Walnut timber - Is this worth anything/of use to anyone?

[spiral]

And that's height looking for the sun not the thickness!

[Big J]

I had to add a bit in here as I buy and remove a lot of walnut during the course of a year.

Firstly worth, a lot of what I get is free, or at least if it is suitable quality and covers the cost of removal or felling, so whilst I might not pay the owner when still standing they have it removed for free or at a lower cost, so free is not the right word really. I have also paid £20 on measure for the right butt. What is the right butt? no need to do that one really as everyone knows about sap rings, shake, colour etc. Is it worth sending in a artic load to a mill? Only if the quality is good, you can't base this on the number of logs. I have just finished selectively extracting 7butts from almost 80 in a old walnut grove of around 90years of age which is not that old really. The rest are worth more as firewood than timber, large sap rings, poor form etc.

Gambling on standing walnut, the only gamble is on shake really, that can be accessed from experience of the site and the exposure, the ground it stands on etc, the colour, sap ring etc is always inspected first so I know what I am getting, some varieties make for good timber some don't, but by inspecting each log it will always tell it's own story.

Lastly root balls? One day the myth of making thousands selling stocks will end hopefully, but then again I have numerous logs with rootballs on, one large log even has some nice burrs attached all over it, will I cut it for stocks? no, complete waste of time, the market is flooded by east europeans supplying this very small limited market for high end stocks which are produced alongside the very average ones sold to large gun houses producing thousands of stocks each year. We take the root balls only on very promising butt's with good stripe, only because it can produce stunning timber which is a lot easier to sell than some piece of sappy grey washed out stock.

That's my take on it and I deal with inspecting walnut almost on a weekly basis.

You can see a few bits and bobs of these on our website primetimber in the news section

 

Good post Andy, did see the bit on your website on the walnut grove - looked like a fascinating job.

 

I think in the context of the original post, the log that was ringed up was certainly worth milling and was converted to firewood before finer uses were considered. All I'd ask is that if a walnut (or indeed any other good quality timber) is to be felled, that consideration be given for milling and that firewood is regarded as a last resort.

[JaySmith]

Good post Andy, did see the bit on your website on the walnut grove - looked like a fascinating job.

 

I think in the context of the original post, the log that was ringed up was certainly worth milling and was converted to firewood before finer uses were considered. All I'd ask is that if a walnut (or indeed any other good quality timber) is to be felled, that consideration be given for milling and that firewood is regarded as a last resort.

 

Problem was I didn't know till that morning we were taking the tree down so didn't have time to consider other options. As I said in the previous posts it had to be cut small to get it out of the garden, even with an Alaskan you would be limited to say 4ft in length due to the access.

 

I asked the guys to cut the rings as big as they could as we thought someone's May be able to use it. It's not like we are asking loads of money for it, I simply put the post up to see if anybody wanted it and if they could make better use of it than my wood pile! If the access was good and this was front garden then I could of used a hiab to extract it but in this case this just wasn't possible. The guy who owned the tree wanted to see if anything could useful could be done with it, so I thought I would offer it up on here!

[devon TWiG]

Problem was I didn't know till that morning we were taking the tree down so didn't have time to consider other options. As I said in the previous posts it had to be cut small to get it out of the garden, even with an Alaskan you would be limited to say 4ft in length due to the access.

 

I asked the guys to cut the rings as big as they could as we thought someone's May be able to use it. It's not like we are asking loads of money for it, I simply put the post up to see if anybody wanted it and if they could make better use of it than my wood pile! If the access was good and this was front garden then I could of used a hiab to extract it but in this case this just wasn't possible. The guy who owned the tree wanted to see if anything could useful could be done with it, so I thought I would offer it up on here!

 

That is a very common scenario , It happens all the time and to be honest very few turners ( mostly retired gents ) look for lumps of wood ( most want ready prepared and seasoned blanks ) It is appreciated that guys on here take the time and trouble to offer up such wood even though it does not seem to be taken up very often . So many people think a nice bit of wood is worth a lot of money , but sadly it rarely is , but if it can achieve a better price than firewood with out having to split and deliver it then that is a good result , plus the satisfaction it will be put to good use ! It is not only the big neat lumps of wood that are useful but many smaller bits , second measures, crotches , burred, spalted or just unusual woods are what i usually seek out . If I am on site and had a Walnut ( or other nice lump ) as in your original post I would cut the rings approx 18 - 20 inches long and then cut them in half lengthways , effectively creating 2 short thick planks , half round in section , these are then man handled more easily and a decent bowl can be obtained from each bit ... I might post a few pics of the process at some time just to clarify !

[nepia]

Something along these lines I hope you mean... (not walnut of course)

[devon TWiG]

Yep just like that !!