Chic,

I know of most of the people you're mean around Chico, Marysville, Yuba City. I guess you're looking at it differently since you are interested solely in small blanks for gunstocks. I was talking about large black walnut trees that can produce larger boards.

So you're right as to gunstock as the man above noted the walnut in California is primarily from fruit groves. French and English as well as other variants and graft trees. The trees tend to be very small on average compared to the old growth trees from the region shown.

There was a movie not too long ago, where the people were killing each other over some inheritied property which was thought to be swamp land. Later is was revealed that it had Black Walnut trees and was worth millions. I can't remember the name of the flick.

This of course is more info than could possibly help the original poster and more effort than I am willing to devote to the topic.

Good luck sniper on your project,

Dave

Dave, the big boom is tree cutting came in the 90's around the Chico area. Luther Burbank was supposedly responsible for getting people to plant those trees. In the 90's they were 100 years old and for some reason the nut production takes a big nose dive at that time. Those trees were anything but small and in fact you can not cut a blank worth a hoot from a small tree. The guys who are buying them are buying very big trees, enormous in fact and they are not always in Orchards. The Bastogne trees were often used as ornamental and shade trees on old farms. They are found all over Oregon, Californin and Washington. The same with Black Walnut but the price for the English and Bastogne is 3 times what a black walnut tree brings. I suspect that not all of it goes into stocks though and that the straight grain stuff goes into lumber.

I think that the old tales about walnut trees being worth a fortune are a lot more fiction than fact. One cutter I know in Oregon has paid in the neighborhood of $5,000 for a large English tree but he said he didnt even mess with black. Of course at $7 to $10 a board foot it sure isn't scrap. My wifes uncle cut down a very nice old black walnut tree on his place at Lake Chelan and cut it into firewood. I still remember going up and seeing it all laying along side his house, neatly stacked.

A good friend of mine bought some old big trees from the Wenatchee parks department and cut them into blanks. He did it by a public bid and got them for $200 a tree. He said the work was not worth what he got out of them. I have tried it and will leave it to the folks with the right equipment.

Chic,

I was more interested in the name of the movie. But here is a link to the "Walnut Council Website" with some spot prices Stumpage, which is what your friend paid to the landowner and it can vary widely. Here is a sample of the NOVEMBER 2002 - FEBRUARY 2003 prices in Ill.:

http://www.walnutcouncil.org/most_commonly_reported_prices_pa.htm

Altough there may an occasional black walnut tree around here in California where I live, the bulk is back east.

Black walnut runs near black cherry now in price. The fruit tree walnuts are not what I would consider large as they are usually kept to 11' x 22' and predominately The three rootstocks generally used in California are Northern California Black, Paradox hybrid, and English Walnut or eating walnuts. There is a "California Black Walnut" which is not the same tree. Here is brief UC Davis spot:

http://pom.ucdavis.edu/walnutfs.htm

Now if that isn't more Walnut info than you needed in two lifetimes, you're a sick puppy! I know a guy who burns burled maple with glee, too...btw. Still wish I knew the name of that movie.

Take care,

Dave

Chic, I've got access to a large slab of Texas Walnut (juglands microcarpa according to the chart) that was taken from a wild tree in Boerne, Texas. Is there anything better or worse about stocking with that particular specie?

Dave,
Alvinmack is good at searching out movies. Maybe we can put him on the scent. Thanks for all that info. I have a few books on gunstock wood. All of it is interesting to me.

I have absolutely no idea what movie you could be talking about. If you know the actors or actresses name in the movie you could then do a seach on http://www.imdb.com/

-Mike