Black Walnut question(s)

[kylos]

Howdy.

I am dealing with Black Walnut, Juglans nigra.  Length of each piece is 66 1/2".
It was harvested May 26th. Debarked June 20th. It has been in the house, leaning against a wall since debarking occurred. Ends were sealed upon splitting, and backs were sealed upon debarking.

Was hoping to get some ideas on design, particularly with all sapwood, all heartwood, 3/4 heartwood & 1/4 sapwood designs. Since i'm still quite new to scraping wood, I would like to keep the profile and design clean and simple.
As well, I wanted to hear comments on these darker, dead looking spots.
Thanks.








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[sailordad]

im pretty new myself so you might want to wait for the more knowledible folks on here

to me it looks like spalted wood,dead wood or rotted wood whatever you want to call it

how deep does the crack on the end of the stave go in to it


                                                                  tim

[kylos]

Most of those checks are 3/4" or less on the back.