Advice on harvesting downed black walnut

[Curt_in_eastern_NC]

Hey guys.  I am a total newby at this logging and lumber business. About a year ago I purchased a farm home out in the country from a lady. The home sits on her 297 acre farm. Recently, I took the time to walk the woodsline and noticed a seemingly large number of black walnut that has toppled over the years. I counted about thirty that range from 12" to 30"+. The lady told me I could have any trees that had fallen. Is this lumber still good?  Where in my area can I find a market for it? What's the best way to saw it?  A thousand questions!! All I have right now is an ATV and a couple of chains and come alongs to drag some of the logs to my yard. BTW, I also plan to store and use some of this wood to produce marketable (hopefully) furniture. Will I need a kiln or is air dried good enough for furniture? I respect your opinions and encourage them. Hmmm, wonder if the community colleges offer courses in this field? Thanks for any help.

[whitepe]

Welcome Curt,

I am sure that you can get lots of useful wood out of those
downed black walnuts.  Probably lots of lumber and firewood
too.  Since you are totally new, it sounds like you don't have
a sawmill and I'll bet you do have a chainsaw. In the meantime, you could probably find
someone nearby that has a band mill that could mill some
lumber for you. If you have a small flat bed trailer you could
tow it to the down logs and with a couple of 4X4's you could
roll logs up the side of the trailer with a cable or chain
fastened at each end of the trailer and the center under
the log. Use your ATV to pull on the middle of the cable.
They will march up the 4X4's like little soldiers. I sometimes
use a come along to pull them up as well.
Air dried is good and kiln dried is even better.  A few finicky
woodworkers will only accept kiln dried but most will use
air dried. If you keep at it you will find that you have entered into a satisfying and rewarding endeavor.  Good luck, keep us posted and work safely.

Whitepe

[Tom]

When you find free wood and think you might be able to turn it into lumber don't say to yourself, "I'll come get the rest of it later."  I've done that before and when I returned found that someone else had taken the rest or that the landowner pushed it up and burned it thinking I was through.  When you are scavenging you have to have a little bit of a greedy spot inside of you somewhere. :D

I don't know about the longivity of Walnut, but heart wood stays around for a pretty good while and some woods are enhanced with spalting so you have everything in your favor to get what you can.

[Don P]

Welcome Curt,
I've sawn walnut that's been down several years with pretty good results, well worth the price you're paying, :D. It is a rot resistant wood, my brother in law has a bookcase he rescued from a roadside dump, when he scratched through the paint he saw it was walnut ;D

What area of eastern NC are you in? I think we have a forum member down near Fayetteville.

 NCSU has as well as a Forestry program, a Furniture Manufacturing and Management program that has a call in number staffed by students that answer or can get answers to questions related to furniture production, marketing, etc.  Their Industrial Arts woodshop used to be open to the public for personal projects, after meeting certain conditions, if you're close to Raleigh. They have kilns on campus as well as a kiln club, could probably point you in the right direction.
 

Community Colleges usually have woodworking programs. NC was second in the nation in furniture production last time I checked, I bet they have very good programs.