To fell and mill a center rotting black walnut or let it grow?

[minigrowl]

I have a 31' DBH black walnut in my woods that I discovered a hole leading to the center about 2 feet above the ground and 6-8'' of the center rotted away. There are several other black walnuts in this part of the woods but this is the biggest (not by much) and I like the campground look of this area with all these big trees in close area at the bottom of our hill. I don't know how far up the rot goes so my question to experienced CSM and tree grower enthusiasts is this:

Should I fell it and mill what I can out of it (with 36'' granberg mill) or let it increase in size risking the rot gets worse? I'd rather it didn't go to waste lumber wise.

I don't have a close up of the hole right now but in this picture it is the big tree just to the right of my railroad tie backstop.

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

Considering that it is down range and next to a backstop, I bet it has a few more holes in it that just the big one you are mentioning.

If it's hollow in the middle, you're only going to get so much lumber out of it to begin with. Add to that the fact that it is a gun range tree - only 1 side is going to yield any decent lumber that isn't pock marked with lead.

Me, I would leave it and let it grow. Take it down when it becomes a hazard tree. Mill what you can then turn the rest into firewood.



...and welcome to AS.

 

[minigrowl]

About the gun range, I put it there last year and the firing point would not have put any lead in the tree. I am not concerned about any metal, at least not from this gun range.

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

That backstop looks pretty close to the tree in the picture. It must be one of those 3-D things that a 2-D picture doesn't do a good job of conveying.

I was curious how quickly black walnut would rot. A quick use of the Great Google yielded this informative page.
https://www.wood-database.com/black-walnut/

I'm a firewood scrounger, so I don't like to cut down live trees unless there is a reason (safety, land development/improvement, etc); there are plenty of dead trees both on the ground and standing that will burn just fine.

Just to give you an idea...
I was working through a log pile this past summer (cutting it into firewood). The trees were cut down 3 summers ago. At the bottom, sitting on the dirt was a stick of black walnut. For the most part, only the bark was rotted. Where it was in contact with the dirt, the outer 1/2" of wood under the bark was punky. The rest of the wood was perfectly fine.

 

[minigrowl]

I'd like this tree to produce slabs for me, so my main interest is that rather than firewood. Would decay be the same rate as heart rot?

 

[Franny K]

That tree must be adding more board feet due to growth than loosing to rot or decay.

I would decide on a shade for the ground basis. Cut out some smaller close crooked stuff, it might blow down. Then harvest tree and adopt a new mowing schedule.

For me so far walnut goes from solid to rotted in a short distance, maybe a couple of inches.

 

[minigrowl]

Hopefully the rot doesn't go far

 

[minigrowl]

update with pictures, here's the hole with a branch growing out of it:








inside the hole, there is some white stuff and the rot is about half the diameter of the outside.



A view strait up, with the hole going out towards the bottom. The rot goes up a few feet, in total starting at the hole and going up to about 5'6''





A few more shots of the tree. I would not want it this one to blow over and hit some of the other walnuts nearby. Any more opinions? I'm leaning towards felling now.

 

[The Singing Arborist]

I would guess that the bottom 3-6 ft has rotten wood, and that the rest is completely usable. If there is lead in the tree, it is most likely in the bottom portion anyway. The most interesting wood will come from those crotches about 15-30 ft up. Rather than rotting, those will just get better with time.

I'm on the side of keeping it but I also can't speak to its stability. When it comes time for you to take it, make sure you have everything in place to transport store, and dry the wood. That is usually where the biggest waste of lumber occurs.

 

[Marshy]

Personally if I was looking to mill some black walnut I'd take that tree. I'd high stump it near shoulder height. The section under shoulder height isnt going to yield anything interesting once milled IMO.

 

[minigrowl]

I would guess that the bottom 3-6 ft has rotten wood, and that the rest is completely usable. If there is lead in the tree, it is most likely in the bottom portion anyway. The most interesting wood will come from those crotches about 15-30 ft up. Rather than rotting, those will just get better with time.

I'm on the side of keeping it but I also can't speak to its stability. When it comes time for you to take it, make sure you have everything in place to transport store, and dry the wood. That is usually where the biggest waste of lumber occurs.

Big crotch wood does sound more appealing than smaller, no idea at the width of the current crotches. Fortunately I have a lot of black walnut trees and most have no rot. I was offered $3k for about 12 of them but I see more value in milling myself and making furniture to use/sell and sell slabs when the right buyer is interested. I'm not in a hurry to fell all my mature trees but would like to selectively harvest a few, mainly the ones that are bunched too close together and some where I want to develop the land to extend our garden.

when I do mill it whether when I chose or if it blows down my plan it to store it for the first year right there in the woods covered by a piece of metal roofing, no transport needs since my house/garage/barn are right up the hill and I can get my truck down there. After a year or so drying outside I would plan to put them inside the barn to finish air drying another couple of years. Does that sound about right?

 

[minigrowl]

Personally if I was looking to mill some black walnut I'd take that tree. I'd high stump it near shoulder height. The section under shoulder height isnt going to yield anything interesting once milled IMO.

you may be right considering most of the center is gone near and around the hole although, I have seen some slab tables with rot sections they they filled with epoxy that looked pretty neat. Would there be more of a risk cutting my notch low since it is somewhat hollow? I have never felled a hollow tree.

 

[Marshy]

Yeah, harder to control due to loss of holding wood. It can be done safely though. Doesnt look like a thing is near by to damage other than other trees...

 

[minigrowl]

That's correct, nothing else around other than more walnuts.