I Need some advise

[TerryT]

I got a call from a friend that owns a tree service business telling me that he has a customer that wants a tree removed from his yard. Not unusual, except, this is a black walnut 40 inch diameter at the base and 100 feet tall. lots of 8 inch plus branches. At least that is how he described it. He thinks he knows a guy with a mill that may slab the tree pretty inexpensively. Nothing is set yet, but he idicated my only cost might be some carved plaques for some of his better customers. So I will know more later but I am excited about it.

My questions are; Does anyone know how long I would have to dry it before it could be used for carving? Anyone have a quick way to estimate the BF in that size tree?

Can it be dried in a green house? I have a couple of greenhouses that even in the winter can hit 100 degrees on a sunny day. Or would a green house be too humid to dry it much?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[RogerB]

Terry it takes 1 year for a 1 inch thick to dry for air dry. In a green house if you run dehumidifers and it would make a big diffrents.Make sure that you stick you wood as you pile for air to flow threw.You just found a little gold mine.

[badbert]

The guy that owns the mill can probably dry it. And he knows how to sticker them properly. With that kind of quality, it may be worth your while to leave it to the professionals. You would still be Thousands ahead! Good score!

[mtylerfl]

Anyone have a quick way to estimate the BF in that size tree?


Hi Terry...here's a link to an online calculator I stumbled upon after a quick Google...

http://americanstavecompany.com/boardfootcalc.html

[b.sumner47]

Terry , Make sure that you seal the ends so the board drys from within should not splint at the ends, paint works fine. Good luck, Nice find.


Capt Barry

[bjbethke]

I got a call from a friend that owns a tree service business telling me that he has a customer that wants a tree removed from his yard. Not unusual, except, this is a black walnut 40 inch diameter at the base and 100 feet tall. lots of 8 inch plus branches. At least that is how he described it. He thinks he knows a guy with a mill that may slab the tree pretty inexpensively. Nothing is set yet, but he idicated my only cost might be some carved plaques for some of his better customers. So I will know more later but I am excited about it.

My questions are; Does anyone know how long I would have to dry it before it could be used for carving? Anyone have a quick way to estimate the BF in that size tree?

Can it be dried in a green house? I have a couple of greenhouses that even in the winter can hit 100 degrees on a sunny day. Or would a green house be too humid to dry it much?

Any advice would be appreciated.
Drying wood in your Green houses should work great. I like to make my lumber stacks four foot by eight foot and four foot high. Build a drying frame around the stack to control the air flow, See images below. You need to move the air through the stack.

This gives you 32 BF per layer. I like to use 1x1 inch 4.5 foot stickers. This gives space between the boards.

If you air dry it outside it takes about a year to dry. For signs 12% is OK for me, but for cabinets 6% is better. With fan control and a warm room (80-90 degrees) it should dry with in three to six months. It all depends on the wood type. Oak takes a longer time. You don’t want to dry it too fast or you will get checking or cracks. Run your fan in the day time only. (Put it on a timer).

Don’t work too hard we want to see you live.

[Bigtyme]

I agree with bjbethke on all counts. I have had lumber milled and air dried for years and it may take a little lomger, but you can't beat the price. The moisture content is very important of the lumber that you are going to use. Typically wood that has a moisture content above 8% to 10% continues to be free moving as the cell structure still has too much moisture. Once the moisture content gets below 8% the cell structure has dried enough to be stabilized. This is extremely important when you join any of the wood for larger projects. Single boards with too much moisture can warp or twist, but joined boards can split apart and can do it quickly and loudly. A saw a table blow apart after being in place for 6 months in a board room. It split so violently, it set off the motion detector. I checked the moisture content and it was 11% which meant it was still moving. I was hired to build the new top and was amazed at how much the original moved....

I also agree with bsummer that painting the ends of the logs is very very important to help withy even drying and minimizing splitting.

You made a great score on the walnut Terry. Congratulations, it sounds like some gresat future project material.

[TerryT]

Thanks for all the pointers, guys. I appreciate it.

[henry1]

That would be nice setup for drying lumber

[mcQ]

Nice find, you have several thousand board ft in a tree that size, you may want to find someone with a commercial kiln as you have far to much for a small home kiln. Also, find someone experienced dring walnut as
they usually steam it to even out the sapwood and minimize cracking.

Erwin
Erwin Products
DUST DEVIL, OEM FIT FORM AND FUNCTION
http://www.erwinproducts.com/erwin_products_004.htm

59469

[chevytrucking]

99% of the wood I use for projects comes from local sawmills. Most of it, are from logs I haul in.
My suggestions:

If I'm after 8' boards, I usually cut my logs at 9' to leave some room for trimming checked ends later. However, how often do really make something with a full length 8' board?

Cut the tree in winter while the moisture content is naturally lower.

Stickering is VERY important! Be sure to even put a sticker at the very end of each layer, I've had the last foot or so unsupported before and had to trim the warped ends off later because of it. Wasted a bunch of wood. I like 1" cedar stickers, they don't leave stains or react with boards as much.

I have a garage sale ceiling fan hanging high above the stack on the lowest speed to keep air moving.

Seal the ends of the logs right away, old latex house paint or even that black driveway sealer works.

Sweep off any sawdust from the mill when stacking green boards or you might get mold and stains on the boards (especially with oak).

Make sure the sawyer gives you plenty of thickness. They charge by the board foot, so if they cut the whole stack on the thin side, they get to charge you for more boards. Anything less than 1" thick still charges the same, so it's in their advantage to push the limit. Problem for you though is, the boards will shrink as they dry and it's easy to end up with a board than will only come out of your planer at 5/8" instead of the 3/4" you were expecting. Trust me, learned the hard way on this one.

Lastly, the mills I've worked with will cut the lumber for free if you'll split the boards with them. On cedar, you'll only get about 40% of the boards, oak about 50/50. With walnut you should ask for about a 60/40 split in your favor, maybe even more if it's really good stuff. You get more lumber than you can use in years for free this way.