black walnut.....

[JamieT]

 Ok fellas, ive sawed up the walnut that I had laying around. It was dry, cut really nice. Had a guy wanting 300 bf. Told him I was out and would have to harvest a tree. He said that was fine, I explained to him that it will be very green. Again, he didn't seem to mind. So Sunday afternoon I took down a really nice walnut. While I was sawing it down, I noticed it was dripping. A LOT! Enough to soak the stump. Limbed out a 12ft section and took it home. Guy came out and looked it over and was excited about it. So here is my question.... being that wet am I more likely to ruin those boards? Or should I just cut and stack? And secondly, can I sticker with pine? Thanks for any helpful info....JT

[ayerwood]

Just a few thoughts I had.  In your situation, and it happens more often than I would think, customers are fine with green lumber when it is understood ahead of time.  All of my lumber is green and very "wet" when it is milled.  I properly stack and dry with no problem.  I have even sent stickers, free of charge, with the customer so they can have the lumber right away and dry it at their place.  If this customer wants the lumber now, give him stickers and direction(timeline) for proper stacking to dry.  If no rush for customer to take possession, stack and dry as you normally would.  However, when green lumber is ok with the customer, I lean toward sending the lumber with stickers with them right away.  Then you don't have to worry about the customer changing their mind and not coming back later with your $$$.  Its happened a few times.

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

Was the exudation only at the butt end, or did you see it further up the tree?

[JamieT]

Thanks ayers, never thought of that! And Gene, it was only at the bottom. Your thoughts?

[mesquite buckeye]

Good old wetwood.

I have cut trees that squirt like a hose when you hit it. ;D

[Don_Papenburg]

Time to be making walnut syrup!!!

[WDH]

Walnut dries nice.  Hard to mess it up if you have good air flow. 

Like Red Oaks Lumber says, AIR FLOW, AIR FLOW, AIR FLOW. 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Walnut dries nice.  Hard to mess it up if you have good air flow. 

Like Red Oaks Lumber says, AIR FLOW, AIR FLOW, AIR FLOW.

R.O.is AIR FLOW.....HOT AIR FLOW.  :D

[WDH]

 

[JamieT]

I have a building with a spot that I can stack wood in. No sunlight, think I.should stack in there and plug up a fan?

[chopperdr47]

I had 600 bf of pecan stickered up in my basement for nearly 2 years before it was really dry. It being 2" thick was part of the reason. If you have a place to stack it outside with a plastic barrier between the stack and the ground and then tin on top might get it quicker. Thats what Im doing until I can do something different.

[JamieT]

Chopper, you just put a tarp down and stack on top of it? Have plenty of tin to cover with. Its the tin im using for the shed roof

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

The tree gets a bacterial infection that comes in through the roots and moves up the stem at about 1" a year.  It creates very high MCs, an unpleasant odor, and weakens the wood from an enzyme that the bacteria make.  There is methane gas produced.  This effect causes what you observed when you cut the tree.  When drying the wood, infected wood, being weaker, is prone to checking and splitting.

[JamieT]

  Started on the walnut today. Im gonna attempt to post a few pics. Bare with me. The first pic is of my dad running the mill. He couldn't stand just watching! The next few are just the color starting to come out  it was dark when i quit  but ended up with a 12x16x11 cant.   Ill post a few more later.

[WDH]

I love the way fresh milled walnut smells. 

[JamieT]

Im partial to the cedar...

[5quarter]

There's a handsome log. That's gonna give up some great lumber! Walnut dries pretty easy, but is prone to end splitting. seal up the ends and you'll be golden.  ;) Nice woods in the background, BTW

[Left Coast Chris]

Jamie, just curious, what HP and brand is your tractor?  My MF 135 is getting tired and I need to modernize.   Also, do you like it and how has the durability been?   I like the low profile and stout appearance.

It is amazing how important support equipment is.

Great looking log!

[mesquite buckeye]

Walnut is purdy. ;D

[backwoods sawyer]

Was milling up a batch of WRC along with a short fat black walnut that was on the mill when the control panel started shuttering and the head slowed way down and it was a slow crawl to the end of the cut. Hit six small cables that had been wrapped around the tree many moons ago, the short block got shortened, found another wrap of the cable, shorted the chunk up some more. :-\
I like cedar ;D   

[mesquite buckeye]

I've seen cedar containing valuable recyclable steel inside as well. ;D

[JamieT]

Had,a beautiful cedar log on the mill yesterday  got about 2 inches deep and giant black ants came out by the hundreds!

[mesquite buckeye]

Better than scorpions. ;D

[JamieT]

I agree , better than scorpions! But they did a lot of damage to that tree! My dad thinks they are wood carvers. I have no idea. All I know is they messed up my log and I wasn't happy about it!!

[mesquite buckeye]

The story is they only chew out rotten wood. While they may prefer rotten wood, I have seen tunnels in completely solid (otherwise) logs. Sort of like the story that subterranean termites only work dead wood. I stopped buying that line when they ate down several full size and growing corn plants in my field and saw them tunneling out from healthy trees. :-\