soap in warm water. Bleach, ammonia, steel wool and scouring pads are out, and cleaner goes on the cloth and not directly on the timber. Wipe up spills at once, do not hang wet towels on timber doors, ventilate steam and keep humidity steady. Polish every few months with a natural oil-based product applied lightly along the grain, avoid silicone sprays, and use the maker's recommended product for the finish. The woodworking site adds that household polish should wait until you know what the finish is, because silicone can interfere with repairs and strong cleaners can dull an oil or wax finish, and that a finished surface should not be steamed without testing first. Limit strong sunlight, which fades timber, a point the WoodSolutions note on walnut's ageing under UV makes more relevant.
Related pages
For timber in every species, see timber cabinet handles. For the other pages in the group, see American oak timber handles and blackbutt timber handles. For the brand, see Momo Handles kitchen and bathroom handles.
