My Dad, who lives out of state, recently cut down a couple walnut trees. Being decently sized (largest at 12-14″ diam), I asked him to keep them for me until I can get there (a few months at the earliest). Being that they are in a wet climate, what steps should I have him do to best keep the wood? Inside storage is not an option.
Any thoughts are appreciated!
“100 Years” — scribbled on the wall by a woodworker to remind him to do his best and as a warranty on his work — “If anything I make fails in the first hundred years, bring it back, and I’ll take care of it. After that, there will be a small charge. (Original purchaser only)”
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Just leave them lay as they are, they will be fine until you are ready to mill them.If he has cut them up make sure he puts a sealer on the ends to help control checking.I just use a cheap water based latex paint.Good luck.
Ken
Edited 1/5/2006 6:52 pm ET by woodsmanplus
Those limbs in the picture are awfully small for cutting into lumber. The biggest looks like about 12" diameter. That's going to give only small boards at best or reasonable bowls. Most folks want 24" diameter before they cut up logs and my experience agrees with that statement. I'd make at least the two smaller limbs into firewood.
The sapwood is OK for wood working, but you're looking for the heartwood. You can write off anything closer than 2 - 3 inches to the pith center because it will be unstable.
If you're turning, these logs will give some good small to medium bowl blanks.
I was not aware that the pith was severly unstable. Is that a standard known fact and true in all species? By unstable, does that mean the pith will swell/shrink abnormally more than the other heart wood?I haven't really decided what I wanted to use the wood for at this point. I had planned on contacting a mill to have them saw the logs up though. However, if I planned on turning it into bowl blanks, does that mean I should avoid having one with the pith as part of it? In other words, I can't cut a cross-section off the tree and use that? Sorry for the novice questions as I have not dealt w/ fresh logs before.Thanks for the feedback. Their is always something new to learn in WW.
"100 Years" -- scribbled on the wall by a woodworker to remind him to do his best and as a warranty on his work -- "If anything I make fails in the first hundred years, bring it back, and I'll take care of it. After that, there will be a small charge. (Original purchaser only)"
zbr, you've got some fine wood there, but need to work with the logs to get the most -
a bandsaw mill is your best bet - plan on cutting the logs to the length that crooks demand - the log in the center, for example, would be cut right at the bend to yeild a straight length for sawyering - the remainder would be evaluated - there would be some small boards associated with it, but with knots, which might be alright, depending -
don't think there is any reason to do anything but saw thru and thru, tho what your bowl turning demands, I don't know - perhaps split one right down the pith and leave the two halves to cut off for the bowl blanks? -
I assume that I see the root ball at the far end of the big one - if you want me to saw it, get your pressure washer and thoroughly clean it up -
small job like this, expect to pay a set up charge (unless you take the logs to the mill), or try to scrounge up some more bd ft or another job in your area -
short term, you can paint the ends to minimize checking, but it's not a big deal -
"there's enough for everyone"
Thx for the info David. Good tips. As far as the root end, that is not the case. You are seeing a pile of branches (for firewood) as the ground is frozen there and the tree was cut off above ground.:)
"100 Years" -- scribbled on the wall by a woodworker to remind him to do his best and as a warranty on his work -- "If anything I make fails in the first hundred years, bring it back, and I'll take care of it. After that, there will be a small charge. (Original purchaser only)"
I agree with Telemike - there probably isn't much there. If there's a sawmill nearby, they may be willing to give you an idea of how much (if any) decent lumber you can expect to get. Then, you can decide if it's really worth it.
Definitely planning on contacting a mill. Thx!
"100 Years" -- scribbled on the wall by a woodworker to remind him to do his best and as a warranty on his work -- "If anything I make fails in the first hundred years, bring it back, and I'll take care of it. After that, there will be a small charge. (Original purchaser only)"
Hi I forgot to ask,what did you have in mind for this wood,or maybe a better question is what type of woodworking do you do.If you could post that,other woodworkers might be able to offer some more suggestions.As for my needs I would love to have those logs.Even though I have a whole mountain to play with and my basement workshop is sorta gettin full.I cut up an old walnut last year that had fallen down and being that I am going to start turning this year I now have a whole bunch of blanks waiting for me when I get back up there in april.I live in NC from about april to nov.Good luck
Ken
Recently, I completed a coffee table. However, most of the time I work on smaller projects like jewelry boxes/etc.What size logs do you normally harvest and work with? Do the turning blanks that you get contain the pith? Being that I am still learning, I was not aware that the pith is unstable, as stated by a previous poster.Thx!
"100 Years" -- scribbled on the wall by a woodworker to remind him to do his best and as a warranty on his work -- "If anything I make fails in the first hundred years, bring it back, and I'll take care of it. After that, there will be a small charge. (Original purchaser only)"
Hi I have been making mostly jewelry boxes over the years and I do not use any harvested wood for those as it is to unstable.I have all different sizes of wood that I cut into blanks for turning and bowl carvings.I don,t cut any trees down as there are to many allready down.As for the size again,you can turn small bowls or huge ones,so I have pieces as small as 4".I like you am just getting into turning and I plan on doing a lot of experimenting with my turnings.I have probably looked at about every woodturning site I can find just to get different ideas.I don't know if you have done that as yet,but if you havn't you might give it a shot.You will be surprised at what some of these guys come up with.As to the pith being unstable,this is true,but I also have found some sites on turning into the grain where they leave it.I have seen some beautifull work.If you would like I can direct you to them.So good luck and let me know if I can be of help.
Ken
Hi
If those were my logs, considering the size, I would find someone with a band mill and just slab them out leaving the bark and sapwood. I did that several years ago , I used them to build rustic coat hangers shalves ect. It worked out prettey good.
Have a nice day Lee
Is that blue coloration I see at the bottom of the big one? If so, it might indicate some metal up 3 or 4 feet in the tree. Sawyers don't like to mess with trees containing metal.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
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