black walnut gloat thinly veiled as questions

[Nelson Howe]

I just came home with about 200 board feet of rough sawn black walnut. $400. It was milled in the fall here in southern New Hampshire, and stickered outside under cover. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do next.

The two likely options are:

1. Clear a flat spot outside, lay down a layer of plastic, build a basic crib, and stack and sticker there with a piece of metal roofing on top.

2. Stack and sticker in the basement. I have a room off the main shop which would be a good space for it. The basement is dry as basements here go, but does stay cool and a bit humid in the summer.

What do people advise?

The wood seems to be in good shape, some checking on the ends, which have not been sealed. Is it worth sealing them now?

It seems like a moisture meter would be a good investment at this point. I've seen a good review of the Lignomat, but I read some preference here for the Delmhorst. Any further input on that?

Most of the wood is 5/4, some 8/4. He still has a log of it unsawn, which he is happy to saw for me if I'd like. My wife wants a dining room table, but I don't have any specific plan or design yet. It seems like I should get some thicker stock for leg material in the future. This log has good straight grain, and he'll saw it however I want for $4/board foot. I'm inclined to go with 12/4. Does that sound right to people? Will I have any problems air drying boards that thick?

Anything else I should be considering? As you can probably tell, I'm fairly new at this, and this is my first experience with greenish lumber.

Thanks for your help,


Nelson

[Julian Nicks]

If you have the room in the basement, I would make a 1x2 frame about a foot larger than the pile on all sides, then cover it with a tarp, add a dehumidifier and a fan, and you'll have your own dehumidification kiln.

Daren over at woodworkingtalk.com has plans for one.

[Frank Drew]

Nelson,

With more than a half year's air drying, I'd say it would be safe to bring the wood into your basement.

If you can afford the other log, having it custom sawn with a dining table in mind is a great idea; I'd recommend flitch sawing (through and through) for the widest and best looking boards -- which would look stunning on a table top, -- and having your sawyer cut leg stock out of the middle boards. The very center of the log, the pith, will crack anyway, so there's no point in trying to get an extra wide board from there.

12/4 stock will take years to air dry, so plan on exercising patience. And don't rip them up right away into 3x3s because in drying they'll likely lose their right angled corners and you'll end up with pieces smaller than you might want once you trim them back into square.

[Josh Kandiko]

Is that $4/board foot for kiln dried wood or fresh sawn lumber from a log?

[Nelson Howe]

It's not kiln dried. It's a log that was cut probably last fall. Does that sound high?

Nelson

[phil harold]

oops my bad
I missed the saw for 4 bucks a foot

[John Keeton]

Nelson, you don't have your location in your profile, so it is hard to say if the price is fair. Lumber prices by species seem to vary widely depending on where one is. I have bought quite a bit of fresh cut walnut, good quality, for less than $1/ft, and can buy good air dried for about $2-2.50 usually, although I don't normally buy dry wood.

Some of what you have appears to be branch wood from the look of the sapwood, but without seeing the growth rings it is hard to tell. That would impact the value substantially, as would knots, etc. Grade means everything when it comes to price.

I would not ever pay $4/ft for green walnut, but again, location is critical in determining price.

[John Keeton]

This log has good straight grain, and he'll saw it however I want for $4/board foot.Phil, I think this is the part that Josh is talking about.

[Nelson Howe]

Right. I paid $2.00 a bd ft for what I got. Looking a little closer now, I do see enough knots in there, that the quality of some of this is probably not as great as it could be. Some boards are nearly knot free. Others, certainly are not. Here a couple more pix.

The $4.00 bd ft price is for the remaining log which hasn't been sawed yet. I have one board from that log that is 13 inches wide. The log has an eyebolt in it that the sawyer has to dig out before he saws up the rest. This log he would saw as I wanted for $4.00. It's the one here with the big split.

I am in southern New Hampshire. A friend of mine who has a shop was quoted $5.80 bd ft wholesale, but was warned not to buy it because the quality was poor, and would yield approx 40% waste. Now this would be kiln dried.

It sounds like isolating the wood in that room with the dehumidfier and a fan should work well.

[John Keeton]

Nelson, it is hard to tell from the pic, but seems the split board may be across the pith or center of the tree. That would indicate a fairly small tree, and the pith is not good wood. In my experience, it will nearly always be unstable and/or split. Since grading hardwood includes a factor of width, then you must consider that board more like two 4-5" boards, accounting for the pith and sapwood. At least, that is how I would look at it.

As for kiln vs. air dried - I would take air dried walnut easily over kiln dried. Much prettier and works better.

I am not familiar with your market, and walnut could be much higher in your area. Wish you could make a trip down! I just spoke with a guy tonite that has 1,000' of 7 yr old walnut for $2/ft. - he thinks about 60% of it is #2.

PM me with your email address and I will send you a .pdf on grading hardwood, or do a search for NHLA Lumber Grading Guide and it should come up.

[Chris Konikowski]

I am not familiar with your market, and walnut could be much higher in your area. Wish you could make a trip down! I just spoke with a guy tonite that has 1,000' of 7 yr old walnut for $2/ft. - he thinks about 60% of it is #2.



Holy shnikies! I am jealous! We may need to talk. I Wonder what it would cost to get it to Houston.

[Peter Gregory]

I prefer air dried walnut, it has better color. The cost of sealing the ends is cheap insurance, I would do that. 8/4 and 5/4 sounds good. I'm willing to pay more for wood from the same tree. Keep it together and build a project from matching boards.

In Southern Illinois you are about right for wood that hasn't dried for several years, unless it has good figure or from the same tree. On the West Coast, you have an absolute steal. Don't know how things roll in your part of the world.

I have time, buy good wood cheap, stack it off to the side in the shop and use it someday. The cost of my materials is almost free, when compared to my time. I figure that furniture lasting 20+ years deserves great and expensive wood. :)

I would be happy with your haul. Sounds like you will put it to good use sooner or later.

[Josh Kandiko]

To give you an idea of what I pay in Wisconsin for logs I hire a sawyer to mill, it is .32 a board foot. $4/Bd ft. is what I'd expect to pay for #1. But places vary so it might be more in line with where you are.

[Cody Colston]

For the wood you already have, I would not bring it into the basement but would sticker it outside with corrugated roofing as a cover. The biggest benefactor to air-dried lumber is air movement and you will get much more of that outside than you will in a still and humid basement...unless you decide to invest in fans and a dehumidifier.

As for the log at $4 per bf, that will depend on what the lumber price in your area runs and the quality of the lumber once sawn. Around here, $4 would be an ok price for select but not so good for lesser grades. I can get First & Second kiln-dried Black Walnut from M&G Sawmill for $4.25 per bf...everyday price. Lesser grades are even less.

[Paul Johnstone]

I lost my reply.. but basically I have the ligomatic moisture detector from hartville tool and I think it is fine for hobbyist use.

I wouldn't pay $4/board foot to get the other log sawn. That is expensive in our area for log run grade and undried. Just FYI, if I buy in the quanity that I usually buy, I can get 1" kiln dried FAS grade walnut for 4.13/bdft
2" is 6.13 .

For me, it's not worth waiting the years for it to air dry. It has to be close to dry for me to consider it, just not worth dedicating the time and space to dry it DIY. I know others have different opinions, and I can respect that.

I think $4/board foot for wet, ungraded walnut is asking too much.

[Kevin Barnett]

Nelson,
Not sure what you mean that your basement is dry as far as basements go. I have my shop in a dry basement. That means that my lumber gets down to about 8% moisture in the summer. It's a little less in the winter. It's a basement that is mostly finished. I'd say you can safely bring it inside if there is some air circulation down there from your current air conditioning/heating system. My experience is that after about 13% moisture, drying inside becomes a faster option.

As for price, I can sporadically hit $1/bft for green lumber around here (mid-Missouir). However, the retail outlets sell it for as high as $8/bft.

I'd have it cut at 4/4 and dry it that way if you decide the other log is worth it. The picture you posted looks like good lumber without too much sapwood. I'd say you probably did pretty good for NH. Bonus points if that covered taxes and shipping.

[Nelson Howe]

Thanks for all the input everybody. I spent the day building a better rack in my basement. I'll seal the ends and get it out of the garage tomorrow. Having shopped around a little for walnut around here, I feel pretty good about the price I paid on this lot. It seems that I would be wise, however, to steer clear of the rest of that log at this point. I'll sticker what I have and keep an eye on it for now. I suppose what I should be wary of is fungus from lack of air down there?

By dry for around here, I mean it doesn't leak, but it stays cool. So on warmer days the relative humidity gets fairly high. I run a dehumidifier down there, and it stays fairly busy in the summer.


Nelson