sawing pecan

[charles mann]

would it be worth while to mess with a pecan in the 36" or less range? i had log given to me, not sure how long it had been down, or standing dead. there wasn't much of the heart remaining, mostly spongy with some worm holes. didn't mess with it, turned it into cooking wood. i got a lead on a blow down from harvey last yr, that is still alive and producing. the guy who told me about it said it was big, and i asked if 36" or greater, and he said at least 36". i do have an alaskan mill, but not sure if its worth my time to drive 3hrs to houston and 3 hrs back for something not worth some peoples time to mill it. 

[sealark37]

Pecan is very hard.  Did I say very hard?  It is hard.  It tends to twist and cup if not dried properly.  That said, it is very attractive for cabinet work and paneling.    Regards, Clark

[bwstout]

I have a lot of pecan, I have a friend that has a plantation and I  get a lot of trees from blow downs. This past year had two trees that were struck by lighting. When I go them they fungus growing out the sides. Pecan will spalt and be pretty These trees were not to hard they milled easy. But as stated those that I have milled a green and let dry are hard you almost need a jack hammer to use as a tool to turn a bowl ;D that said. Here is a pick of the last one that I cut that was lighting struck and left standing for a year the hart wood is still ok and it has spalted. As you can see with the hammer and wedge it almost was too big for my mill. I can cut 32" wide.  I cut it in 2 and 3 inch slabs for table tops and benches. I think if you have use for it and the wood is not too punky you can turn or build some nice pieces out of it.


 

[charles mann]

bwstout, thanks. That was the info i was looking for.

[bwstout]

when I can I will pull a slab out and wet take a pic post it

[charles mann]

when I can I will pull a slab out and wet take a pic post it

A couple pecans iv got to get milled. 
Got a call from a client on my maint side business, asking if i want another pecan. Supposedly its HUGE, but even it isnt as big as whats on my yard now, i guess ill go get it and use my alaskan mill on it. 
I cant wait to slab into those big pecans and see what riches they are hiding beneath the bark. 

[charles mann]

Ok, so evidently, copy/paste from another thread doesnt work with pics on a phone.

http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=102281.60
Excuse the rest of my pics for the log arch buil topic.

[ljmathias]

I scored a couple pecan trunks a few years back- both over 36" so they had to be chain-sawed first to fit on my LT40. Problem was, it had been cut down some time before I got to it, clearing a lot for a house. My son and I milled it into 2" slabs and stacked it with stickers. Then I got carried away milling a bunch of other wood, stacked it 7 feet high on top of the pecan so I have no idea how it's turned out after air drying for a couple years. Good news is, the son is coming home over Thanksgiving and we've scheduled a pull-down and re-stack of that lumber to get down to the pecan. He wants to use it to make counter tops, which should work great given how hard it it. He wants to plane it on my 20" Grizzly- we'll give it a shot but I have my doubts.

Oh, and I did keep one slab out of the stack and tried to plane it with a hand planer before I got the grizzly. Didn't work so well, so I thought I'd just use a belt sander with a course belt- didn't even phase it. So it's standing in my barn waiting for something good to happen to it, kinda like I do some days.

LJ

[bwstout]

Wood Turners calls it "Pecan-Crete. You sharpen your tool turn a little and sharpen and sharpen, but if you can hang on it is pretty. You just take a beating ;D, but not too bad if you can cut the blank round first.