One weekend in May 1979 (38 years ago) a colleague and I cut down this black walnut tree in a nearby Palo Alto, CA, yard and plain-sawed it into 3 inch thick slabs using another colleagues Alaskan mill and 4' Stihl chainsaw. It took most of both days, and we had the help of a very handy neighbor who limbed the tree (it branched ~ 6 feet up from the ground) made and chocked the felling cut, inches from the ground. We then wedged and pulled the tree over using his veteran pickup truck. The two of us then set about cutting the slabs. By the time we got to the tree, it had been invaded by insects, which bored holes in it, especially in the sapwood just under the bark. In 1979 I did not know about wax emulsion to prevent wood checking. Perhaps it did not exist. I did my best and melted some paraffin wax and applied it where I anticipated severe checking. The slabs have all been separated with 1/2" stickers since the day they were cut.
For 38 years I have imagined creating a router based planing mill based on leveled 1" Unistrut tracks along the long sides of the slabs supporting in the open face of the Unistrut a ball-wheel (ball caster or through bored lacrosse ball) which, in turn, supported a bed for a 1/2" shank router to make successive passes along the length of the slab until it was 'flat' and the worst of the chain saw mill marks were removed. That is until I could more clearly see the grain and quality of the resulting plank. Each year other tasks took priority. Each year Ive gotten older and less able to move heavy slabs of wood. Now, at 77, I see clearly that this is no longer a task I will complete. I would like to offer this wood for sale on craigslist locally. How do I go about placing a credible price on it? In addition to these larger pieces, I also have smaller 3" slabs from the two large branches. Some dreams remain dreams and never become reality.
Here is a link to 3 images I've posted on Imgur. The slab not in the stack but displayed vertically is only 7" wide at the narrowest point; it came from close to one bark face of the tree. The folding rule in the second image is a vintage 6' Lufkin Red-End folding rule.
http://imgur.com/a/GzkTF
thanks
baumgrenze