Black walnut log

[bruce buren]

I have access to a 16' long roughly 26 - 28" diam log. I want to make an offer to the guy before he turns it into firewood. What is this worth????? There is a sawmill within 50 miles that i can have it cut into boards, not sure what that would cost either.

Any help on what to offer him would be appreciated.

Thanks
Bruce

[Jeff Mohr]

It is worth at least equal in firewood as oak.

Seriously, if he is doing firewood with it.....just find out what a couple loads of firewood would cost and tell him you'll get that delivered for him. A black walnut log is a nice log to have around.

Cutting it...you'll have to call your local mills.

[Irvin Cooper]

I am not sure what area the log is in, but if it is urban-like or any reasonable chance that it was in a fence-row, I would check it for metal first (nails, bullets, barbed wire, etc). I have tried this in the past and found sawyers to be very reluctant to touch a log that came from a yard, etc.... .

Hate to put a damper on it. I just know what my experience has been in these situations. I hope it works out for you.

Irv

[Richard M. Wolfe]

I did a log volume calculation on it at 16' x 25" and got about 450 bd ft. That is based on a perfectly straight log and it doesn't take much crook to lose a good bit. That also counts the very heart which may well be no good as it usually has a lot of reaction wood or may even be pithy.

For a single tree the price is usually between the buyer and seller....unless it's an exceptional tree commercial buyers are not usually interested. Do you have ready access to a way to transport the log? If the mill is portable he might transport to the log although that would be added expense. And are you going to have it kiln dried or are you air drying it yourself and if so do you have space to dedicate for it for as long as it takes to dry and a way to check the dryness. And as Irvin said being an urban tree it has a good chance of having metal (usually nails) in it and if a sawyer ruins a blade you may be liable for it, which on a bandmill is usually around twenty to thirty dollars. Several things to consider. Good luck with the project.

[Frank Drew]

It's a shame all the potentially wonderful wood that gets lost because no one is around to claim it, or in a position to have it converted into usable lumber, and that last point is the key one: It's not just getting the log to a sawmill and having them saw it up (no small feats in themselves), but careful stacking and stickering and then air- or kiln-drying are critical steps if you want to end up with useful material.

I'd love to see you go for it, Bruce; large walnut trees are becoming scarcer every day.

[Gary Breckenridge]

Offer a price equal to two chords of firewood. Nails and wire fence for the first five feet bother me, but that can be cut off if needed. I'd check to see if there is a portable sawmill operator in your area.:cool:

[Julian Nicks]

Good quality black walnut logs typically sell for 75 cents to $1 a boardfoot and those are delivered to the mill prices. Using the doyle scale (http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/calculators/calc.pl) you have right around 450 feet. I'd offer him a lowball number first since walnut is a terrible firewood anyways, plus make him realize that the walnut log has to be transported to a mill, sliced, then air dried/ and or kiln dried to get it to a usable state.

[Josiah Bartlett]

There may be a little extra value in the length of that log, that's and awfully tall walnut tree, at least compared to what we have here in Western Oregon. I'd offer him $100 and see if he bites.

Oh, you probably already knew this, but its going to be heavy.

I scored a similar log that was 36" diameter and 8 feet long. Fortunately it was a block away from my house so my neighbor and I just rolled it down the street and into my driveway with a couple of 2x4's as levers. Price: Free. I didn't find a single nail in it. I bucked it into 4" slabs with a chainsaw with a rip chain and a guide, and its been drying in my garage for 6 years. Its about ready, I guess. Its probably lost at least 50% of its weight in moisture and its still heavy. Its beautiful stuff.