Anyone interested in Black Walnut trees?

[Davej_07]

Greetings all,

I have several Black Walnut trees that we wish to take down. Now EVERYONE talks about how its a 'cash crop' and so forth but I have yet to find someone interested. In the past few years Ive heard excuses ranging from "Now if you had 30 of them at this size Id be interested" to "Theyre not worth anything because they grew in the yard of a working farm so they may have junk in them"
One guy offered 250 to "take them off my hands". At this rate IM going to turn them into firewood and enjoy it myself.

The trees im going to be felling range from 12" diameter(starting to endanger the old garage) to almost 36".

Im located in the Milwaukee, WI area. Is there anyone in my area who could council me on what I should do?

Dave

 

[irishcountry]

they do burn good!! I will wait to see what happens to this thread after the last "free tree" post

 

[MJR]

Dave, maybe drop them yourself and bring in a band mill and burn the tops. You just put a little blood in the water here. Good luck to you.

 

[Davej_07]

Blood in the water how?
DAve

 

[RPM]

Blood in the water how?
DAve

Check out the "Free Trees" thread started by Trish Parkes a while ago......

 

[Adkpk]

Blood in the water how?
DAve

Don't worry your offering something of some value. Go easy guys Dave is only 9 posts old. If you where by me and offering white oak I might take you up. Happy posting.

 

[Rookie1]

Dave I live in a neighborhood thats full of black walnut. My neighbors and I always hear visitors and friends say"ooh your sitting on a goldmine". Weve gotten same results as you. If I were you,and Ive done this already,I would turn it all into firewood. Ive got about a cord cut and split for this year and plan on cutting down another 18" next year.

 

[hazard]

To bad you weren't a little closer and I didn't have a shed full of walnut.

If you are a woodworker like me have it dropped or drop it yourself and have it milled. Turn some of it on a lathe into bowls. To me cutting this into firewood is such a waste.

What part of Milwaukee do you live in?

I have been very passively looking for more bowl blanks.

To me the wood is only worth what some one will give for it. The 12" stuff is probably worthless for boards. Good for bowl stock and fire wood.

The 36" log would be worth something. Probably not to a logging company though.

Where are the trees locate. City lot?

 

[olyman]

the trees are worth something--but the question is--how much---right buyer--good money--and yea--i lot of loggers want em for free---got any amish around your area--they like to buy them for their furniture projects---------

 

[Davej_07]

Im in Oak Creek, Hazard. The trees are on the family farm in Caledonia. I think im going to take the smaller stuff for firewood and maybe see if I can find someone local to mill it for me. If I can find a decent priced lathe Id love to try my hand at bowl turning.

Dave

 

[hazard]

Something you should think about is finding out what the going rate for logs sold is. Are the loggers selling the logs for $500/1000bf or $1000/1000bf. There is probably somewhere around 250-300bf in the 36" log. Do the math. Plus the logger has to take the tree down. I am not trying to down play what you think the trees are worth. So your trees might be worth some money but you are going to pay someone to drop them. I would say the only way they are going to be worth anything to you is if you drop them and invest the time and then sell the logs.

I was talking to a local tree company worker about some really nice walnut trees in a adjacent yard. The said the lady wanted to trees down but didn't want to pay for it. He said for $450 I could get the trees dropped. It is tempting but not worth it for me.

Do you have any pictures of the trees?

Chris

 

[Davej_07]

Ok, I went and read most of the "Free Trees" Thread. I see what you mean about blood in the water now lol

It wasnt intented to be such, I was wondering if there was an outlet for logs such as these. It really makes no matter to me either way, twas more curiosity than anything.


When the temps hit 5 above zero.....Happiness is a big woodpile


Dave

 

[Davej_07]

Hazard: It wasnt really a matter of thinking their value was more than it is, its more I hav/had no idea what that value may be. All I really knew was that I would get more than $250 worth of firewood out of them if I went that route. Believe me im not diehard on burning the stuff, I tinker with woodworking but IM no carpenter. The 36" tree is pretty tall with approx 30ft of straight trunk before it branches out, so I know Id get a nice amount of lumber from it.


Dave

 

[glennschumann]

Hi Dave,

If you can be patient, you may be able to get a fair $ for the lot. Craigslist in Milwaukee usually has people looking for, and at the same time, offering Black Walnut. Some of the offers are for small, branchy trees over buildings on city lots and require you to clean up all the brush, oh, and you still have to pay a little for them. Some of the seekers just want large clean logs, laying on the ground for free. Then there are some in the middle. Time will probably allow you to find the best match for you.

As far as a gold mine, I've heard oohs and ahs all my life about Black Walnut, but not from anybody that has actually bought any. There is just this perception that they are standing ingots of gold. Woodworkers going into Kettle Moraine Hardwoods pay more for Walnut than Oak, but not 10x.

You might try contacting some of the local wood working groups (wiscwoodworkersguild.org is one with some talented folks) to see if there are any folks interested there. For your own hobbies Robert Ivens here often has equipment like lathes, just not at bargain basement prices. Contacting Woodmizer may put you in contact with mill owners in your area that can mill for you. Maybe for a fee, maybe on shares. Depends on what they are looking for.

Both Hazard (Madison) and I (Milwaukee) have chain saw mills. Mills come not only with saws, chains, oil, gas and the like, but also this bizarre disease that make the mill owner almost obsessed with notion of turning logs into boards. There is no known cure, but the disease approaches remission when the piles of flitches have accumulated to the point where they stand between the owner and the fridge. If you decide to give up your crack addiction for something more obsessive, you too, can get a mill.

I too passively look for interesting wood. I found some large Maple logs a few blocks away that the owner was glad to give to me. The treat in that pile was the large "crotches" or "V's" that had some fantastic grain and figure. I'll just have to wait and see how they dry, however, to see if I got nice boards, or nice, flat firewood.

I seem to have gotten caught up in the idea of milling again, and just let my fingers blabber on... sorry.

Hopefully you can find some deal that works out good for you and somebody else. Yes, I think it is a bit of a crime to turn beautiful, straight hardwood logs into firewood, but I understand. I now find myself interested in the stuff loggers and firewood guys are not interested in... those great, big "V's". I think the forum rules restrict conducting commerce on the open forum but if you are interested in talking about options, send me a Private Message through the forum to chat... I can now cut a 54" slab... yup, I'm addicted.

Good luck!

 

[wdchuck]

Check your pm's.

 

[hazard]

Hi Dave,
Both Hazard (Madison) and I (Milwaukee) have chain saw mills. Mills come not only with saws, chains, oil, gas and the like, but also this bizarre disease that make the mill owner almost obsessed with notion of turning logs into boards. There is no known cure, but the disease approaches remission when the piles of flitches have accumulated to the point where they stand between the owner and the fridge. If you decide to give up your crack addiction for something more obsessive, you too, can get a mill.

I too passively look for interesting wood. I found some large Maple logs a few blocks away that the owner was glad to give to me. The treat in that pile was the large "crotches" or "V's" that had some fantastic grain and figure. I'll just have to wait and see how they dry, however, to see if I got nice boards, or nice, flat firewood.

Oh the V's!!!!! Some beautiful wood

I am at capacity but I still want more

Chris

 

[John D]

I thought the most valuable part of a black walnut tree is the root system. Gun stocks are usually made from them.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I thought the most valuable part of a black walnut tree is the root system. Gun stocks are usually made from them.

Actually, gun stocks are usally made from the log itself, and this is by far the majority of them... But, the "highly figured" gunstocks are usally made from the roots, or near where the trunk connects to the roots. The problem is, there are WAAAAY to few of them in this area to support the market. Also, many, to most times, they are just "pretty", but not laid out correctly but folks don't know any better and buy them anyway!

Rob

 

[Mike Van]

Your 12 inchers, if they're straight would make nice beam size for a timberframe. A frame of walnut would be the cats meow in my opinion - Like the others said, try to get the word out locally that you have these, you may get lucky & find a decent buyer - Keep us posted -