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What free wood did you find today?
- Thread starter woodtickgreg
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Took a hike back to that abandoned orchard again to do more exploring. Discovered that the orchard is much larger than I initially thought. Most of the trees are still alive, but a couple are dead. I did come away with a nice surprise from one of those dead trees though. A nice sized apple burl.
It came off the tree a bit weird as its semi hollow. I guess sitting dead for god knows how long made one of the growth rings separate. Thankfully I did get most of it. I think it will turn into some absolutely beautiful knife handles. For now I can just use it as a bowl in the interim
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It came off the tree a bit weird as its semi hollow. I guess sitting dead for god knows how long made one of the growth rings separate. Thankfully I did get most of it. I think it will turn into some absolutely beautiful knife handles. For now I can just use it as a bowl in the interim
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Add a handle and you got a ladle for a big pot of stew!! Nice find!!
Many of the old school apple varieties that grew bigger than 2' DBH often developed blistered growth. This could be a few spots or a large section. The larger sections is where we often got quilted apple, now a real rarity. The blisters are often very much the same as onion style burls. As with any growth, the term burl often brings the bigger bucks. I'd call it a burl. Nice find.
You are spot on in saying onion style. This doesn’t have the “eyes” like a traditional burl, but if you look closely at the edge you can see very tight quilting.
Volunteer work cutting down two walnut trees severely damaged due to a high wind storm. Wood was free for the taking. There's a third walnut tree that's hung up in another tree waiting for another trip when there's time to bring it down safely.
Current plans are to take the three 8' logs to a nearby bandsaw mill. Problem is I don't have much room to store more wood while it's drying. Wife suggested I cut the logs into boards for sale locally and let someone else deal with the drying. Any suggestions for a good rough cut board thickness that is most desired by flat woodworkers? Is walnut worth the trouble to qtr saw, or is it reasonable to just cut it all flat sawn?
Current plans are to take the three 8' logs to a nearby bandsaw mill. Problem is I don't have much room to store more wood while it's drying. Wife suggested I cut the logs into boards for sale locally and let someone else deal with the drying. Any suggestions for a good rough cut board thickness that is most desired by flat woodworkers? Is walnut worth the trouble to qtr saw, or is it reasonable to just cut it all flat sawn?
woodtickgreg
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I'd just flat saw it. 5/4 and 10/4 allows for shrinkage and milling to final dimensions.
Beautiful stuff by the way.
I can smell it from here.
Beautiful stuff by the way.
I can smell it from here.
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I agree with Greg. 5/4 or larger leaves room for movement and let the end user still get a solid 1" thick board. And I'd target furniture makers with the bigger boards, so 5/4 is what they'd be looking for.
Quartersawn is highly desireable, if your sawmill guy can do it. Yield won't probably be as high, but would probably sell faster. If I were closer I would bring my trailer up to pick up a load myself! Chuck
Quarters sawing is a pain on a bandsaw mill. I have studied on it and decided to only harvest the center cuts as quartersawn and go with the flow.
On sizes, 5/4 and 10/4 are good sizes. Be sure to end seal it. Walnut is pretty free about checking and cracking
On sizes, 5/4 and 10/4 are good sizes. Be sure to end seal it. Walnut is pretty free about checking and cracking
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woodtickgreg
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Quarter sawn is ok for oak or sycamore where your trying to bring out the modular rays, but kinda wasteful for other species, imo.
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Just to provide a comparison, this is how a flatsawn surface may look like (black walnut):
And this is a quartersawn surface (europen walnut as I had no good black walnut examples, but you get the idea):
Loads of tiny small "flecks" (medullary rays).
One may prefer the first or the second...
I must add that quartersawn boards are more stable.
Paolo
And this is a quartersawn surface (europen walnut as I had no good black walnut examples, but you get the idea):
Loads of tiny small "flecks" (medullary rays).
One may prefer the first or the second...
I must add that quartersawn boards are more stable.
Paolo
Good score Karl. Congratulations.
Rescued cherry and ash from a firewood pile and now resting comfortably in the queue. Will cut them all into billets and blanks soon.
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Wood species?
Had several trees taken down a few days ago. These are the few bits I kept.
Mulberry
Standing dead cherry
Ash, cherry, Norway maple and another flavor of ornamental maple (October Glory?)
Mulberry
Standing dead cherry
Ash, cherry, Norway maple and another flavor of ornamental maple (October Glory?)
Great collection of logs! Will you saw them into slabs? Chuck
No, Chuck, that’s all bowl/turning material.
Is free wood really free? I had two live oak logs sitting by the mill for 6 months now… Not any more. Milled them into slabs to make a heavy duty work bench and a shaving/bowl horse. It’s some heavy stuff. I can barely pick up one of those 2" slabs. I’m going through my “Free Wood” pile and trimming it up so that MAYBE I’ll make something out of some of it. I’ve got two more live oak logs waiting and a huge live oak that went down two years ago. The trunk on it is about 3’ in diameter and will produce about 10 more logs like I milled here. This Free Wood is going to kill me….
Alan
Alan
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