Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 18

Thread: How to cut Black Walnut Tree

  1. #1

    How to cut Black Walnut Tree

    A friend of mine here near Cleveland is having professionals cut down a Black Walnut tree down in his back yard. I beleive it is a decent size but have not seen it.

    3 questions.... 1) is it worth him have them cut it down and then try to sell the wood for someone else to saw and dry?

    2) If so, what size logs should he ask the tree peopel to cut the tree into?]

    3) how should he price it?

    Thanks for any and all advice

  2. #2
    I would personally cut the main trunk into 8'-10' pieces for milling. raw log prices aren't too good right now due to the low demand. I have heard of people selling walnut logs to the mills for less than 40 cents per board foot, and that is if YOU deliver it to them. Your best bet is to get them milled, air dry them, then sell them. This is about the only way you'll actually turn a profit. Otherwise you are better off offering the tree for free to whoever will come and cut it down for you.

  3. #3
    thanks. thouhgt it may be worth something.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    3,178
    Matt,

    There is a lot of potential value to the tree, but pretty much only for the end user, and for the potential to be realized a lot of time and effort has to be put in. Most sawyers wouldn't want to come out for one tree unless they believed it was maybe a prime veneer candidate; if someone brought them the logs they'd cut them to specification, though. Likewise, local tree guys might tell you how much they'd charge for cutting down and removing the tree but would likely laugh if you asked them to give you money for the tree.

    Once the logs are cut into lumber they still have to be stacked and stickered carefully in order to produce quality lumber; kiln drying would be an additional expense, air drying would take time and patience.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Central Florida
    Posts
    132
    Many years ago and far far away, My friend, a coworker, brought me a short piece of 2 inch thick black walnut. It was a piece he had cut off of a pickup truck load of walnut given to him by a guy who had torn down an old farm house on the coworker's route home from work. The house was around 150 years old and had been timber framed of walnut because that was readily available in the area of Northwestern Ohio where and when it was built. My friend was driving by when he thought he reconized the pile of wood as walnut and stopped to ask what the guy was going to do with it. The guy said he intended to burn it. My friend said he might be interested in buying some of it, and the guy said it wasn't for sale, but that my friend was welcome to all he could load into his truck. The next day there was nothing left of the pile of wasnut but ash. I have often wondered what that pile might have been worth. It is beautiful stuff with an oil finish and is a joy to carve.

    Russ Hauser
    Tavares, FL
    Last edited by Russ Hauser; 08-01-2009 at 12:58 PM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Detroit, MI
    Posts
    1,661
    Making and drying boards for one tree is not very feasible (economically or otherwise) unless you own a sawmill yourself (and not really even then). The best thing you could do with it is sell it to turners. Take your profits from that and buy kiln dried walnut boards if that is what you want. You will come out ahead in the long run.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Pittsboro, NC
    Posts
    30

    What part of Cleveland?

    Matt,

    i Have a brother on th East side (Kirtland) that has quite a few logs milled into lumber.

    He might be interested depending how far away they are and the price.

  8. #8
    Tough economy that professionals are cutting trees.
    Was it Doctors Lawyers Teachers Lifeguards what?

  9. #9
    I have a sawmill and cut lumber. Yard trees are notorious for containing metal. Many sawyers will not saw yard trees unless you pay for any bamaged blades and time lost from hitting metal.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
    Posts
    12,402
    Is a bamaged blade one that Obama damaged?

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post
    Is a bamaged blade one that Obama damaged?
    That is where you buy one for yourself, then buy one for the indigent sawmiller just down the road .

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    McKean, PA
    Posts
    15,593
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post
    Is a bamaged blade one that Obama damaged?
    That's the sound it makes as the blade hits the metal and your wallet.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

    My advice, comments and suggestions are free, but it costs money to run the site. If you found something of value here please give a little something back by becoming a contributor! Please Contribute

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Bethesda, Maryland
    Posts
    228

    Sawing Yard Trees

    Quote Originally Posted by Danny Hamsley View Post
    I have a sawmill and cut lumber. Yard trees are notorious for containing metal. Many sawyers will not saw yard trees unless you pay for any bamaged blades and time lost from hitting metal.
    Been there. Done that.

    It was a huge cherry log that my co-nut-case and I couldn't resist taking the chance on. We lost the gamble, paid the sawyer, and ended with a goodly amount of wood anyway.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Little Rock, AR.
    Posts
    642
    The WoodMiser operator we use charges $0.15/bf and $7/blade. Use a metal detector and cut out and nails/spikes/wires and it's still not real expensive. But I would try and unearth as much of the tap root as possible, there's some really figured "burl-like" wood in there, and walnuts are known to have a fairly large root - sometimes 1/2 as deep as the trunk is tall, and often bigger in diameter.
    The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.
    - Marcus Aurelius ---------------------------------------- ------------- [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    extreme southeast Nebraska
    Posts
    3,113
    my daughters just sold 12 walnut logs for $1k off the farm, I was in the neighborhood one day and stopped by the farm to check on it, saw the loggers doing there thing and called my daughter first to inquire if she had given permission to log. LOL good thing I called her first before confronting the loggers, the logger is the Sheriff of that Iowa County.
    Jr.
    Hand tools are very modern- they are all cordless
    NORMAL is just a setting on the washing machine.
    Be who you are and say what you feel... because those that matter... don't mind...and those that mind...don't matter!
    By Hammer and Hand All Arts Do Stand

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •