Black Walnut any good ?

[burtle]

Hey guys my friend owns a farm and decided to take down some trees about 8 months ago.
One of the trees is a Black Walnut tree. The trunk is around 28-30" in diameter and its about 12-14' long. I've cut a lot of it up to make things out of the logs. I'm going to make shelves, drink coasters, clocks, coat/key hangers etc...

Anyway....I don't want to waste the main section of the tree. I'd like to have it milled so I can make shelves with a live edge on it, make a table, and what ever else I decide I can make with it. But, with it being on the ground for 8 months or so do you guys think it will be any good still? Possibly too dry already ? The logs appear to be fine from what I can tell. I just don't know the best way to tell with the rest of the tree.

Thoughts and opinions please....I'm no expert by any means. I'm new to using wood to make things out of. I'm use to cutting everything up and burning it as firewood. So bare with me please!

 

[buzz sawyer]

How wet has it been there? You may have some spalting where it rested on the ground but it would probably only be in the sapwood. Were you going to haul it to a saw mill? They may not touch it for fear of metal in it. Have you considered a chainsaw mill? You won't get as many boards but you can saw it where the log sets. 2" is a nice thickness for table slabs.

 

[burtle]

How wet has it been there? You may have some spalting where it rested on the ground but it would probably only be in the sapwood. Were you going to haul it to a saw mill? They may not touch it for fear of metal in it. Have you considered a chainsaw mill? You won't get as many boards but you can saw it where the log sets. 2" is a nice thickness for table slabs.

The tree is in a big pile, sitting on top of other trees. It hasn't touched the ground at all.

Yes, I was going to haul it to a mill. The closet one is about 3 hours away. I also don't want to get 'ripped' off. As them saying it isn't any good and offer me 100.00 for it or something...I've heard of that happening to guys. I'm just trying to learn as much as I can/get advice before I do anything else with. I sure in the heck won't be cutting it up into firewood.

I was looking at Mills online and there's some that say if they break a blade you have to pay 35.00 extra per blade they break. Will a metal detector help out?

i have a MS461. if I did get a chainsaw mill it wouldn't have any issues cutting it. I'll price some chainsaw logs. That may be my best bet at this point rather than risk hauling it so far away.

 

[burtle]

Here are some of the logs if that helps at all with determining if its still any good.

 

[SeMoTony]

Hey guys my friend owns a farm and decided to take down some trees about 8 months ago.
One of the trees is a Black Walnut tree. The trunk is around 28-30" in diameter and its about 12-14' long. I've cut a lot of it up to make things out of the logs. I'm going to make shelves, drink coasters, clocks, coat/key hangers etc...

Anyway....I don't want to waste the main section of the tree. I'd like to have it milled so I can make shelves with a live edge on it, make a table, and what ever else I decide I can make with it. But, with it being on the ground for 8 months or so do you guys think it will be any good still? Possibly too dry already ? The logs appear to be fine from what I can tell. I just don't know the best way to tell with the rest of the tree.

Thoughts and opinions please....I'm no expert by any means. I'm new to using wood to make things out of. I'm use to cutting everything up and burning it as firewood. So bare with me please!

Eight months isn't that long. It may mess with the bark hanging on, but bark cling is very iffy anyway. The first loss of fluids (drying) is threw the end not the side or bark. As a chainsaw miller it is what I wood recomend to get what you want from the raw material at your feet. My avatar shows a 70cc saw with a five foot bar. The only way to get it to not burn out was to use skip chain to reduce the number of cutters/resistance. Had to keep it sharp and pay close attention to rate of feed and more than a year later that saw still pulls strong.
Another thing is that if you don't want to continue milling after the Black Walnut most of the money spent for the other equipment will come back thru sale to the next miller
Stay safe and enjoy y'all

 

[buzz sawyer]

Off the ground, it should be good. Do you know anyone at the mill? If not, they might not touch it. If you are looking for a lot of 1" boards, a mill is the way to go - thinner kerf = more boards.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

There are many threads concerning Walnut here, you should look them up to have a better understanding. The part of the tree that is or was in the ground is where the value is. A good tree base brought in about $10,000 for gun stocks. Carefully slabbed wood brought as much as $30,000 for one tree. The guy I worked with many years ago waxed the wood within 24 hours of the trunk coming out of the ground to protect it from drying. Thanks

 

[Brian72]

We use a small metal detector from Harbor Freight at my buddy's mill. Cost about $25 and works very well. The wood should be fine. People have very skewed opinions of wood pricing. Try to locate a portable bandmill to come to you. Probably the most cost-effective for you. You'll get some beautiful wood.

Sent from my E6782 using Tapatalk

 

[Bmac]

Your log will be absolutely fine. I've milled walnut that has sat on the ground a few years with no problem. Walnut heartwood is resistant to decay and holds up well. The sapwood could be an issue if it sat on the ground, but if yours is off the ground than you'll be fine. Also, very interestingly, I was shocked at how wet the walnut wood was that I milled after 3 years on the ground. The logs were not attached yo the stump and the heartwood was still very wet, proving you get hardly any drying when logs are left in the round.

If you are going to mill up the log and you are looking for wide live edge boards, do not mill them less than 2 inches (8/4) in thickness. In fact I would look to do more like 2.5" (10/4). The wood will take longer to dry but you will have a much more valuable product and a better product for doing the thicker slabs. And if you do mill, take the time on this website to see how guys are drying their wood. you could ruin your boards if you aren't careful.

 

[burtle]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate it. I'm going to order an Alaskan mill in the next few days. I went back out to the tree and measured it again. Its approximately 70" in circumfrence and 20' long. Pretty straight. There's two sections that brand off. They were about 18" in circumfremce and 5-7' long.

Here are some more pictures. As you can see it isn't on the ground. It is propped up against another tree. The same farmer has 3 very nice Oak trees that are still standing. He said if I want them I can fell them and mill them on the property. I'll start with the Black Walnut and see how it goes before I commit to anymore projects.

 

[buzz sawyer]

70" diameter or circumference?

 

[burtle]

70" diameter or circumference?

Sorry for the typo. Meant to say circumference. 70-74ish. Wasn’t easy trying to measure alone