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Thread: Handling walnut logs before milling -- a question about moisture

  1. #1

    Question Handling walnut logs before milling -- a question about moisture

    Storms felled two large walnut trees on my property and I'm now on track to have them milled late next week - next Thursday, to be exact.

    One came down in April in a storm, but retained a connection to the ground through some roots that were not severed ... until I cut it all apart about two weeks ago. I now have the bulk of the trunk in three large logs sitting at the edge of our woods waiting for the sawyer.

    Another tree came down several years ago and has been resting on its side (but elevated from the ground by the root ball on one end and the crown on the other) and I have likewise severed it into three large logs for milling.

    All of these now rest on the lawn next to my driveway waiting to be milled in about 10 days.

    We have a fairly wet period coming over the next 3-5 days. I anticipate we'll receive a couple of inches of rain and generally speaking, each of the next few days will be muggy and damp consistently--the air, the ground, etc...

    So my question is this: Ahead of the sawyer arriving with his portable mill at my place next Thursday, should I be covering these logs with a tarp or otherwise protecting them from the rain, or does it not matter? On one hand, I feel like the bark will get saturated and the ground beneath the logs will too (inviting bugs?) but on the other hand, these trees have withstood everything nature has thrown at them for decades, so what's another few days of moisture? (although they were alive then, and admittedly that makes a difference in how they handle exposure to external moisture!).

    I'm probably overthinking all of this, but any input is welcome. I'm looking forward to getting a few hundred board feet of my own walnut out of this - my first milling experience.

  2. #2
    Your logs will be fine. Walnut is very resistant to loss through decay, especially over the short period you are mentioning. If it were a couple of months, you would want to get them up off the ground on poles or ties, but walnut is one of the most forgiving species. It would help if you could seal the ends and any large branch stubs with a product like AnchorSeal. It reduces the likelihood of checking. I'm not sure where you are from but covering them with a tarp can have a negative effect in that it creates a chamber of moist, heated air around the logs and can actually promote fungal growth unless you stake the tarp out on the ends to promote air flow. On logs, in my opinion, it would not be necessary. The oldest walnut I have milled had been down over 20 years, laying on a brush pile. The bark was gone, the sapwood was gone, and the ends were soft but the bulk of the heartwood was solid and made some very nice lumber.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    I agree, in my experience walnut (except for the sapwood) is hard to hurt. The sapwood in trees cut when it's warm will probably discolor and not stay white but the heartwood should be OK.

    I have seen big borers under the bark and in the sapwood but never in the heartwood. If they had to sit longer I might try to get them up off the ground. I do anchorseal the endgrain which can save 3-6" on each end, depending on how long they sit and whether they are in direct sun or shade.

    JKJ

  4. #4
    Thank you both for the thorough replies - this was precisely the information I was seeking.

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