Started on my walnut hoard

[BigOakAdot]

Started milling some of my walnut hoard from my old property. They're knocking down the house so I had to get it all out.

I grabbed this wood from the side of the road in valley green park in Philly. Love that it's not rotting in the woods and will make for some real nice projects.

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[Blisters]

Started milling some of my walnut hoard from my old property. They're knocking down the house so I had to get it all out.

I grabbed this wood from the side of the road in valley green park in Philly. Love that it's not rotting in the woods and will make for some real nice projects.

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Nice wood. Was your wood already dried and was it tough to mill?
Nate.

 

[bayard]

what are you going to make with it?

 

[BigOakAdot]

Cut them 3 3/4" and plan on making benches with them for a firepit I just made.

The logs were mostly painted with latex paint on the ends and sat for a year and a half plus. They definitely still have a lot of moisture but nothing like a freshly felled tree. You can really tell that they sat cause it doesn't pop the same.

I'll post the end project.

BOA

 

[Blisters]

Walnut benches. Be sum purrrdy benches.

 

[amberg]

Wow, that is pretty wood. I see the paint, Is it best to let it lay for a while before you mill it?

 

[BigOakAdot]

You're supposed to saw it ASAP I was just being lazy about it. The logs didn't seem to check too bad so I would say it worked out just fine.

 

[rarefish383]

I have a 30" Red Oak I milled side boards for my dump trailer from. The rest of the log has been sitting across other logs, to keep it off the ground, for about three years now. It looks just like it did when I cut it down. It was standing dead with little bark left then. I do like to mill ASAP, but if it's out of sight, out of mind, and off the ground, I'll let them be for years till I need them, or don't have anything else to mill, Joe.

 

[rarefish383]

Wasn't trying to hijack your thread on Walnut, just saying I get lazy too, and let stuff sit, and it doesn't ruin it. The first logs I ever milled were Black Walnut, when I was a teenager, back in the early 70's. They were green logs we cut out of a fence row a few years earlier. I cross stacked them to keep them off the ground. I know they sat for three or four years, all of the bark had long fallen off. The cool thing was, by the time I milled them, all of the White Sap Wood had turned brown like the heart wood. Not a speck of white was left. Milled them and stacked them in the barn rafters and forgot about them till I got married. My FIL was into wood working, so I pulled them out and we planed them down. I had milled them between 4/4 and 5/4 with a Haddon Lumber Maker. By the time we got all the saw marks out they were only about 2/4, but they were beautiful boards. Sorry again for the hijack, Joe.

 

[BigOakAdot]

No worries about the hijack a lot of good info in your post. It's got to slow up drying time when it sits in the log form.

 

[rarefish383]

Logs that have sat for years are still quite wet inside. I let Red Oaks on my farm stand dead for years for firewood. We used to call that seasoned on the stump. But it wasn't seasoned. I'll let them stand till almost all of the limbs have fallen off and most of the bark is gone, just a tall gray stump. When split it's still wet inside and will sizzle and steam out the ends on the fire. Still have to let it sit, split for a year, to really dry, Joe.

 

[rarefish383]

Just for kicks I'll take a pic of the Red Oak I have on the ground. Then I'll cut a block of firewood off the end and split it and take pics just to show how wet it still is. I'll even post a pick of it when i took it down several years ago. I took pics taking it down because guys on the firewood forum were posting pics of the notches they put in trees, so I was bragging a little. Actually here's the tree standing and then the log on the ground, Joe.

 

[rarefish383]

Oh, I just came from my friends farm. I was pulling old Oak fence boards out of her burn pile, they plane down beautiful, and I make toy train display boards out of them. On the other side of the pile were four or five Black Walnut logs and two English Walnut logs. I didn't even think of taking pics. Now we can get back on topic, Joe.

 

[BigOakAdot]

IMO a standing dead log will hold moisture way more than a felled log laying on its side on the ground. A log that has its end grain to the ground will absorb way more ground moisture.

For example we had some white oak firewood rounds. Some of the logs that were laying on their side were relatively dry while any logs that had cut side (end grain) down were wet as hell.

Just some observations I've made.

 

[rarefish383]

Yep, you are right. The wood will absorb water through the end grain more than the sides. I never leave blocks of firewood on end, Joe.

 

[TedyOH]

IMO a standing dead log will hold moisture way more than a felled log laying on its side on the ground.

I've had different experiences.....

I cut standing dead maple (barkless) this last winter (small 12 to 14" dia) that was at 15 - 18% MC..... right into the stove it went.....

I also cut up a dead ash that was lying on the ground for 2 or 3 years last fall - according to the moisture meter it was at 50% - hopefully it'll be ready by this winter....