Black Walnut Log

[Andrew Yang]

There's a local posting for a 5 ft x 20" diameter black walnut log. Freshly cut to avoid impinging on a neighbor's roof. The ends haven't been protected since being cut down. Is it worth the trouble to try and mill this piece or would it be a lost cause from moisture loss through the ends already? They would be pretty short boards, but potentially good widths. It's free.... just sweat equity.

[David Brimm]

There's a local posting for a 5 ft x 20" diameter black walnut log. Freshly cut to avoid impinging on a neighbor's roof. The ends haven't been protected since being cut down. Is it worth the trouble to try and mill this piece or would it be a lost cause from moisture loss through the ends already? They would be pretty short boards, but potentially good widths. It's free.... just sweat equity.

Could you take it and cut it up into bowl blanks or other turning stock? Free wood is free wood right?!

[John TenEyck]

Free is your friend. It's still going to weight a lot, but if it is clear (no obvious limbs), and you can get it out of there easily, and you have a way of milling it, why, of course. The parts of most furniture are less than 5 feet long.

[Danny Hamsley]

I would jump on it, but then again, I have a sawmill to cut logs into lumber. Check around to see if there is anyone in your area with a portable sawmill that you might be able to take the log to and have cut into boards. If not, then you could get some bowl stock as has been suggested.

[Chris Fournier]

Let's just go with a 20" claimed diameter actually being 20" and this is usually not the case.

Now you have 20" at the butt and the rest of the log tapers down from there...

On walnut in our area you can count on the bark and sapwood being about 2 1/2" thick. Now you have 15" of heartwood, at the butt. From this you have to take out the heart defect. Not a lot of meat. Not enough meat if you have to haul the log any distance or pay the sawyer his $65/hour to get to the log and do his job.

Square edged lumber is likely a poor choice. Live sawn through and through would yield some neat pieces possibly.

One chainsaw and bowl blanks? This would be an idea.

[Chuck Wintle]

why not...i doubt the wood is damaged and you will have some 5 foot boards.

[Josiah Bartlett]

Is this a trunk or a branch? If it is a branch, it is going to warp like crazy once you cut it, but if it is a trunk you should be able to get some decent wood out of it. The pith may have split, but walnut has huge amounts of water in it when green and it isn't as bad as other woods are for splitting.

Go for it, if nothing else its good experience for when you find a big monster log. I got a 45" diameter walnut log a few years ago and had a neighbor help me roll it home from a couple of blocks away. It yielded some fantastic wood.

Be aware that most urban trees are almost certain to contain several nails and other pieces of metal.

[Jim Matthews]

He's probably Summering on Cape Breton, but will know someone that could help.
He's pretty active in urban loggging, and should know a helpful sawyer.

The tree is FREE, yes?

Go get it, man!

tomfidgen@yahoo.ca

[Andrew Yang]

So the tentative plan was to rent a chainsaw and buy the Granberg Chainsaw mill from Lee Valley. This seems to pop up often enough to maybe justify the mill, but not so much to justify a chainsaw. I'll have to scope it out a bit before making the plunge.

I did some rough calcs on the weight and figure 600 lbs for green wood of that size. Close?

[John TenEyck]

Yes, if it's 20" dia. the whole 5 ft. it will weight around 600 lbs. Nothing to sneeze at to be sure. You will need a good sized chainsaw; get at least one 65 cc's in displacement, preferably larger. I have an 85 cc saw for milling and I'm glad it's no smaller. You will loose about 6 inches off the length of the bar with a Granberg Alaskan Mill, which is what I use; a little less with their cantileverd mini-mill. To mill your 20" walnut through and through you would need at least a 26" bar and more likely a 28" with the Alaskan Mill. Once you get that big the saw you are able to rent that can drive that big a bar will probably be larger than 65 cc's anyway. Also, you will want to use a ripping chain in order to get smooth boards. A regular chain will make a mess of the wood and the big long shavings will jamb up the saw clutch. A skip tooth chain is the worst offender for roughness, although it allows you to use a slightly smaller saw displacement. Anyway, I like Oregon RD ripping chains, and one will cost you around $35 for a 28 inch bar, at least in the US. Be sure to paint the ends of log ASAP. People will tell you to use Anchorseal, or whatever, but it's more important to just get something on them. I use plain old latex wall paint, two coats, and it works just fine. After you get your wood milled stack it on stickers somewhere out of the sun and rain with good airflow. Walnut dries w/o too many problems and you should have some nice wood next year. Good luck.

John

[David Hostetler]

How long has it been down? If it's recent, just seal the ends. Yeah JUMP ON IT!

[Andrew Yang]

@John TenEyck

Great info. Question is do I need to go that big? At 20" diameter, I was thinking of leaving a thicker section around the pith, and maybe ripping it into two separate boards. I think that would make those boards effectively quarter sawn. I was hoping to get by with the smaller 20" mill. Does what I'm thinking make any sense?

[Dave Mura]

I'd go for it!
http://couponfit.com/img/b052e2e0c0ad1b2d5036bd56e27d061c.gifhttp://couponfit.com/img/7e889fb76e0e07c11733550f2a6c7a5a.gifhttp://couponfit.com/img/d6cf4da5ced8580c991e16fb54faa1b6.gif

[John TenEyck]

Andrew, you could do it with a smaller rig if you just want boards - no through and through cuts. In that case a 20" bar might (?) be long enough, in which case a 65 cc saw would be adequate (barely). Since the log is likely to have at least 2 inches of white sapwood, which I'm guessing you don't want to include in your lumber, you could set up the mill to cut off a 2" slab 3 sides. That will remove most of the sapwood and leave you with maybe a 14" wide cant, assuming the bark is 1" thick. I would not quarter saw it. To me walnut looks beautiful plain sawn but looks like just some brown wood when it's quarter sawn - but it's up to you. I would cut boards off starting from the top until you start to get rift sawn boards, so that's probably 2 or 3 boards. Those boards will have some sapwood at the edges which you can trim off now or after they have dried. Then I would rotate the cant 90 deg and cut a 2" slab off what was the bottom to remove the bark and sapwood on that face. Then I'd pick which ever side looks best and take 2 or 3 boards, which again will be primarily plain sawn. Keep flipping and cutting for the best looking, widest boards. When you get to the last 3 or 4 inches at the center, you've got a nice stick of firewood.

BTW, if you can't buy a ripping chain, you can take a regular chisel tooth chain (full complement, not skip tooth) and regrind it to a 10 - 15 degree top plate angle. It will cut just about like a ripping chain. Happy sawing and, please, make sure to use every piece of safety equipment and, most of all, common sense. The cantilevered mills are a lot more dangerous IMO than the Alaskan Mill.

[Andrew Yang]

@John

Wow. Awesome info. Just looking for boards. Now I need to look for where to buy a ripping chain for the saw I'm planning on renting from the local big box.

[John TenEyck]

Andrew, finding a ripping chain locally may not be an easy task. You need to know the gauge and pitch of the chain on the saw to buy a chain. For example, a lot of saws use 0.050" gauge and 3/8" pitch, but Stihl often uses 0.065" (or close) and 0.325", so you need to know exactly what's used on it. I've never been able to buy a ripping chain at a shop where I live, but maybe you can where you are. I buy my Oregon chains from Madsens in Oregon, but you can buy ripping chains from Bailey's on-line, as well. Maybe there's an on-line supplier in Canada, or maybe a saw dealer can order one for you. It may be easier, however, to just have a local saw shop regrind a regular chisel tooth chain into a ripping chain (10 - 15 deg top plate angle). Actually, that's what I'd do if I were in your position. Just take the saw to them and tell them what you need. You should be able to cut that log without having to resharpen the chain, provided the bark is not full of mud. If the chain gets dull, however, you'll have to sharpen it or take it back to the shop for them to do so. If the chain makes sawdust instead of chips, it's dull. Lastly, I hope you are able to rent a saw that includes some kind of indemnity against breakage. Nothing is harder on a chainsaw than ripping. Do not rent a homeowner type saw unless it includes insurance against breakage. What you really want is a professional grade saw. Good luck.

[Andrew Yang]

Oi... maybe it'd be better to just bring the log home, and then tackle the ripping after a bit of purchasing and more homework...?

[Andrew Yang]

Did some Googling... turns out Oregon chains are manufactured an hour west of where I live. As a result there's almost a dozen different dealers that carry their chains. I'll have to do some calling around in the morning to see if at least one of them stocks the ripping chain. I'm hoping the big box rents a decent saw, since I don't really feel like dropping money on a chainsaw to "save" money on lumber.

[Andrew Yang]

Disappointing.

I went to look today at the log in question, and "cut down last week" turned into "cut down two years ago". Somewhat to their credit they had been covering it during the winters, but two years baking on their backyard deck did little to maintain the value in what would've been a prime piece of walnut. The ends were pretty horrendously checked, as one might expect from a log left to air dry without any end grain treatment. I would have guess that maybe the middle 2 feet would have been usable. It was a short (5 ft) if stout (20"+ diameter).

To make matters a bit worse, the homeowner was awfully sour that I wouldn't take the log. Apparently, she felt as though I had stolen her time and was not adhering to the code of Kijiji conduct. This was after she tried to convince me that wood needed to "rest" to be usable, and that it was in better condition to use now than it would've been had I taken it when it was freshly cut. Go figure.