Big Walnut tree down,what next?

bigdaddyjunior

My neighbor had one of his big old walnut trees come down during the last windstorm. He's asked me to cut it up and haul it off. His grandson, henceforth refered to as 'the idiot', cut quite a bit of it up into 3 foot logs. I managed to get 2 8-10 foot pieces of the main trunk. Its about a 3 foot diameter at the base end and tapers to around a foot at the top end of the second piece. Anyone know what to do next. I'd like to get it to someone that makes stocks and grips if it would be good for that.

Big Daddy my heros have always been cowboys,they still are it seems

v35

The wood has to be seasoned or kiln dried to stabilize it dimensionally. Green wood isn't good for gun stocks.
Trunk areas where there were formerly branches will have grain curvature that will be desirable for pistol grip areas of gunstocks so talk to an expert before cutting.
Look up wood seasoning on the Google search engine. There may be some info on how to do it in a reasonable time, when to cut it into boards, how to stack it,space the boards, etc.
Specs in old Army manuals talk about six or so years of air drying.

intercessor

The best looking wood will be in the stump! Get a backhoe, dig down and cut the taproot as far down as you can. Lots of figure. Find someone with a bandsaw mill to saw it for you. Wastes less wood.

REBJr

If you have a couple that are around 3' , haul them to mill. you will be plesantly supprised what a couple of 8-10 black walnut logs in the 2-3' diameter range will bring. not enough usally to interest a logger to make a special trip and move equipment, they are too deep in debt to slow down much (usually) just chock your 12 or 16' trailer wheels, put down the ramps, or make some, and drag 'em up on it. the mill will unload 'em for ya.
best grain pattern will be underground in the twisted roots like previously mentioned. -Ralph ( who hauls every wanlut and cherry tree to mill that he cuts down)

In the demonstable absence of evolutionary perfection, if some calamity is not to occur, we shall have to learn to live with ourselves as we are. Fast. -Tattersall

Rafter-S

Use some of the smaller pieces for barbeque wood.

Lowrider

This wood is very valuable to guitar makers. You should call a few and see what they offer.

Lord Lowrider the Loquacious<BR>Member:Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets <P><BR>She was only a fisherman's daughter,<BR>But when she saw my rod she reeled.<BR>

Smokeeater 38

The only problem is if the tree was in a yard near a house. The saw mills stay away from them because of the chance of nails or other things that have been driven in the trunk over the years.






Get the job done and come home safe guys.

I rush in where others flee.

MIKE WISKEY

if you want to cut it up for your oun use call a band saw mill operator (wood-mizer). they can come to your site and nails ect. might mean paying to resharpen a blade (about $8). they can also saw the shorter pieces. seal the frest cut end grain w/pafrin to prevent checking. if you are any where near c. wis. i'll volunteer.

SkyWatcher

There was a discussion here a couple of months back about seasoning wood. Someone had a cherry tree, I think, that they wanted to use for stock material. If you do a search, I'd bet you'd find it.

To whom much is given, much is expected.