# Trash or Treasure?



## HomeBody (Jul 18, 2012)

I bought a trailer a couple of weeks ago. The seller asked what I planned on using it for. I told him if I get lucky, I'll use it to haul some walnut I can eventually turn into gunstocks. He said he had a walnut tree in his barn, cut into 2 logs. He said his dad cut it and put it in there 30 yrs. ago and I could have it as part of the trailer deal. Barn had a concrete floor and was fairly tight. 

The logs look like hell. Checks and cracks everywhere. My question: Will I find any good usable wood in these questionable logs cut 30 yrs ago? Maybe 50,000 pen blanks? Or just firewood? I plan on opening them up if it ever cools down. What's my chances? Gary

[attachment=7934]


----------



## Mizer (Jul 18, 2012)

Remember the old adage, don't judge a book by it's cover.:naughty:
Walnut logs will last a very long time. The sapwood will rot away but the heart wood is very decay resistant. If they are left in the full sun they will sometimes bust open but this does not look like the case with these two. Do you have a pic of the ends of the logs? That will give a better idea of the condition of the logs.


----------



## drycreek (Jul 18, 2012)

Okay they are trash just send them to my burn pile. What Mizer said!


----------



## CodyS (Jul 18, 2012)

your odds on it cooling down, probs pretty low for a while your best bet is to move to aus atm :fit:

I'll let someone else jump in to answer your questions.


----------



## EricJS (Jul 18, 2012)

Mizer said:


> Remember the old adage, don't judge a book by it's cover.:naughty:
> Walnut logs will last a very long time. The sapwood will rot away but the heart wood is very decay resistant. If they are left in the full sun they will sometimes bust open but this does not look like the case with these two. Do you have a pic of the ends of the logs? That will give a better idea of the condition of the logs.



I'll second what Mizer said. Walnut logs can sit for years & the heartwood will still be in good shape. Show us some pictures after you cut it up!


----------



## Kevin (Jul 18, 2012)

I agree with Mizer, but although they weren't in the sun I think there's a good chance they'll have checks throughout the log. Walnut air dries very easily in board form, but in log form most logs will wreck themselves to some degree if allowed to dry before milling. But walnut is a very friendly species to drying so it won't be near as bad as other more notorious species like oak or sweetgum etc. If those were white oak they'd almost certainly be junk because of the massive checks they'd have. 

But whatever the case there's usable wood there.


----------



## HomeBody (Jul 18, 2012)

Glad to hear you guys are confident there is at least some good wood in there. Have them all covered so can't take more pics right now of the ends.
I'll for sure post pics when I open them up. 

And right now it's the dead of winter on Aus. Must be nice to be cool. I'd run right over if you were closer. Gary


----------



## arkie (Jul 18, 2012)

HomeBody said:


> Glad to hear you guys are confident there is at least some good wood in there. Have them all covered so can't take more pics right now of the ends.
> I'll for sure post pics when I open them up.
> 
> And right now it's the dead of winter on Aus. Must be nice to be cool. I'd run right over if you were closer. Gary



In the worst case, there should be usable crotch figure or feather where the limbs come in. Only one way to find out whether it will make boards, grips or just pens.


----------



## HomeBody (Sep 15, 2012)

I finally got one of the crotches opened up. I shimmed up the crotch so that the piths on each end and the side branch were all in the same plane. Started with two 3/4" slabs then went for a 11/4 slab for a gunstock. I was half way through the cut when some bolts came out of the carriage and shut me down. I knew I'd never get the bar back in the exact same position to finish the cut, as you will see later.

[attachment=10659]
[attachment=10660]

The chain entered the crotch just above the pith for the gunstock slab. On the next pass, I took a 1" cut to eliminate the pith. It worked pretty well. On the final cut I took another 11/4 slab. Only a small amount of pith showed up in one of the slabs. One slab has too many defects (bug damage) for a stock but the other looked good. I laid out a stock and cut it out with my small chainsaw with a ripping blade.

[attachment=10661]
[attachment=10662]
[attachment=10663]

I'm thrilled that I got a nice crotch blank from my first walnut milling attempt. On the butt end of the slab, you can see the spot where my carriage came apart and I made the rest of the cut from the other end. This "step" won't effect the finished stock. There seems to be plenty of good wood in this tree, even though it's sat in a barn for 30 yrs. Gary


----------



## UpNorthWoods (Sep 15, 2012)

Purdy!


----------



## scrimman (Sep 15, 2012)

Uhhhh...guess the chances of you sending it down to me so I can put it in my 'burn pile' just got a lot slimmer, huh? 

That is some fabulous wood you've got there, hoss.


----------



## gvwp (Sep 18, 2012)

That old log looks great on the inside! Good score.


----------



## elnino (Nov 7, 2012)

Treasure!

great job!


----------

