The answer is a personal choice on your part. The knots are only 'defects' if you think they are. Personally, I would replace the boards with the knots. In my opinion, the mixture of heartwood and sapwood is more problematic.

 

"prooblematic" as in aesthetically or functionally?

 

Aesthetically. It's only my opinion.

 

I think knots give character, especially in a wood such as your curly walnut. The exception would be a project that is made of all straight-grained wood, where a knot might look distracting.

I would leave them in. If there is a loose knot, make a mix of walnut sawdust and wood glue and fill in the loose area around the knot. I have used epoxy mixed with sawdust, and Tightbond (original) wood glue mixed with sawdust. I preferred the look of the Tightbond glue/sawdust mix because it was less shiny than the epoxy/sawdust mix.

I use a bandsaw with fine teeth to quickly make a pile of sawdust for the filler mix.

 

I'm a fan of knots filled with epoxy mixed with black/brown pigment.

 

+1 on the look of filling with dyed epoxy. Another great look is to use crushed turquoise and CA. You can use epoxy with the turqoise instead of CA but it is a little messier.

 

Thanks everyone, will stick with the knots (and sapwood). I guess it's all subjective, there's one board that's a lot brighter than the others but it seems alright to me.

 

That's some beautiful walnut you have. Just wanted to marvel a moment with you--very nice!

 

You might want to experiment with different arrangements. To my eye, having the curly pieces separated may not look as good as putting them together in the middle but you never know until you see how it looks.

 

My concern would be how the knots and their surrounds will act over time. I wonder whether a flexible epoxy would handle wood drying and movement better in the long run. I think it would be a better choice than a glue that dries hard and brittle like CA glue.

The water-resistant and waterproof wood glues like Titebond II and III have more flexibility when cured than original Titebond. Whether that is sufficient is a question I cannot answer.

I use West Systems G/Flex epoxy when I need epoxy for my own projects. That would be my own first choice to use on the knotholes. One you can consider.

 

Unless the boards are not dry enough to begin with, the knots are small enough that wood movement should be minuscule, especially if you add a filler like turquoise to it, Starbond makes a dyed CA specifically advertised for filling cracks and knots. I've used it on cracks and smaller knots and voids and it looks good. They have both brown and black colors and a few different viscosities.

I would never use Titebond 2 or 3 (or any PVA wood glue for that matter) for this. They are designed to join two wood pieces with a thin coat so may not be a good choice for filling voids so you would need to add something like sawdust as a filler. Since it dries and sets at least partly by evaporation, I would worry that it would shrink as it dries in a large void. PVA glues can also suffer from creep with joints so I would worry that something similar might happen with a void fill. In my opinion, filling with sawdust is just plain ugly. On large voids, it tends to look like particle board with light colored woods or like Masonite on dark woods to me. Dry coffee grounds is another filler that a lot of people use, especially on walnut. I suggest that you experiment with whatever you try on some scraps to make sure that you like how they look.

BTW, assuming that the knot extends all the way through. Make sure that you put tape on the other side when you pour whatever filler into cracks and knots. Don't use masking tape. It tends to release causing a huge mess. Tyvek tapes and aluminum HVAC tape (my favorite) work well.

 

Hmmm, we have a duel of glues?

I do a lot of flipping and flopping when laying out panels.....More concerned as to how the grain flows across the panel.

Bare in mind with those larger knots....they tend to move according to their own plan....and not always aligns with the surrounding wood...Fighting 2 in the top of my bench right now....keep having the plane those 2 spot down to flat with the rest of the top.

Also..any finish applied to knots..will not quite match the surroundings....as knots, unless you SEAL them up...act as a sponge...

 

Depends on what look you want.

 

Personally, I really like knots in wood. They have been an issue with planing and that’s been my only issue with them. I don’t have a drum sander and tend to shy away from them for that reason. Epoxy seems to be the ‘thing’ now and I don’t understand taking a beautiful piece of wood and slathering it with plastic, but, each to their own. Saying that because of the comment about epoxy and knotholes. I second the really nice wood you’ve got there.

 

I love knobs, wood stange figures and curls, branches trails inside the tree trunk......I can care less about what people say. Its me the one eating on that table every single day.