A Whack Of Walnut

[Tree Feller]

A friend of mine has 183 acres and runs a Beefmaster cow/calf operation. He has several acres of woods and lots of walnut trees in those woods. Unfortunately, the walnut trees are dying off.

Last year we cut down a half-dozen dead walnuts and I hauled the logs to a sawyer for milling. I got about 700 bf from the logs. Some of them were pretty far gone with the sap wood completely rotted off.

The bunch we cut today, while dead, were in much better shape. The bark had slipped on the bigger trees and some of the smaller stuff is marginal but we got a couple of nice piles to mill when I get my saw back from the mfg...on a trailer.   ;)

There are some larger, nicer dead walnuts that we are cutting tomorrow from his sister's adjoining land. She said I could have them, also. I think a couple of walnut bowls and possibly a blanket chest will be coming her way soon as a thank-you.

My friend is the one on the tractor. I'm not in any of the pics. The logs are all 8.5 ft. long except for two short ones that the power company cut and left. They are both just over 4' long but still great for a woodworker.



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 

[scully]

anything you can get out of those will be well worth the effort ! I would be all over an opertunity like that !

[Ironwood]

The heartwood will last a long time in that condition, there should alot of good wood still in them.

Ironwood

[ND rancher]

Boy I wish I could cut some walnut some day! Maybe I should see if in10sity could bring some up here from s OK.

[Handy Andy]

  Is it the drought that is killing the trees?  I dug in a new hydrant a few days ago, it was dry to the bottom of the hole.  Hard digging.

[Larry]

Looks like Texas walnut is the same as every place else...covered with vines.  Poison ivy or grape?

[LeeB]

Looks like poison ivy to me. You beat me to it Larry.

[drobertson]

 You have to love the small loads of logs, not much mud, and where there is no mud there is vines to cover the  void.  Get ready for the walnut aroma,  it's not so bad, just walnut.

[WDH]

Yeah, I was thinking that the first log pictured was from the species Juglans nigra var. poison ivyus  :D.

That is one fine (very very fine!) Christmas present  8).

[Tree Feller]

Looks like Texas walnut is the same as every place else...covered with vines.  Poison ivy or grape?

Probably both but the grape vines were the killer, I think. Most every tree had one as big as my arm growing up it and there was one that was as big around as my leg...biggest grapevine I've ever seen.

Neither of us is bothered by poison ivy which is a good thing.   

[dboyt]

I see a nice wide crotch in one of those photos.  You might consider cutting it off and milling it separately, and slab cut it sideways as wide as your mill will allow.  I predict some nice grain in there.  Here's a small piece I did, to give you an idea.  I love cutting walnut!



  

 

[thecfarm]

Nice looking wood.
I was claiming back a small field here,full of poplar,with grapevines growing up into the trees. Not as big as your wrist, but I had to cut the vines so the some of the trees would fall.

[Magicman]

Very nice book match.   

[WDH]

Walnut crotches hold up nice thru drying.  Pecan crotches, on the other hand (pecan = ), tend to split.  Some species are more crotchety than others, just like some Forum members  .

[Tree Feller]

We cut and stacked a bunch more today...about the same amount as yesterday but it went a lot faster because the trees were in the open.

We only cut two trees but one had three main trunks and the other, largest, tree had four main trunks...about 18" diameter. That one was right on a fence line and I did some pretty nifty falling to put them where we wanted without damaging anything.
There were a couple more crotches, too, so I hope to get some nice crotch figure out of the lot. I have a project waiting that needs it.