Walnut Stump Burls

[Jim Stewart]

I just completed some fence row logging, and I had several Walnut and Cherry trees that I have had sawed (woodmizer) into lumber. That is all on sticks and in the barn. I am interested in getting figured lumber, and some of my logs had crotches. But I have heard that the good burls are in the STUMP. I would like to dig the stumps up and saw them if I can get figured wood. Anyone out there have knowledge on the technique? It will be no small job, and I will have to hire a backhoe or rent a mini-excavator to do this. But how do I saw it? I hate to just hack at it with a chainsaw without knowledge of proper angles. Once it is cut into blocks of 16'' or smaller I can cut it on my bandsaw.

[Dennis Ford]

There is no single rule on how to cut up burls, crotches or stumps. Each piece is different. Getting the sand & rocks out of the stump can be a challenge but that will make your tools last a lot longer. Try one and see what you get, there will be a lot of waste but the wood and experience will be great.

[Don Buck]

As a forester who frequently had logging roads constructed to get to the timber, I on one occasion had to get 5 walnut trees pushed out of the way. The logs (average stump diameter around 18") were taken to a sawmill but I took the grit encrusted stumps to my father's woodmizer business. Dad had a great idea, he asked the local volunteer fire department to bring out a pumper for a test and they hosed down the stumps at close range with very high pressure water. The stumps were bone clean within a few minutes. Dad made a donation to the fire department for their efforts. He sliced one stump and didn't get any figure to get excited about, actually we were disapointed how bland the stump wood looked. However a few months later an artisian woodcarver came by to buy some lumber and saw the clean stumps and flipped out and paid $700 for each stump (he took them all). I'm sure that every stump has potential...

[Jim Stewart]

I wondered about using a pressure washer. Do you know about the Cherry? Would it be as likely to have figure as the Walnut? I am probably going to try a couple stumps. I was not sure if a woodmizer could handle the stumps so well.

[Cody Colston]

I sawed up a Walnut stump/root ball a couple years ago. The wood had some interesting figure although it wasn't burl. It was really dark, too, so the neat figure didn't show up except in very good light. I've got a friend digging up another Walnut root ball for me and I'm hoping it will yield some fancier wood. I've heard that it is prized for gunstocks.

Getting all the dirt and rocks out is almost impossible unless you have access to a fire hose. When I brought that stump home, it was upside down on my trailer...perfect for washing as the roots faced up. I pulled it through a self car wash and spent about $5 using the high-pressure washer. After that, I took it home and left it upside down on the trailer for a few months, hoping rain would finish the job...it didn't. Finally, I spent a couple hours with the garden hose and spray nozzle but there was still dirt in the crevices. I ruined a chain on my chainsaw cutting it up.