English Walnut

[redbeard]

California sure has some nice Walnut! 

 we traveled 800 miles down too Winters California too help take out a English Walnut orchard and harvested some nice trunks and burl stumps.

 
Got the truck loaded up and headed back home with some samples.

 
This will be a winter thru spring project, our plan is too do the milling in California and haul the slabs and cants by semi.
Hauling the trunks too Washington is going to be too many semi loads.
Better too pick n choose the milled wood plus we can get more on a semi hauling slabs.
The Hud-Son 60 is easy too transport on a 20' trailer.



 
So far we have 45 trunks stacked up many more too pull out.
5 really nice burl stumps.

 

[nativewolf]

Nice @redbeard !  Ask @tule peak timber if he wants a load of burls or something, send a truck south :D.  

Will they be replanting or is this gone for good to housing?

[Magicman]

That will be an interesting "road trip" job Jeff.  I like the blue paint on that last picture. 

[tule peak timber]

Yahoo,,,,You will be very popular in you neighborhood I predict. Nice looking material for sure! Cheers !

[firefighter ontheside]

It's interesting how much bigger the black walnut stumps are than the English walnut growing on top of them.

[moodnacreek]

No offense to anyone here but those 'logs' are what I have been fighting off for years. If people saw me trying to saw one of those my place would look like the land fill in a week. [it looks like a junk yard now].  Back in the day I would chainsaw all the limbs close to the bole, metal detect and do it. They will twist and crack and need to be resawed. I never found a way to make it pay.

[Ianab]

They will be cutting those for a different market. There isn't any grade lumber in them, and being orchard not "yard" trees they generally won't have tree huts and birdhouses in them. Walnut is one of those woods with a lower shrinkage, so the crazy grain and curves won't turn into a pretzel as it dries, and epoxy can fix a lot issues. 

But at first glance it does look like a heap of firewood.  :D

[tule peak timber]

 

 

 

 

 More "fire wood',,,

[tule peak timber]

Just ran some numbers on "firewood logs",just like redbeard's. We pay 2600$ a cord, not split. :D

[Andries]

I make my share of "dimensional firewood", but you guys are taking it to the next level!
😆

[tule peak timber]

As Ianab pointed out these crooked short logs go to a different market. A good market is where you find it. Redbeard should do terrific with this material given where he is located.
  One of the most interesting fun things about FF is the difference in markets, the diversity of the woods and members, and the ways we all go about the same thing. Cheers  Rob
 

[redbeard]

The pile of trunks and stumps dose look like a mess of firewood.
Our goal is too capture a few with the black walnut graft for possible ends of glue up table tops.
So after we slab the trunks into 2-1/2" thick and will have 6'-7' or even a few 8' straight trunk English Walnut then edge the sap wood off so we end up with 10"-12" wide heart wood for table glue ups.
If graft line is not appealing too customers it can easily be cut off.
It dose have a story too it and it will soon be extinct.
More and more Walnut growers are removing these English walnut orchard trees that were planted in the 60s n 70s  because there at end of there producing years. Also price for nuts is all time low.
Some farmers in the Winters California area are leaning more toward grape starts, Almonds and Olive orchards.
These are some of the knowledge that we picked up in last couple weeks from surrounding farmers.
I believe this Orchard that were involved with are leaning heavily on Olives for the replant.
This valley has some of the richest soil it's all prehistoric silt bed from river flows up to 30+ feet deep from what I was told.
My chainsaw didn't have terrible abuse from cleaning roots off burl stumps. Not sure how band blades react yet.


 
This picture is Scott Miller's stock from his sawmill and Wood slab store in Dickson California he said he is on FF hopefully he chimes in.
These Burl's with a short stub of English Walnut remind me of "Onions" and Scott said he saws these parallel to trunk to capture the burl Ray's. 
This is something we will attempt also. Again there will be definite graft that will show the two Walnut wood colors.
I encourage everyone feedback on this project this whole venture is a learning process.
The s Hud-Son 60 were using too slab these odd shaped trunks and stumps likes the odd and wide crotches. Hope too see lots of figure in the crotch cuts, Rob Tule peak timber used some beautiful pieces in his Giant round table thread in woodworking section on the forum.

Thank you Rob for our conversation on or trip down too California really gave us lots of insight what to expect.

[nativewolf]

Just ran some numbers on "firewood logs",just like redbeard's. We pay 2600$ a cord, not split. :D

Glad to hear you guys were talking.  What a neat project and your recent table and other threads just seemed so related. I very much agree that the diversity of backgrounds, markets, woods is what makes this a fun group.

[richhiway]

Amazing. Very interesting project. Good luck with it all.

[Nebraska]

 popcorn_smileycan't wait for more pictures these will be cool.

[Stephen1]

Going to hang around here and watch what develops 8)

[Ianab]

I believe this Orchard that were involved with are leaning heavily on Olives for the replant.

That's OK, your Grandkids will be able to harvest Olive wood instead. ;D

[firefighter ontheside]

I think you will have some amazing slabs and I am jealous.

[redbeard]

We milled up one of the English Walnut stumps with some nice burl on it. Sliced it close too parallel with trunk. 

 
Had some really nice figure 

 

 

 
Got a nice stack of 3" thick x 24"-30" x 36" burl stumps slabs. Dulled two older re sharpened blades. The clay was very abrasive too the teeth.

 
Also milled up a 20" dia trunk that had some nice figure in the crotch.

 

 

 

[doc henderson]

neato, nice, nice, nice!!!

[Ianab]

And THAT is why you mess around with ugly logs like that.  8)

[tule peak timber]

Dry it, and farm it out to the local crafts-people and they will go nuts. Good find ! 8)

[redbeard]

 

 

milling the  English Walnut / Black Walnut Burled stump ( Cookie style 3" slabs turned out some nice figure and larger slabs.
 

 a

[tule peak timber]

Beautiful! Love the mud in the first pic

[bwstout]

Beautiful figure that make a turner slobber ;D

[redbeard]

I toasted a blade in that mud , blade rose a inch in the last 6-8" of cut. On the last cut. After pressure washing the clay out,
The edges and root inclusions are a shiny black  curious too see if the wood will stay hard and not spongy.

[mtoo747]

 

milling the  English Walnut / Black Walnut Burled stump ( Cookie style 3" slabs turned out some nice figure and larger slabs.
 

 a

Now THAT is a COOKIE!!!!! 8)

[hacknchop]

Spectacular I'm impressed thank you for sharing this wonderful experience 

[redbeard]

 
 the California English Walnut Orchard is getting closer too all the stumps and trunks removed.
Awaiting some pics of stacks soon to be done.
He did send me this one of a 24" dia. Trunk with another nice (Onion) my nickname for round burls.
This one is 60" across, should yeild some nice wide figured cookie slabs.
 

[Trahlin]

I'm seeing some fantastic shotgun stocks and forearms when I look at this wood! 8)

[Ianab]

I think this is an English Walnut. Friend wanted them taken down as they are monstering the neighbours house, and starting to shed ~18" branches.  There are 2 of them. Maybe 4ft dia?

Contractor was lined up to drop them with the help of an excavator, but they took a 2nd look, and didn't think the 12 ton was enough insurance. They are coming back to do more ground work and will bring some Heavy Metal for that job. Lean a 20 ton machine on them and you have a lot more reserve push. 

But they can just lay them on the ground, then I can do something with them. 

Note the native epiphytes growing up there. A mix of ferns and orchids. Rain Forest climate.  Stuff just grows. 

[AK Newbie]

What an awesome project Jeff!  I recently sawed up a big chunk of California walnut burl for a friend who had stored it in his shop for 20+ years.  Loved the character in those slabs.  Thanks for sharing this adventure I look forward to following it!



 

 

 

[redbeard]

 

 

 My 5 gallon jug of Pentacryl
Showed up today. Going to apply it on the end grain and Burled Walnut cookies and slabs tomorrow.
If anyone has some experience using this product with any tips, please chime in. This is new territory for us 

[redbeard]

 
 
 took a bit too get this burl stump set up too get some nice level cuts.
 we got 36" rounds and two 48" + rounds.
 
 some real nice full burl slabs
 

[Magicman]

I really need to be there with you!!! 

[Stephen1]

I toasted a blade in that mud , blade rose a inch in the last 6-8" of cut. On the last cut. After pressure washing the clay out,
The edges and root inclusions are a shiny black  curious too see if the wood will stay hard and not spongy.

At least it was the last cut. Will you still be able to slavage those 2? How thick do you mill them? 

[TimGA]

Jeff,
   Really nice, looks like that Hudsun does a really nice job.

[samandothers]

Glad to see this thread pop back up.  Really neat wood slabs. 

[thecfarm]

Yes, very nice looking wood!!!

[offrink]

Would like to know how you used that wood stabilizer for the cookies. I was under the impression that you needed to submerge the whole cookie for quite a while. 

[redbeard]

We have been milling the burl slabs at 3" thick, We have figured out that if we use the pressure washer (2500 psi) too clean the slabs of clay, dirt and spend some time removing all of bark off the 3" live edge too expose the beauty of spikes and karbunkles it should really help with the air drying process. When they air dry down too 16-18% they will be ready for kiln drying. 
When there dry and ready for wood working we will take them down the road close by too my friend that has a awesome CNC machine that can flatten, sand and polish the surfaces.
Then we will pour dentures alcohol on surface and take pics for internet marketing.
The Pentacryl is new too me and we are trying different techniques so far brushing it on heavy seems too work.
We wait two weeks after milling so all the pressure washing water has a chance too dissipate.
We're only using Pentacryl on end grain slabs.
Results have shown no major checking or curling on the thin practice cookies we have for testing using cedar, fir, oak, Madrone.

[Autocar]

Gun stock blanks is what I see. I have paid big bucks for English Walnut stock blanks. Beautiful wood you have there for sure. We have a few English Walnuts in our area but when I sawed them I wasn't real impressed with the color or figure. I never new that the burls were growing under ground like that. Pretty interesting !

[wkf94025]

I had a nice chat with @redbeard last night about his 2019 California adventure with walnut.  I have access to an dozen walnut coming down soon, and it's the typical graft situation, black (?) walnut rootstock with English above.  Question for this savvy crowd:  which species is more marketable, and in which form?  Slabs, cookies, dimensional, charcuterie, gun stocks? And English or black?  (Maybe the answer is "all" to both questions.)  Some refer to the root stock as claro, but I thought claro was a different species.  I appreciate any guidance.  For those who have extracted rootballs ("onions" as @redbeard refers to them), and advice on equipment and technique?  Thanks all.  Here are a few sample logs taken from the job earlier this week.  More photos and dimensions later this week.



 

[Crossroads]

Neat project! There will be a lot of coffee tables around soon. 

[doc henderson]

@tule peak timber has delt with grafted walnut.

[OlJarhead]

Ohhh I love English Walnut!

My bar, a coffee table and more are made from it.  Sawed it thick, planed/jointed it down once dry :D

[wkf94025]

The English walnut is an easy ID.   However, having some trouble confirming which species of walnut this is, based on internet photos and descriptions.
Based on this resource, it seems to me to be either California Black Walnut (Juglans californica) or Northern California Black Walnut (Juglans hindsii).  

"The Northern California walnut tree has a single trunk, and the tree grows up to 60 ft. (18 m) tall. Also called Hinds' black walnut or claro walnut, the tree is mostly used in the lumber industry.  The 'Hinds' black walnut's leaves are about 12" (30 cm) long. The blades are made up of 13 – 21 leaflets up to 5″ (12 cm) long. There are some small tufts of hair on the leaves."  

Anyone?

[tule peak timber]

Now you have me wondering. There is a slight difference in bark structure on this old grafted walnut bottom and some of the nongrafted walnut I have in the yard. The (Black/Claro) two walnuts look slightly different when milled but not so much that they could not be mixed together on a project. The grafted logs I have are older than me and I always assumed that the bottoms were Claro, now you have me questioning that.