Sometimes Firewood Just Happens...

[IHDiesel73L]

So this happened last night:

My wife and I were watching Jamestown (good show if you haven't heard of it-it chronicles the Virginia Company's establishment of the colony in the 1620s) last night when we heard a crash. As you can see that's my girls' play area and not only that their tire swing was hanging from it. There was no wind at all last night-the roots just let go. When the excavator put the new septic in about three years ago he had to do some regrading in that area which may have weakened the root system. In any event, thank God it happened in the middle of the night, and I'll be glad to add another quarter cord or so of walnut to the pile. Also thankful for one less tree dropping those damn things all over the yard...Was able to clean it up and make it safe for the kids and dogs to be out in the yard again-took care of the small limbs but had to deal with half the tree pointing way up in the air.* A few strategically placed cuts and a yank from the truck took care of it:

Not bad haul so far considering I haven't even gotten into the main trunk-all of the saws got a good workout except my 026 is surging on me for some reason:

After flurries on and off all day, finished in a blinding snow storm on the day before Mother's Day-go figure:

 

[svk]

Definitely a blessing that it went down later in the day.

Also you’ve got a highly valuable walnut trunk there

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

That HVBW is HV.

 

[IHDiesel73L]

Also you’ve got a highly valuable walnut trunk there

What is something like this worth? The log is 12' long and 16" in diameter. I posted basically the same thing on a local hunting forum here and I have a guy begging me not to turn it into firewood. However, I don't have a mill and neither does he, but I do have a buddy with a Wood Miser. Assuming he would mill it for me what would a reasonable price be for some 1" slabs of this stuff?

 

[svk]

What is something like this worth? The log is 12' long and 16" in diameter. I posted basically the same thing on a local hunting forum here and I have a guy begging me not to turn it into firewood. However, I don't have a mill and neither does he, but I do have a buddy with a Wood Miser. Assuming he would mill it for me what would a reasonable price be for some 1" slabs of this stuff?

Unless someone wants to mill it for their own use, it’s worth firewood. There’s a long running joke on the page about walnut being “highly valuable” when in reality the only walnut that’s valuable are straight, high grade trees in the forest that are harvested by loggers with contracts at a mill. A mill won’t touch yard trees because there’s a high chance it’s full of metal.

 

[Haywire]

Dang, that just missed crushing your little black truck! Luck was on your side!

 

[IHDiesel73L]

Unless someone wants to mill it for their own use, it’s worth firewood. There’s a long running joke on the page about walnut being “highly valuable” when in reality the only walnut that’s valuable are straight, high grade trees in the forest that are harvested by loggers with contracts at a mill. A mill won’t touch yard trees because there’s a high chance it’s full of metal.

Trust me-I'm aware of folks who think they have gold in their trees and shouldn't have to pay to have them removed because they're so "valuable. It would have been bucked yesterday if this guy hadn't messaged me asking if I could mill him some slabs.

Dang, that just missed crushing your little black truck! Luck was on your side!

I did a double take at your post because I actually have a small black Toyota 4x4, but its parked over on the other side of my barn

 

[kevin j]

you might try the freehand milling method just to see if it works. mill some slabs and make a mantle or something from the tree just because it was grown on your property

 

[IHDiesel73L]

you might try the freehand milling method just to see if it works. mill some slabs and make a mantle or something from the tree just because it was grown on your property

Good idea-this isn't as hard as I thought it was. It would be hell of a lot faster if I had a 70cc high RPM saw and a full compliment chain though. In any event I'm going to save the first slab for myself and use a router to carve a sign into it for our firepit. The mantle is a nice idea but I actually made ours from a 10x12 beam salvaged from an old barn down the road that collapsed. I'm going to see how many 1" or so slabs I can get out of it and try to make a deal with the guy who was interested in them. Its a lot of time, fuel, bar oil, and filing, but we'll see. I'm learning a lot while I'm doing it.

 

[IHDiesel73L]

I'm starting to hate this tree. First of all, this is butternut, or white walnut. I once got a load of black walnut and it split like ash or locust-the wedge would barely touch it and it would just pop open. This stuff is some of the stringiest crap I've ever seen-half the time it seems to rip apart rather than split. In any event, we'll see how it burns (13 MBTU/cord-barely better than pine-will probably mix with cherry and locust which I have a decent amount of), but it may make better furniture wood than firewood, at least in terms of processing. However, on that front, after sawing two slabs the clutch on my PM650 went, or so it seems. I need to tear into it today to see if the clutch is shot, drum is worn, on God forbid, the clutch spun on the crank I ordered a new OEM clutch off Ebay last night but it won't be here until next week. Going to swap the clutch from my 610 onto the 650 so that I can buck the rest of the tree in the meantime. No more milling for the 650-I think its just too much for the saw, but that said, for all I know the clutch that's on it is original. I certainly haven't changed it in the 10 years I've owned it.

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

Just burn it (the tree). The saw, if it's toast, well, it's already 90% of the way to a boat anchor, so...

 

[IHDiesel73L]

Just burn it (the tree). The saw, if it's toast, well, it's already 90% of the way to a boat anchor, so...

I talked to a buddy who has a band mill at his farm-he'll mill up the rest for me for $0.25 a board foot. As for the saw, I'll keep it running as long as I can. I love these old Macs.

 

[tilenick]

I talked to a buddy who has a band mill at his farm-he'll mill up the rest for me for $0.25 a board foot. As for the saw, I'll keep it running as long as I can. I love these old Macs.

Great price for wood you own

 

[IHDiesel73L]

Great price for wood you own.

Got 'er all done today. Took the log down to my buddy's dairy farm where he has his Wood Miser. The farm is 400 acres-absolutely gorgeous and not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning-driving into the farm-the bridge deck is all locust they milled themselves:

Holsteins off in the distance:

The Wood Miser at work:

The pictures don't do the color justice:

Finished product stacked and drying at the buyer's house: