Any use for a walnut tree?

[Toller]

A friend is having a 4' diameter walnut tree taken down and hauled away. ($1,200!!) She asked if I wanted any of it. As it happens, I just got a bandsaw and have been playing with cutting firewood into lumber. Trying it on her tree should be fun. But how practical is it? I have split plenty of firewood, but never anything this massive. Is it even possible to split a

4' diameter (by what, 3' or 4' long?) section with a maul and a couple wedges? Or should I settle for some large branches, or will they be mostly sapwood?

Anything special to look for, as long as I have the whole tree to chose from? I know crotches are desirable, but they are also just about impossible to split.

She is not having the stump ground out because it is too expensive. I have heard that is the most valuable part; is it worth trying to sell? I suppose the tree service would do that if it were practical.

(I have more firewood than I can use, so I don't need any for that...)

[Fly-by-Night CC]

Being a tuner, I'd love to have this opportunity. If you have a chainsaw available, that would be the way to go to size the trunk to fit your band saw - and also take care of any crotch sections. You could say that a $350 chainsaw purchase is more than justified with obtaining the wood. I'd likely avoid the branch sections smaller than 12"-14" in dia. - the sapwood just becomes too much of the total to make it worthwhile for lumber.

To obtain the stump section, the tree service really needs to cut the main trunk about 3' above the ground. Much of the demand for walnut stumps is in the highly figured wood at ground level where the root burls and junctions occur - especially sought after by gunstock makers. If they cut it off near the ground, then the usability of the stump is severely compromised. In order to harvest the stump one really needs a backhoe or some such heavy equipment.

This wouldn't be in NW Oregon by any chance???

[Toller]

Well, NW New York.... I will think about the chainsaw. The one I have would just bounce off a tree that big.

[Mike Marlow]

Pssssstttttt.... Toller - NW New York is Lake Ontario...

[Toller]

Darn close!

[Dave Balderstone]

Is there no one with a portable sawmill in the area? If she's prepared to pay $1200 she could hire someone to cut it to lumber.

[Odinn]

On 4/15/2006 4:59 PM Toller mumbled something about the following:

You might be able to find someone with a portable sawmill to mill up something that big. That's a lot of walnut. I'ld love to have just 1/4 of that.

[George Max]

Send an email to the Woodmizer people right quick for the names of people owning that equipment near you. For a tree like that, if it's good inside, this could be a good deal.

[Gooey TARBALLS]

If you know what you need, I suspect the fellows she hired might agree to some special cuts for you for an extra twenty bucks a piece and a couple of six packs for lunch.

[Peter Huebner]

In this country a lot of the portable sawmill people will either charge you per cubic metre of timber milled, or they will do the job for half the lumber.

Half the lumber out of that tree should easily pay for a large chunk of your friend's 1200 Dollar bill. If we were on the same continent, I'd put my name down for some of it right away :-)

cheers, -Peter

[Ba r r y]

Long Islanders think NW NY is Newburgh.