Black Walnut

[Trax]

Have a freind that wants me to saw a black walnut logs for 1/2 the wood. one 26" dia. X 8' and the second is about 7' I have never cut B-Walnut before he says I should just flat saw 5/4 slabs. Is this the best way. I don't have any thing in mind for my 1/2. Also the white outer wood, sap wood I presume should that be left on the boards?

[Norm]

Black walnut is pretty stable so if you have a use for 4/4 boards I'd cut some of that too, maybe some 8/4 also. I like the look of the contrasting sap wood some don't that's why the commercial people steam it to make it all one color. Unfortunately that makes the dark wood look muddy to me. I don't care for q-sawn walnut and would flat saw it.

[treecyclers]

I never cut on a "halvsies" split, regardless of the species.
Here's a few examples of how I do it:
Ponderosa pine - 75% for me, they deal with the cleanup and slabs.
Cottonwood - 80% for me, same deal.
Juniper - 65% for me, I keep the slabs to recoup some of the fuel cost which I sell as firewood or turning stock.
Boxelder - same deal as cottonwood, unless there's burls involved.
Walnut - 65% is mine, same as Juniper.
Maple - same as juniper.
Pinion Pine - junk. They pay me to cut it. I don't even like playing with it, and it's really sappy.
Mesquite - 60% is mine, 1 blade allowance per 250 boardfeet per the yield.
Anything else is negotiable.
Blades that are damaged - $25 a pop, and that includes those that can be resharpened.
My time starts when the mill is unhitched and levelled.
I stop the clock when the last board is pulled from the cutting deck.
I'd see if your friend will go 65%, and negotiate down to 60%, unless you're a rookie, and looking for more experience than lumber, as well as looking to help a friend out that has the potential to be a very good source of logs in the future for you.
SD

[Part_Timer]

I've cut 50-50 quite a bit.  The one thing that is in the contract is that 50-50 means every other board is the sawyers.  You would be suprised how many customers think that 50-50 means that they can cull the good stuff and leave the junk.  : :

I also like the contrast of the sapwood and the heart.  Since you don't have a use for your half I'd flat saw it.  I happen to like the straight grain look of most all woods when Qsawn (even cherry) but most people don't so it would be very hard to sell if cut like that.

have fun

tom

[metalspinner]

I agree that the stability of walnut lets you saw wide boards at 4/4 and still get great results drying it flat.  I just jointed and planed some 21" wide walnut crotch and got 13/16" out of it. 8)

The sap doesn't seem to effect the stability of the board as well.  I've had poor results with cherry leaving the sap on a face, but with walnut the sap behaved just fine.

[Larry]

I sawed a lot of walnut last winter...and kept yield records of every log I sawed.  Yield was 35% FAS1F, 30% 1C, and 35% 2C.  Wholesale price average was $1.08/bf with sapwood no defect.  Prices paid were consistent with the Hardwood Market Report.  This was mostly on less than 14" low grade logs.  FAS1F yield increases a lot on bigger logs.  A little walnut grade sawing education also helps the yield considerably.

Sold a bunk of KD walnut on Woodnet couple weeks ago for $1.75/bf...again nothing special but took almost 20 minutes to get it sold. ;D  Iffen ya wanta fool around and sell a few boards at a time retail, you can sell it a lot higher.

4/4 walnut sells retail fastest...but the thicker stuff brings more money.  If I'm sawing to re-sell myself I rotate 180 degrees to make sure the sapwood is even on both sides of the board.

Wouldn't take much head scratching for me to figure out what to do...as your pulling boards put every other board in a separate pile and give the customer first pick.  You won't loose a thing doing it this way and will earn the respect of the customer.  You also might want to check and see if there are any good size crotches out of the tree...think big money.

Now for the kicker...if your south of me most probably walnut has a longer growing season...more sapwood hurting the retail price.  North of me the opposite.  Helps to put your location under your handle.

[ducknutt]

question guys...what ya'll mean by 4/4   or    13/16   what do those numbers represent>?

[metalspinner]

Rough sawn boards get designated a "quarter inch" thickness. "Four Quarter"(4/4) is one inch thick.  "Five Quarter"(5/4) is one and a quarter inches thick and so on.

Like Larry mentioned, walnut has some more liberal rules as far as grading, so if you are selling walnut lumber it is in your best interest to know the difference in the walnut rules verses the rules for everything else.

The 13/16" is the finished thickness of my planed board for my woodworking project.