The highly valuable black walnut tree thread

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
My buddy asked me to take down an old dead tree about 40" in diameter in the main log. I said that's a highly valuable walnut tree . He told me it wasn't a walnut at all. He said it used to grow walnuts but hasn't had any on it in a long time. It's about to be firewood.
:clap: :rock2: :clap:
 
Nice article. It's like I said once before, we had a large White Oak log on the truck. I think it was a 16 footer, with a knot on the skinny end. The mill said it was a poor quality log because of the knot, and would only give us the going price for ditch planking. While we were waiting for the office to cut us a check, a fork lift picked the log up, lowered it to waist height, and a guy came over and cut 4' (with the knot) off the end. Then the fork lift took the log and put it in one of the higher grade piles. If we had of cut it to 12' of clear wood, we would have made a good bit more. You have to know what to look for.
 
i've been dormant for a while and just got back to arboristsite recently. This is a great thread! Wish I would have caught it at the beginning though.
I will try to continue to make it a great thread. Yesterday I met a good friend at a woods just north of town. A walnut tree had been blown down about five years ago atop a hackberry tree that it took along with it. We gathered and harvested them both and divided the rounds that we cut to length with our saws and then loaded them onto our trucks.

We saved it all and found a few other widow-makers that were standing dead with no roots. Best part about this is that my largest volume customer loves burning walnut along with ash, oak, and red elm. It will split easily, and believe me, it's not as dense as locust or pin oak. My wood-cutting friend said that he could smell the odor emitted from the walnut. Then he said, "Edwin, I love this stuff. I can understand why your biggest customer does also."

Life is good.
 
I read this thread and keep going back to the 80's when a farmer " neighbor " pushed close to 20 black walnut trees in a large sink hole in the middle of his hay field.
I asked him if I could cut them as firewood......he laughed and said sure, take it all.
I quickly learned why he found it so humorous.
It may make beautiful boards but simply the worst firewood I've burnt to date.
Burnt quickly, low heat and lots of ash.

I still see him occasionally and grin.....bastard.
 
I read this thread and keep going back to the 80's when a farmer " neighbor " pushed close to 20 black walnut trees in a large sink hole in the middle of his hay field.
I asked him if I could cut them as firewood......he laughed and said sure, take it all. I quickly learned why he found it so humorous. It may make beautiful boards but simply the worst firewood I've burnt to date.
Burnt quickly, low heat and lots of ash. I still see him occasionally and grin.....bastard.
This seems a bit harsh. As I recall, walnut burns with about the same or slightly more heat content than hackberry, slightly less than red elm or mulberry, but above American elm. Fragrance is good, and some cooks smoke meat with it.

Anyway, check these data:
https://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm
 
Probably was a bit harsh but I was so use to burning Oak up until then.
It did split very well.
 
Three years ago a tree removal company cut down five large walnut trees in a homeowner's back yard. I bucked it all up while they shredded the branches. Each tree produced about two truckloads of good firewood that I sold. No cash was exchanged. I got the firewood and they did not have to pay for the recycling. I believe they call that synergy.
 
^^^ "It was saves and straightened over 10 years ago."

If I'm deciphering that correctly... this tree was saved and straightened (forced to grow straight) 10 years ago.
First observation... It is not straight. Second... it looks to crotch out to two co-dominant stems, about 15 feet up.
 
^^^ "It was saves and straightened over 10 years ago."

If I'm deciphering that correctly... this tree was saved and straightened (forced to grow straight) 10 years ago.
First observation... It is not straight. Second... it looks to crotch out to two co-dominant stems, about 15 feet up.
So you’re saying that things only worth $900?
 
Back
Top