Walnut Run


Pwk5017

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Took a gamble on a CL posting without photos this morning. Guy was selling poplar for $0.25 a bdft and walnut for $0.50. I figured it was cut a week ago and sopping wet, but I called anyways. Cut in the 70s and 80s and stickered in a barn where I found it today. All in all, most of it is actually pretty good stock. They are wide boards between 8"-16" and the 8/4-10/4 boards are all 15"+ which is unusual for what I typically buy. I stay away from air dried stuff for the most part, because I am terrified of introducing powder post beetles to my regular kiln dried inventory. The last thing I want is to save a buck and ruin $2000 worth of lumber by infecting it. This stuff will stay out in the garage and I'll get the thick boards and hopefully sell the rest for a bit of profit. 500 bdft total, I'm a little whipped after moving it twice  

 

I I haven't measured the thickness yet, but it annoys me a bit when backyard sawyers cut boards to 1"-1 1/16" and then it dries to 7/8"-1". This looked like it was right at 1", but I'll have to measure. It's fine if you are making 3/4" rails,stiles or face frames, but it starts to suck if you do anything else. Also, with these boards being 12-15" wide, it doesn't take much cup or twist before you are milling it to a sheet of paper. 

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27 minutes ago, JosephThomas said:

Nice find. Hopefully there aren't any bugs!

Yeah I know! This is 100% the reason why I never buy Cletus wood. I handled every board and did t see many signs of bug activity.  Thankfully the guy or sawyer looked like they stored it well in terms of being 2' off the ground, stickered, and under roof. I've also read that walnut heartwood is poisonous to most insects? Either way, it's not coming inside for fear it is infected. Is there any way to tell other than bug holes? I guess if it hasn't been munched on in 20-30 years then there's no reason to believe they would start now. I will go over it with more of a fine toothed comb tomorrow to see if there are any holes etc. 

 

any use with 4-6" wide 8/4 poplar? The guy had about 1000 bdft of it stacked in the barn. He had them cut for framing lumber. I suppose if I was making doors that might be ok, but unsure of other applications. Dont feel like renting another Uhaul and going back either. 

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Couldn't help myself, so I grabbed two boards and milled them. 11" wide and if they aren't sequentially cut boards, they are awfully close to one another. This has been the first time in a year and half that I worked with air dried walnut. Krenov has a point in that there is a definite difference in the color of the wood compared to kiln and steamed walnut. Can't comment on how the soul of the wood was left intact by air drying. 

 

This is where I get myself in trouble, because I'm not going to want to sell these nice wide boards and my wife is going to murder me for clogging up the garage. Plight of the married wood hoarder. 

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1 hour ago, Pwk5017 said:

Yeah I know! This is 100% the reason why I never buy Cletus wood. I handled every board and did t see many signs of bug activity.  Thankfully the guy or sawyer looked like they stored it well in terms of being 2' off the ground, stickered, and under roof. I've also read that walnut heartwood is poisonous to most insects? Either way, it's not coming inside for fear it is infected. Is there any way to tell other than bug holes? I guess if it hasn't been munched on in 20-30 years then there's no reason to believe they would start now. I will go over it with more of a fine toothed comb tomorrow to see if there are any holes etc. 

 

any use with 4-6" wide 8/4 poplar? The guy had about 1000 bdft of it stacked in the barn. He had them cut for framing lumber. I suppose if I was making doors that might be ok, but unsure of other applications. Dont feel like renting another Uhaul and going back either. 

I would focus my effort first on checking the sap wood. The only time I have seen bugs (excluding termites) in walnut was in the sap wood and it abruptly stopped at the heart wood.  

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Those boards look awesome, congrats. My wfe and I go back and forth about the wood hoarding as well...just keep making stuff and hear her out when she is unhappy about all the lost space, try to remind her you are making progress on project X that will go in such and such room, should keep her happy.

For the poplar, I imagine it would be super useful if you are making anything in the 'rustic' category...ie.. If you were looking to make a painted base for a farmhouse table or a rustic coffee table, it would be great for that. Struggling to come up with any other ideas though. 

As for bugs, I would just clean it up and then wait a couple days and then check for new holes or 'sawdust' residue from any new bug activity.

Once I had some redwood with a little termite damage.  I handled it this way:

1. Separate into 2 stacks, one with all the boards that had even the slightest sign of bug infection, the other all of the 'good stuff'.

2. Cut away and burned or tossed any pieces of wood with damage from the first stack.

3. Applied some light termite spray to both stack, and wrapped both stacks in light plastic to keep the chemicals from washing away immediately.

4. Applied more chemicals to the first stack a couple more times, kept it separate from the second stack forever.

5. Monitored both stacks for a few months before allowing it to sit anywhere near my other stuff. The first stack turned mostly into firewood anyway, but I didn't want it contaminating anything while it sat around.

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I've found that Tim-Bor or Boracare treatment works for powder post beetle and other wood destroying insects. Boracare is a liquid and Tim-Bor is a powder that needs to be mixed with water, but both are Borax based treatments. I've used it on Norfolk Island Pine with great success.

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On 8/13/2016 at 6:25 PM, ormonddmd said:

I've found that Tim-Bor or Boracare treatment works for powder post beetle and other wood destroying insects. Boracare is a liquid and Tim-Bor is a powder that needs to be mixed with water, but both are Borax based treatments. I've used it on Norfolk Island Pine with great success.

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I used this to save an antique workbench that had a pretty bad powderpost infestation. You apply Tim-bor with a spray mister, and its pretty foolproof. Cover all sides, and any beetles that emerge will die before they can travel to other wood. Its been two years now, and no evidence of beetles in any of my other lumber.

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