BIG walnut log

[Burlhunter13]

Beautiful chunk of walnut... I've got less than 800 ft of it stashed away as of that last walnut found on Craigs list and I don't turn down chance to mill a walnut. As much as I love looking at the wood and working with it though, I've been told by other woodworkers, and have seen this for myself at my shows, that walnut furniture doesn't sell nearly as well as cherry or oak these days. Careful milling that stuff... in the summer when I wore only a T-shirt the fine walnut dust mixed with my perseration on my arms and neck gave me a nasty itchy rash that took couple days to go away. I've been told by others this also.

I get the rash from the dust too. Itches like hell. Doesn't stop me from cutting the stuff, its my favorite's to mill, I love the smell.....one of the best smelling when freshly milled (sure beats box elder :censored: lol).

That is some beautiful stock you got there! Grest color contrasts, one of the nice things about walnut, some folks hate the sapwood....I think it gives it character.
Anyway, good deal and nice story! You posted a thread about this log being removed right? I think I read that one earlier this year, nice to hear a resolution !

Cheers!
Jim

 

[woodshop]

...That is some beautiful stock you got there! Grest color contrasts, one of the nice things about walnut, some folks hate the sapwood....I think it gives it character.
Anyway, good deal and nice story! You posted a thread about this log being removed right? I think I read that one earlier this year, nice to hear a resolution !

Cheers!
Jim

I did post a while back milling a walnut, but not this one. Andy owns this beauty, not me.

 

[AndyR]

I did post about these tree being taken down a while back.
here:
http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=69162

I did get a lot of good advice too.

I like the smell too.

The day they took them down I had several big branch pieces that I was cutting up. It was mid-May and pretty warm. I guess I walked around with dust and chips on my leg for a good while because I got a rash and my left shin was orange for a couple of weeks. Didn't have a problem this time around.

I want to finish this log but this weekend looks bad-other obligations...

 

[Zodiac45]

Well done Andy,

You learn as you go and take that knowledge with you next time out. The ripsawn boards look fantastic! I wondered when you'd get it powered up and sawing. Beautiful wood! Nice job.

 

[AndyR]

Milled the rest of the butt log today.

The other half of this log was sitting under a tarp for the past 2 weeks and was starting to get some surface checking. So I decided to mill up the rest of it today. It was a long day, after wrestling with the half-log for a couple of hours to get it positioned where I wanted it I cut mostly 5/4 boards, ran out of stickers (thought I would have enough), and broke the blade on the ripsaw on the last cut. Still kinda fun though.

I didn't take any pics during the milling, just a couple of the stack. I did get some really nice boards today. Though I did cut a mix, I'm finding that I really like the straight grain of the rift/quartersawn wood.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words and support.

 

[excess650]

looks like some beautiful grain there...

 

[woodshop]

Again Andy, nice looking lumber and nice stack of wood ya got there. In fact... TO nice, where is the messy shop?

Good job

 

[slabmaster]

Looks like a nice stack of lumber Andy! Any ideas for what you're going to use it for? I milled some nice walnut today as well from some stumps i had left over from last fall.I'll use them for guitar sets as there weren't any knots in them.They were 34" long and 14'' wide.I got 16 nice boards out of it.

 

[AndyR]

Slabmaster, shame I'm not closer to you. You seem like a pretty cool guy to hang out with. I started building a violin years ago but put it aside. I'd like to go back to that sometime.

Well....I'm hoping to build an arts and crafts style trestle table & chairs for the dining room. We need a coffee table and end tables + corner TV stand. I'd like to have a little bench by the front door with a seat that lifts up for gloves and hats etc. (we have almost no closet space in this old 1920's bungalow). I want to make the vanity cabinet and medicine cabinet for our upcoming and sorely needed bathroom remodel. We also need a bigger dresser in the bedroom...That's a pretty good start I think, though I'm sure I'll find some other things too.

Driving home from work today I passed our big park in town. There was an arborist truck parked there. Looks like they're taking down a couple of big old hard maples. I'd love to get in touch with them and try to get a couple of logs of that (for a butcher block countertop-for one section in our sorely needed kitchen remodel & my planned woodworking workbench) but I just don't have the time or energy right now. It's tough to see good logs being possibly wasted but I guess I'd better get used to it.

As for milling shorts. Our local landscape recycling center only takes log sections of 3-4 ft. or less. But there are usually a number of them. You can make a whole lot of stuff with 3 ft. boards. I asked about it last time I was over there and they said you can cut on-site and take what you want. There were a few nice ash shorts the last time I was there...But then I still have 2 walnut logs, 1 cherry log and 2 ailanthus logs yet to mill in my own backyard

Woodshop-
I moved all of the stuff, where the lumber is now stacked, to the other side of the garage-just out of the picture .

How long does this stuff need to air dry before I can stack it flat (no stickers) or is that a bad idea? My plan is, once it's air dried, to rough cut and plane all the parts for the table (walnut) and bring it inside for a few months. I think I may try to pick up a pinless moisture meter-have to watch the auctions.

The other 2 walnut logs are under and behind this "cant" in this pic. The big one has some damage in it, it's branchy and there may be some good figure in it.

 

[woodshop]

How long does this stuff need to air dry before I can stack it flat (no stickers) or is that a bad idea? My plan is, once it's air dried, to rough cut and plane all the parts for the table (walnut) and bring it inside for a few months. I think I may try to pick up a pinless moisture meter-have to watch the auctions.

How long it takes to air dry is very variable... depending on how thick you milled them mostly, but other factors enter into it. WHERE you dry them has a lot to do with how fast they will lose that moisture. General rule, most of my 5/4 hardwood (oak/ash/cherry/walnut) stickered outside, one side against barn or shed, other open to elements but protected from direct Sun and rain on top takes anywhere from 3 to 7 months to get down to 15-20% MC. drying during the moderate temperature months. Poplar, pine and redcedar all take less than that. My 4/4 or 5/4 poplar is usually down to less than 20%MC in 1 1/2 to 2 months. Back to hardwoods, the thicker stuff like 8/4 might take a whole year... real thick stuff like 10/4 or 12/4 even longer.

From a woodworking standpoint as per your table you are talking about, bring them into the shop from outside and if you want you can run them through the planer a few passes, but don't dimension them all the way yet. Let them acclimate in your woodshop for couple weeks... and THEN jointer/planer/table saw them to S4S dimensioned lumber. This is even more important in the winter, when outside relative humidity is low and you then you bring them into a warm house where it will likely be even lower. Even then after they have acclimated to your shop/house, I can tell you from experience that you don't really want to dimension those boards dead on until you are ready to use them... I mean that day or the next. This is more important with longer wider stock than shorter thinner of course. The above is why I invensted in my pinless meter. It's the easiest way to know what you've got to work with and how fast is't drying or not.

Good luck

 

[excess650]

Walnut gunstock wood is best air dried, and the general rule of thumb is one year per inch of thickness.

I know that wood in my basement will dry more quickly than this due to airconditioning in the summer, a dehumidifier most of the year, and the coal stove in the cooler weather.