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Walnut tree

Started by Ianab, April 24, 2005, 04:53:53 AM

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Ianab

Friends new house is completed and she is doing the grounds, decided a big walnut tree had to go. (was blocking the view of the mountain). Anyway I knew the tree, it's about 30" dia, but only about 2 ft to the first branch  ::)
Anyway being a glutton for punishment I figure there must be some nice coffee table tops in there someplace, and a ton of bowl turning blanks.

Before



I haven't got down to the big crotches yet, thats what I'm really after  ;)



But these ones are interesting enough.



Got a heap of smallish bowl blanks - a ton of firewood - and most of the tree is still standing.
Back at it tomorrow before the crazy digger driver removes it his way  >:(

One day I'll find one like this thats actually got a trunk on it thats worth milling  ::)

Cheers

Ian


Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Ironwood

Just like oysters, don't know if you get a grain of sand or a beautiful pearl until you open it up. We're a playing the averages until we hit.

                             REID
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

Timburr

Wow, yes Ian, you have plenty of scope for crotch slabs with all those big multiple boughed forks. 8)

Have you a slabber with that Peterson of yours ???

What breed of walnut is it? Is it native to NZ or an import?

You have a WIN, WIN, WIN situation there, your freind gets her view, you get the timber, and your 'crazy digger driver' will get his way if you let him dig up the stump after you've had the top :D .... for those fantasticly figured grained gunstock blanks. 8)

Tim
Sense is not common

Ianab

Hi Tim

I'm not sure of the type of walnut, it not a NZ native thats for sure.. I'd guess it's a European species bought over by the early settlers. They are quite common around here growing around old homestead sites and they self seed prolifically. The nuts are real small and hard, not really worth the effort of cracking them open.
I dont have a slabber on the Peterson so I'm just freehanding it into slabs and turning blanks ::)
I can surface them up after they are dry with the Router on Rails I've just built  :)

And I hadn't thought about the stump... I'll get him to dig it up and roll it aside and let the rain wash the dirt off it thru the winter then see what it looks like then.

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

populus

Beautiful wood, and it sure looks like it has plenty of crotches.

The tree looks like English walnut, Juglans regia (also called Carpathian or Turkish walnut). It has the smoothest bark of all walnuts. It is the commercial source of nuts, but obviously the trees in NZ must not have come from strains selected for nuts.

Timburr

Ian

If its a European species its probably juglans regia....Heartwood rich greyish-brown, often with patches of dark brown, black or paler brown that give it a lively attractive figure. It has irregular dark streaks and the sapwood is a very pale greyish brown. :P
Walnut is native to the Pyrenees (Spanish - French border), The Central Massif- France and the Italian- France border (lower Alps). It is planted all over southern Europe though, and even in south of Britain. But here, it really is at its northern limit. It has been planted here since the Roman Times (2000 years ago)

Most of the walnut here in the U.K. is whole tree harvested, roots and all. The roots are deemed by most to be the most valuable, 'cos of their highly figured swirly grain. 8)

I envy you Ian, although I have milled everything else, have yet to enjoy the experience of walnut. Its comparitively rare here, but I do have some growing. Maybe I wil get the chance when I'm 120!! :D :D

YOu will be inundated shortly. America is waking up now and you know how passionate they are about walnut. ;D :D :D ;D

Tim 
Sense is not common

MemphisLogger

Ian,

I love your freehand slabs! I like to saw 'em while they stand sometimes too  ;)
Scott Banbury, Urban logger since 2002--Custom Woodworker since 1990. Running a Woodmizer LT-30, a flock of Huskies and a herd of Toy 4x4s Midtown Logging and Lumber Company at www.scottbanbury.com

UNCLEBUCK

That is beautiful looking wood . Did you really mill that up free hand or did you plop it on your mill?  What you going to make with those boards ?
UNCLEBUCK    bridge burner/bridge mender

Ianab

Went and sawed up some more slabs today  :)
Just had to show they were hand cut - they aren't all that good, I just dont post the pics of the ugly ones  :D







Looking at my tree book I think it's actually Juglans mandschurica (Manchurian Walnut). From Manchuria strangely enough  :P It seems to have the same magnetic properties of your Balck Walnut though. Managed to find 3 small nails   >:( I've still got a couple of filings left in that chain  ::)

This is a closeup of the wood, fairly neat grain and colour when fresh cut.



I've cut a heap of bowl blanks and hope the small slabs will work for coffee table tops. They are stacked up to dry in the shed now. I've tried to cut the pith out as much as possible so hopefully I can dry them in one piece.

Cheers

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Buzz-sawyer

So, you are saying you cut the pith outta it today??? ;)
    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!

etat

 :D :D :D   8) 8) 8)
Old Age and Treachery will outperform Youth and Inexperence. The thing is, getting older is starting to be painful.

Ga_Boy

Ian,

Good show!   8) 8)



Mark
10 Acers in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Ianab

The big stump got a reprieve this weeknd - rained off  >:(

Sliced up some of the small chunks we cut last weekend on the bandsaw to see what it looks like.

very purdy  :)




Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Timburr

Wow. Ian, that walnut has some pretty flamboyant grain smiley_thumbsup Spectacular!! Gud stuff.  ;)
I'll see if I can arrange for the rain to clear for you smiley_sun :D That walnut warrants your care and attention!

I HATE marmite, but my father eats it daily...Marmite has a very pronounced 'Love it or Hate it' marketing campaign here and has become very successful here 'cos folks want to try it to see if they 'love' or 'hate' it.

Tim
Sense is not common

leweee

Quote from: Timburr on May 01, 2005, 07:59:18 AM

I HATE marmite, but my father eats it daily...Marmite has a very pronounced 'Love it or Hate it' marketing campaign here and has become very successful here 'cos folks want to try it to see if they 'love' or 'hate' it.

Tim


Just like GRITS over here :D :D :D
just another beaver with a chainsaw &  it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse.

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