Drying walnut lumber

[Patrick Galpin]

I just cut down a walnut tree that was growing next to my old workshop that I am bringing down in preparation for building my dream shop. I have saved the 3 pieces that are a reasonable size to cut into lumber. Question, get it cut immediately or let the log dry whole and then get it milled? Also, how thick would you get the lumber cut? Not sure what I will do with it, obviously save it for a special project in a couple of years. Thanks for the help.

[michael case]

Most North American hardwoods will air-dry at about a year to the inch of thickness. So you will need to mill it. Then you will need to dry it. Outside air-dry will vary according to location. In the northeast, you would be lucky to get down to 10 percent. There are some solar kilns that will work in the summer and get you down to where you need to be at around 6 to 8 percent. Walnuts' worth the effort. Do some reading and you will probably be rewarded with some nice walnut furniture. Taking it from tree to finished product will no doubt be a rewarding experience. Have fun!

[Dave MacArthur]

Patrick,
There are a TON of threads/posts on here about what to do with your log when you get it, how quickly to slice it to lumber, what to put on the ends while you wait, how to stack it, how to dry it, how to avoid insects, how to avoid checking... basically everything you need to know to produce lumber.

I was going to make a "thread of threads" thing on lumber making, since it's something I also am interested in, but haven't gotten to it. However, in the short term, there are several good experts here, and one I always like to read is Scott T Smith. If you will click SEARCH up above, advanced search, then look for POSTS by Scott T Smith with the word "kiln" or "lumber", you will have everything you ever wanted to know about making lumber. He's got a lot of great posts.

Enjoy!

[Donny Lawson]

I've got some walnut lumber that I recieved in log form about 1 1/2yrs. ago. I took it to a mill and they sliced it up in thicknesses of about 1 1/8" or so. I told him I was going to plane it down to 3/4" one day.So far it's still drying out in the barn. The Boards are about 30" wide. We had to trim the log so it would fit in the saw. So far they are very nice with little checking. The ends were painted before being cut. I think I have about 12-14 pieces from that one log.
Donny

[Frank Drew]

I just cut down a walnut tree... Question, get it cut immediately or let the log dry whole and then get it milled?

Patrick, in order to retard some of the checking that happen when wood dries, the first thing you should do is end coat the cut ends of the logs, preferably with one of the proprietary green wood sealers such as Anchorseal.

Forget about drying your walnut in log form; even in the unlikely event that the wood didn't go all to hell, it would take forever to dry in the round. There's some debate on how quickly you should have the wood milled (it comes down to immediately vs sooner rather than later, basically), but you need to be ready to stack and sticker the boards in a suitable location ASAP after they are milled, like the same day.

As Dave notes, try the board's search function to look up old thread on wood drying.

[Ryan Hellmer]

As a hobby sawyer who has dealt with this very issue many times I will say (1) the sooner you get it cut up the better, (2) sticker it as it comes off the mill, (3) coat the ends, even though Walnut is pretty well behaved it will certainly eliminate some degrade, and (4) plan on at least a year of air-drying and this will only get it to "equilibrium" which is about 12% most places. Air drying for a few months and finding a kiln to finish will get you access to your lumber sooner. Don't waste your time kinling if you aren't going to use the lumber (or store it in a climate controlled setting) immediately, it will just pick up ambient moisture from the air.

Lastly, if you can find a portable mill or someone who will let you watch/help, do it. It's a fun experience milling your own lumber. Just don't get in the sawyers way and make sure you know what the sawyer expects from you before the saw is running.

Ryan

[Kevin Barnett]

I agree with Ryan with everything but...Anchorseal is sometimes not worth the expense and hassle of obtaining. This is true with my experience with walnut. It has minor end checking - so little in fact, the anchorseal may cost more to put on than it is worth. Even more so if this log has been outside with the cut ends exposed.

[Darius Ferlas]

I dried about 200b/f of cherry I used some roofing goo to seal the ends. I don't even remember the exact name of the goo. Just something I had in my garage. No signs of checking at all.

The boards are between 8 and 12", 4/4 and 8/4. They were ready (11%) after about 3 months in my half finished solar kiln.

[Danny Hamsley]

You can also use a product that you can get at Lowes called Kool Seal to seal up the end of the logs. It is aluminum roofing paint and it is much better than any other type of paint (which will provide only marginal results).

Be sure and cut some of the better grade into 2" material. It is harder to find 2" (8/4) walnut and it is expensive, up to double the cost of 1" (4/4). Most 4/4 hardwood is actually milled rough to 1 & 1/8". This is a good practice especially for wide lumber to make it easier to face joint and plane the boards to a finished thickness of 3/4".

[Howard Acheson]

The first and immediate step is to coat the ends of your logs with a water impervious dressing. AnchorSeal is the preferred product. Do not use a paint particularly a waterbased paint as water vapor goes right through. Not sealing the ends will lead to improper drying and a condition called "end checking". Checking can ruin a foot or so of the end of every log.

As to thickness, I would recommend you have them milled to 4/4" thickness. It takes a couple of years to air dry 2" thick material. Best to just buy the thicker stuff when you need it.

Be sure you properly build your stack of newly sawn boards. Keep it 12" above the ground and use a white wood to make your 3/4" thick stickers. Place your stack in an area that will allow air to freely flow through the stack. Put a cover on top to keep out the rain, snow and leaves but do not cover the sides. You can bring it inside after six months or so to allow for final drying.

[Frank Drew]

Howard,

Drying thicker stock does take more time, but good things come to those who wait. If I had a big enough log I'd have it milled in all sizes from 4/4 (really the 1-1/8" that Danny suggests) up through 16/4 or even 20/4. A grand project like a 4-poster bed or a large dining table would be greatly enhanced, IMO, by having all the wood come from the same tree; I don't care for laminating for thickness.

[Scott T Smith]

I just cut down a walnut tree that was growing next to my old workshop that I am bringing down in preparation for building my dream shop. I have saved the 3 pieces that are a reasonable size to cut into lumber. Question, get it cut immediately or let the log dry whole and then get it milled? Also, how thick would you get the lumber cut? Not sure what I will do with it, obviously save it for a special project in a couple of years. Thanks for the help.

Dave, thanks for the kind words.

Patrick, there is a wealth of good advice from others in this thread, as well as in the archives. In response to your questions, I would suggest the following.

1 - mill it sooner as opposed to later. Although walnut keeps fairly well in the log, you don't want to "let the log dry", as this will result in more waste and some warpage problems when the log is milled (inconsistent moisture contents within the same board).

Personally, I would mill it in a variety of thicknesses, primarily 5/4 and 9/4, and maybe a plank of 12/4.

Read the archives for information on stacking and stickering. Personally I prefer a proper end sealer for the ends of the boards; however there are many others that use alternatives successfully. If you do use something other than end sealer, be sure to cut the ends off of your boards before machining; else the paint/roofing tar, etc can gum up your equipment and dull the blades. You will not have this problem with traditional end sealer.

There was a great discussion a while back about air drying versus kiln drying walnut boards; suffice to say that air drying walnut from green to below 25% may yield more robust colors than going into a kiln immediately after milling. Low temperature kilns such as DH or Solar will not cause the walnut colors to change the way that high temperature (conventional) kilns do.

Best of success to you on your shop project!

Scott

[Patrick Galpin]

To all that have commented and contributed valuable advice. Sounds like I will be calling my local portable sawmill guy for a few hours of milling in the next week or two. I am lucky to have a big empty barn that I store my rough milled lumber in to dry so that is where this will be going as well. I don't mind having to wait for the walnut, it will be at least a year before I am ready to tackle any new projects once I start tearing down my old shop.