My father has several 30+ year old walnut trees in his back yard. He is talking seriously about cutting at least some of them down. Since my Mom passed away, he doesn`t really want to deal with all the walnuts that fall. What is the best way to cut these and possibly use some of the wood for stocks? These are large trees, so I`m talking about a lot of wood. I believe that they are English walnut and they are located in Washington state. Is there a way to sell the wood? Any help is appreciated. I really don`t want him to do it until I retire from the military next year and can be there to help with it, but I`m not sure he`ll wait. Thanks in advance. Rob

You're probably best advised to seek advice at milling/woodworking sites. Nevertheless, a couple of things come to mind. With some searching you will come across websites for sawmill exchanges. You may be able to get someone to come in and professionally mill the wood for you with terms negotiable. If you take them down yourself you will at a minimum want to get the end grain covered with a sealant (wax, etc.) to help minimize checking (splitting).

This is why it's good to mill right away as you could easily get them air-drying and sealed at each end thus preserving the pieces for something other than firewood.

Those are just a few things that come to mind.

Reed

P.S. One of the better woodworking websites is www.badger-pond.com Hopefully you can find further help there.

P.S.S. Another thought is to contact the stock vendors and see if they have any suggestions.

P.S.S.S. Geez, another thought. Give strong consideration to extracting as much of the stump/root mass as possible as it will often contain some of the best looking wood...although not necessarily best for stock making.

If he cuts them before you get home have him protect the stumps.
Truly old walnut may have some beautiful grain below the ground line.
Try to get him to save a couple of sections 4'-5' long, both straight trunk and near major limb sections.
The wood should be kept dry and de-barked if possible.
My cousin is currently having some logging done on his property. I had several of the walnuts and maples cut about 3' above the ground and the dozer operator "pulled" the the whole stumps.
I'm going to trim the smaller roots, pull the bark and put in an old barn for at least 6 months before I split it to see if I have any primo stocks hiding inside.
Have your dad look into local private loggers. They may have a buyer for walnut etc.

How big are the trees diameterwise. A walnut tree has to be pretty damn big before there enough wood inside the sap wood to make it worth your while. You may be better off getting ahold of someone who cuts stocks and do a share thing with them. I have tried cutting blanks with a chain saw. It wasn't easy or worth my efforts.

Chic nailed it. Diameter is the main issue. 30 years old is still pretty young for gunstock wood in my humble opinion. I would be interested in knowing the diameter of the trees. I know someone who may be interested in the trees if they are big enough.

hoss 101,

I have done this before and actually have several blanks waiting for future projects. I have also built a dining table out of local wood, Black walnut. There are available mobile bandsaw mills and even attachments for a chainsaw, though idon't think the latter works very well. The bandsaw mills do very well however. Managing trees the size you are talking about can be difficult. If it is near buildings it can require a crane to remove safely and definately some skills and experience. While the root ball has some incredible wood, getting to it is something else. I removed the ball with a backhoe and then attempted in vain to save the rootball. The guy running the mill got impatient and cut it off too short to use. The rocks that the roots wrap around are REALLY hard on chainsaws.

I would be interested in some of the wood. I think with a tree of that age you should have plenty of good usable wood. You will need to be selective in how it is cut to get the layout correct for the stock blanks. The best wood is in the crotch where the limbs intersect the trees and in the root ball.

Good Luck!

I don't want to dash your hopes of all that wood being used for stocks or funiture but the only usable wood for that purpose, in those "English" walnut trees is the root-stock or to put it another way, if you'll look at your trees you will see that at the very bottom "Stump", it's a darker, almost black bark, and the rest of the tree has a lighter almost white bark.
That "BLack walnut" at the bottom is what the english walnut was Grafted to. The Black Walnut at the base sometimes is very bulbous, real fat almost pregnant looking. If any of the trees exibit this, then you have Walnut "BURL" now that is very desirable! I used to live right in the middle of a large Walnut orchard and there was this one all Black Walnut tree that was the polinator for the whole orchard. It was the biggest Black Walnut tree I have ever seen! Almost 7 feet in diameter (across) at the base, I used to dream about all the beautiful wood that must be in that tree. One winter we had two lightning strikes on power transformers not more than 50 feet from that huge old tree and the power company said he had to cut it down because it was drawing the lightning to the transformers. he had a special crew come in and cut down and remove the tree and they paid him $5000.00 for the stump and burl! That was almost 20 years ago. Not knowing how large your trees are, or how much is actual Black walnut, it's hard to say what you have that's of any real worth. If they are greater than 3 feet you might have some monetary value, and it would be worth checking in to, if not you got some firewood anyway.

need to know diameter not circumfrence?. 3 foot around is not much of a tree, 3 ft diameter there will be a few rifle blanks and some 2 piece. how long is the stump from the ground up to where the 3 ft dimeter ends. some of the trunks arent long enough for a rifle blank especially with a graft line.get a pic and post will be able to tell you more.

Diameter= distance across, as in bore diameter.
Circumfrence= distance around

[ 02-17-2003, 18:29: Message edited by: Marsh Mule ]

A black walnut is considered mature at 150 years and can live to 250. My 50 year old might barely make a stock, a 30 ? forget it. This is an old story, people are told that walnut trees are valuable for stocks or furniture but don't understand that it takes a big tree. Density can vary greatly, grown in a swamp will be far less dense that grown on a mountain top. If you have to cut it down think of pistol grips.

There are companies around who offer "soup-to nuts" tree removal. They pay for the value of the wood they cut("wholesale" of course,which would give you idea if it worth anything for your purposes. I know a few people who have done this, considering doing it myself as I have 10 acres dense hardwoods, need thinning. I'm sure they would let you take your pick of any that was worthy of keeping, as some part of the deal. Not sure how to go about finding them I haven't looked myself yet, but would try sawmills in nthe area. If they don't do it, they probably know who does.

This is getting into a whole 'nuther can 'o worms. Fact is, most timber buyers are crooks. I'd look into it long and hard before I had anyone come in and harvest my timber. Start with your state forestry division. They can give you tips on protecting yourself.

(Edited to add) Do a google search on the words "theft" and "timber" to get a start.

[ 02-19-2003, 01:03: Message edited by: BECoole ]

There should be in your area a "consulting forester". Many handle timber sales. At the very least they can appraise your timber. If you want references you can ask your local state and national forest offices (aka US Forest Service). While many don't seek such assistance it is often necessary. Many logging operations DON'T care about boundaries, DON'T care which trees were marked, MISREPRESENT both the quality of timber you have and the estimated # of board feet. Obviously, current market conditions will affect the price you will get. So will the number of competing logging companies in your area.

No you don't have to do this but I know of several in our area who could have made a lot more money from their trees than they did.

I found a walnut tree that had recently fallen over from a storm. the tree had sat in a creek and the wind blew it right over so the root ball was exposed! I cut the tree so I had about 4 foot and the root ball. then i dug the root ball out. I had to trim it a lot and hose it down to wash the rocks out from between all the roots, before the local lumber mill would cut it....he charged me $75 to make five cuts, which gave me a slab with a little hard wood and mostly sap wood, then 4 3" wide slabs, and then a good slab with bark and sap wood on the oother side that made a nice table top....there was lots of grain in the root area, but most of the fantastic figure was near stress fissures...it was well worth the effort, because I did it and I made two rifle stocks and a pistol stock, from MY wood. Plus I still have plenty left over. That was about 20 years ago, he did charge me an extra $25 to sharpen the teeth for hitting one rock in the stump>
But I have to agree that a 30 year old walnut tree cant be that big in dia!....but what ever you cut yourself, is free....you may have to pay a guy to remove the stump, but dad will probably foot the bill for that right!....you should be able to cut a 30 year old tree yourself, unless it is too close to the house. dont bring a lgger in ( even if he was interested in one tree). You can probably bring it to the mill your slef, or bring it to a portable mill in someones back yard!...good luck....PS I bet in that state there are plenty of do it yourself mills......Bob

BECoole-

That's a pretty broad statement to say that most timber buyers are crooks!!!

I have been a timber buyer for almost 30 years, and I AM NOT A CROOK. There are several people that I have had dealings with for years and I will continue to buy timber from. I also know many other buyers that ARE NOT CROOKS. True, there are people in this business, as in any other, that are scum. We try to police ourselves, but the bad apples get the headlines.

At least I am not an attorney.

Bob Stephenson

I would sell the tree to a timber cutter and buy me some good Turkish Walnut or at least some thin shelled walnut like California English....

I have seen precious little black walnut, claro and Bastogne that I would want to stock a rifle with, most of it is akin to cork....

I have seen a lot of California English Walnut that I like, but mostly I will always opt for French if available and thats not often, so Turkish is the wood of choice these days..

On rare ocassions I find a nice piece of hard claro, black that I like..And a good piece of Bastogne is workable on a big bore as it is plenty heavy...black works well on period pieces and mostly in 2 piece stocks..I don't even consider other woods for gun stocks.

B Stephenson, my thoughts exactly. I am also in the timber business, and yes, just like anything else, there are crooks, but, to lump us all together and make statements like some of those, are uncalled for. How well would it set if I said ALL law enforcement officers are dog killers?

Ray, are you really bad mouthing Bastogne? Bastogne is by it's nature denser than English walnut with 44 pounds per cubic foot versus 42 for english. I do agree with you regarding Claro but Black walnut is still a good wood but not to my liking as much as English.

BECoole, I did as you said and did a search on Google. Here is the first one I found.

"While the vast majority of loggers are fair and hope to have the landowner as a client again, clearly, some operate very differently."

As these gentlemen said you are using a broad brush to paint all these folks. Is there any chance you are a used car salesman?

Chic,
No I wasn't really bad mouthing Bastogne, I have used it on some big bores when I could find a good piece of it...

My problem is that it is bloody hard to find a decent piece that is cured properly and dry....I would love to find a good dark Red Bastogne or claro blank that is hard and dry, that has been properly cured...

I love those dark red stocks, that require no stain, but boy are they hard to find....I got two from Bill Harvey a few years ago and they would make a grown man cry...

I am talking over all on the woods, and I realize that most woods have exceptional blanks from time to time...I have seen a couple of Black walnut blanks that you would swear were Turkish. I have a deep Red full fiddle claro blank on a 6x45 that would have taken 30 LPI, it is as hard as woodpecker lips (Belkism)

But, when it comes down to it, I will take Turkish for the most part.

Ray,
I have pretty much given up on Claro. It is a real sirens song the way some of those look. Then you sink a chisel in them and it just aint right. I saw some very good wood at Dressels in january. I bought one for a customer back east. It is a lot harder to find as it is a lot more rare. Turkish is nice but I like the color in English more often.

Here are few I picked up at Reno. The first one is MINE!!! (until some SOB comes along and wants me to stock a rifle with it, grrrr). the second is a photo of Howards(top) and mine below it. I did not see his before I bought mine or the order would be revesed. The bottom belongs to a customer Skibum, the owner of the one eyed Jack.

These were all english.

Mine, mine, all mine, well for a while.




Skibums blank, future home for the One Eyed Jack action and barrel.