Best milling strategy for English walnut?

[sumpnz]

Folks I know took out and English walnut to make ways for an addition to their home.  I've gotten roped into milling some for him.  This will be CSM.  2 logs, one 15' (probably will cut into 2x 7.5') and one just under 8' that were millable.  25-28" diameter at the butt end with a crotch at the other end on both logs (tree was a school-marm).  With my AK mill I can do up to 32" wide so I'll have to trim the crotch ends to fit that capacity.  The sapwood is pretty wide unfortunately, which is partly why I'm looking for advice.  If it was only like 2" of sapwood I'd do 10/4 or 12/4 (so it could also be re-sawed later for non-tabletop type furniture uses) live edge slabs oriented to expose the crotch figure.  But with the large amount of light sapwood I wasn't sure if that was still a good idea.

Should I still do 10/4 slabs?  Or 6/4 to target 5/4 or 4/4 after surfacing for furniture?  Anything else I need to consider?  Should I bother edging, or leave the live/natural edge?

I'll probably be taking it home to stack and sticker for however long it takes to dry.  I'll figure out tomorrow if I'm going to just buy the wood from them (mostly for my labor), or if I'll help my friend sell the lumber after it's dry and get a cut for my labor.

[sumpnz]

Pictures.

 

 

[sealark37]

Fuming the slabs/boards after sawing will turn the sapwood dark.

[sumpnz]

Well, good news is he's giving me the logs!

How does one fume/steam the wood?  Does that have to be done while green?

[JoshNZ]

Sheesh you guys have a funny way of measuring wood :D Why is the sapwood thickness changing your strategy are you worried about tension?

It is a shame the heart is small, I'd definitely still cut across the crotch as you suggested. Thickness will depend on your final intention. I don't think large sap bands are a problem other than appearance. I found one terrible log in my stack with probably a 4" heart inside a ~20" log and I put it aside for ages thinking it would be a crabby tensioned old thing to mill. When I did get to it it behaved better than most of my other logs.

I've heard of steaming walnut to darken the sapwood. Don't know anything about it sorry, Google might help you there.