Harvesting a Nice Black Walnut Tree

[Spanky]

I need to saw a log and take pics to show where the high grade lumber comes from on a log. I can show you how the grade will drop the deeper you go on a log. All logs will have knots from limbs. The first log on a tree will have knots deep in the log. It had limbs on it when it was small, the limbs overtime have fell off. But the tree has grow over them so you think it want have any knots. But they are there. 

 

[Mark J]

9 minutes ago, Spanky said:

I need to saw a log and take pics to show where the high grade lumber comes from on a log.

I would like to see that.

[Chestnut]

I get sawing for grade but i think to some extent grade is hogwash. The panels i just processed came from a log that would get a curled upper lip and a look of disdain from a pro such as yourself. The log wasn't even 4' log so it'd never have met any grade. I think it might have met the 33% clear but that's iffy. I could have probably gotten a 2' x 3" clear board out of it but again iffy.

You need to sell large quantities so grade means a lot to you and to the people that buy from you. Just because it meets F1F ot FAS doesn't mean that it's the best looking lumber some times 3COM is beautiful. The guys that use a lot of lumber don't want to mess with 3Com though. I buy FAS or F1F for that reason but sometimes i like a showy piece so i have to go to Joe Backyard Mill look at mill run and pick by the piece.

[Spanky]

Chestnut thats true. Some people want the lower grade lumber with knots. But the money in the upper grades not the junk lumber. Most woodworkers want the good grade of lumber.

[Spanky]

You will have junk lumber trying to cut the high grade lumber. All logs have junk lumber.

[Chestnut]

I was worried you'd take offense to that glad you didn't. I have a natural talent for being offensive....

I do agree with that.

I never thought about where the higher grade lumber came from it was an oh duh moment when you said it comes from the outside of the lower trunk. Now that you say that it seems so obvious.

I think i'm just bitter about NHLA grading because i believe like it's lead to us getting steamed walnut, which isn't bad, but the prices are so high that graded unsteamed walnut is impossible difficult to get. I prefer the subtle colors in the unsteamed variety., even though they honestly aren't that much different after finish. They are close enough that i feel comfortable using them both on the same project. IIRC you don't get the steaming effect from your kiln?

[Spanky]

I don’t stream any of my walnut lumber.

The overseas market bidding on the good walnut logs are why we all cry at the price. I cry at the junk walnut log prices myself. The good white oak logs are the same way too. It’s all about the money!

If you like cherry lumber and have room to keep it,  I would be buying it up now. I have seen the day that a good cherry log was $3 to $4 per ft in the log going overseas. Not so know, but that day will come cherry will be red hot.  

[Chestnut]

24 minutes ago, Spanky said:

I don’t stream any of my walnut lumber.

The overseas market bidding on the good walnut logs are why we all cry at the price. I cry at the junk walnut log prices myself. The good white oak logs are the same way too. It’s all about the money!

If you like cherry lumber and have room to keep it,  I would be buying it up now. I have seen the day that a good cherry log was $3 to $4 per ft in the log going overseas. Not so know, but that day will come cherry will be red hot.  

Man mill run cherry is everywhere around here. If i pushed i could probably get some for $0.75 a BF but i'd have to buy everything they've got which is probably in the thousands of BF.

[Spanky]

7 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

If i pushed i could probably get some for $0.75 a BF 

I would say you can for log run green lumber. I can buy log run out of the cherry log pile for 0.50 per ft. or pick my cherry logs for a $1 per ft. They had some big good cherry logs a few days ago. I was looking for a curly cherry log but no luck on one.

[Coop]

2 hours ago, Spanky said:

I need to saw a log and take pics to show where the high grade lumber comes from on a log. I can show you how the grade will drop the deeper you go on a log. All logs will have knots from limbs. The first log on a tree will have knots deep in the log. It had limbs on it when it was small, the limbs overtime have fell off. But the tree has grow over them so you think it want have any knots. But they are there. 

 

It appears that I taught you well !

[Spanky]

10 hours ago, K Cooper said:

It appears that I taught you well !

Coop I need to take a few woodworking classes from you too. Can I trade lumber for the class tuition fee?

[Coop]

Even if you traded SYP, you’d be getting the raw end of that deal. 

[Spanky]

1 hour ago, K Cooper said:

Even if you traded SYP, you’d be getting the raw end of that deal. 

I don’t think so! I have seen some of your work. Inspector 12 say you was good. 

[Coop]

On 12/28/2018 at 6:14 PM, Spanky said:

I need to saw a log and take pics to show where the high grade lumber comes from on a log. I can show you how the grade will drop the deeper you go on a log. All logs will have knots from limbs. The first log on a tree will have knots deep in the log. It had limbs on it when it was small, the limbs overtime have fell off. But the tree has grow over them so you think it want have any knots. But they are there. 

 

Rickey, I never thought of it that way. I always assumed that closer to the middle and the furtherest from the sap, the better. Makes sense. Thanks. 

[Spanky]

Coop the junk wood on hardwood in the middle of the log. The good lumber on a red cedar in the middle of the log. You dont want any lumber out of the middle of a log.  They cut crosstie’s and pallet cants 4” X 6” out of the middle of the logs. 

[Brendon_t]

On 12/29/2018 at 7:13 AM, K Cooper said:

Even if you traded SYP, you’d be getting the raw end of that deal. 

Oh come on Ken. You we could give the master class on turning primo hardwood into fire wood! 

[Coop]

 I do have that uncanny ability. Thanks for the reminder 

[Brendon_t]

19 minutes ago, K Cooper said:

 I do have that uncanny ability. Thanks for the reminder 

You do great work, don't let that California idiot hurt your feelings

[Bmac]

Real quick follow up in regards to my lumber stacks. My air drying stacks are located in an area that is relatively open to prevailing winds and shaded in the summer. In the winter months when the leaves are not on the trees the stacks receive significant sun which can be a problem. Direct sun on the wood can cause drying that happens too quickly, and you end up with surface checking. Oak is notorious for drying slowly and developing surface checking. One way around this problem is to use a sunscreen that shades the wood but permits air flow. I use the screens that you will commonly see on fences of athletic fields. I can get this pretty cheaply on ebay or Amazon and I can order it in 4 ft heights to pretty much match the height of the stack. 

Here's the stack of White Oak I just milled, and covered and wrapped, ready for at least 2 years of sitting and drying;

Here's another photo, I don't bother to wrap the north side of the pile;

Final photo of my main drying area, I have a few other lumber stacks on my property, but these are my newest ones. The ones in the foreground are a year old and you can see one that I'm in the process of filling up. You can see on the half completed stack how the one part of the pile is hit with a lot of sun. I'm going to protect that if I don't mill more lumber soon:

Winter is, in my opinion, the best time to mill if air drying. Your air drying will start out slower in the cold winter months and the colder temps help prevent mold growth. 

[Brendon_t]

Super jealous of all those stacks. I'd love to have a few white oak logs to mill.

 

[pkinneb]

Man you have a lot of projects sitting there  

Do you have to be concerned with snow or rain on the sides of the stacks? Also is the process the same for live edge slabs and saw 8/4 boards?

[Bmac]

4 hours ago, Brendon_t said:

Super jealous of all those stacks. I'd love to have a few white oak logs to mill.

 

I know I'm lucky to have the access to the wood and the land. It's a blessing. 

3 hours ago, pkinneb said:

Man you have a lot of projects sitting there  

Do you have to be concerned with snow or rain on the sides of the stacks? Also is the process the same for live edge slabs and saw 8/4 boards?

I really don't worry about rain or snow. These will get a little wet but that isn't going to hurt it. I try to overhang the roofing a few feet to block most of it. It's also one reason I don't make my stacks super high. The higher the stack the more you need to overhang the roofing. Shorter stacks IMHO are easier to maintain. The sunscreen material does deflect some rain and snow but that is not the main purpose. I dry my 8/4 and 10/4 in the same piles and just let everything sit for 2 years before I start taking it apart. The 4/4 should be dry in a much shorter time than that, but now that I've built up a stash I'm more patient. If I didn't have the stash I have i'd likely try and keep the 4/4 stacked separately for quicker access. If these stacks were getting kiln dried than I think you would need to have like thicknesses stacked together. 

With live edge, and I have some, which was mainly crotch pieces,  stacked in these piles too. You can do boule stack which is just log stacked outside and basically stacked together the way it was in log form, keeping the top bark cover slab as the "roof". Cremona does this with a lot of his big logs.