Over 20 years ago, a walnut tree that was in front of my grandfather's childhood home died. My dad, a sometimes woodworker, had a local sawyer cut the tree up into usable boards. Some 8/4, some 4/4. Dad used the "heirloom walnut" for many small projects including boxes, turkey calls, a couple of fitted shotgun cases, etc.
He recently gave me the last of the walnut, which I will use for smaller, special projects worthy of the heirloom wood. One larger timber was in the stack though. It is about 4x7x about 7-8 feet long. He had it stored on the floor of his boat garage for 20 years, which occasionally (though rarely) flooded to about an inch. About 10 years ago I put stickers under it so I don't think it has flooded in a decade or more.
The timber is the middle of the log, as I can see the center growth rings on both ends. The timber has warped quite a bit, and the part that was down is punky from water damage about 1/4 inch. The timber could be machined square and true in shorter lengths, perhaps for table legs or something similar.
After all the preamble, my question. The sawyer didn't cut the center of the log into boards for some reason. It may have been on instructions of my Dad, but I don't know that. Is the center of the log unstable or unsuitable for use? Is it sound wood with good qualities? I think I can machine some decent stock out of it after removing the punky layer and the drying checks, plus shortening the pieces, but if the wood is not suitable due to being the center of the log, that will guide me on how much effort I should put into it...
Opinions? Thanks all..
Doug
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