I got a line on a walnut tree. Now What?

[Martyn]

Hello fellow turners,
This is my first post and I'm new to turning but I think I've got it bad. I bought a Nova DVR a few months ago. Looking forward to turning bowls and other small projects. I got a line on a walnut tree that a friend has decided to take out of his yard. I told him I be interested in it and he said I could have it if I get it out of his yard before spring. Its too good to pass up. I have the ability to take it down and cut it up but I'm not sure what's the best way to keep it. I'm thinking of cutting into managable lengths and putting anchor seal on the ends for starts. I have to figure out how to keep it from checking and cracking till I can use it. I really don't have a good place to store it so was thinking of stacking the logs off the ground and covering with a tarp for the short term (few months). Can bowl blanks be cut and coated with anchor seal and set aside for 6 months or more and be Ok? I just ordered a book on turning green wood and hope I can find some answers there. Looking for advice from you guys that's been there and done that. Thanks

 

[Mike Schwing]

Walnut is no different in its storage characteristics than most of the other hardwoods that grow in the same regions. It resists spalting pretty well, about the same as cherry. It usually rots instead of producing appealing spalt.

I prefer to cut them into manageable sections - whole trunk if possible, and double coat the ends with anchorseal. I have about 20 walnut logs that have been stored for a year in this manner. Probably 95% of them are still pristine. They are stored outside under a tree out of direct sunlight. Rain will eventually wear the anchorseal away, so a double coat is a good idea, and examine them every few months for wear.

You may also do this with turning blanks pre cut to round shapes, but you will have larger losses. I would coat them all over instead of just end grain. If preferable, leave them in squares so the checks will be turned away or removed on the bandsaw.

Be prepared to have everything turn black when you rough them out - wet walnut stains fingers and clothes and steel. Also, the bright yellow cambia - just underneath of the bark, will stain everything, floors, etc.. bright yellow. I don't like turning walnut for these reasons (oaks either) and the logs I have will probably be cut up for the turning club for folks with less access to raw lumber than I have. Walnut dust also makes me quite stuffy. If you have never turned it before be careful as many people are quite allergic to walnut.

I prefer to store walnut (and most all) logs outside for several months prior to turning them so they dry out a good bit and don't sling so much water around during the roughing process.

Hope this helps some.

 

[Rick Prevett]

I had a 5" x 5" x 4" piece of walnut that was waxed all around in my shop for a year. I just put in on the lathe two nights ago, and it was like cuttin' through a swamp. Wet tools, wet shavings, wet, wet ,wet...

Don't let those *)##@ shavings sit on your ways for a minute! They'd just as soon stain your ways as look at you. Mike, what was your solution for removing that crap?

Anyway good luck, and remember, free wood is good wood.

rick

 

[WeeWilly]

You have a couple of options for storing the wood. First keeping the logs as large as possible does two things takes a long time to dry out and takes up a lot of space that you might not have. On the plus side of keeping it whole you won't have large amounts of checking and other problems you would if you split into more weight friendly pieces. Or your second option is too cut it into manageable sections and/or rough turn as much as you can.

For me I would leave the large limbs whole seal and dry them. When I have to break up the trunk I go ahead and make bowl blanks and or other rough cut pieces (that can be resawn from scroll work later) I would also make lots of pen size & larger blanks out of all the waste while making the bowl blanks.

 

[Dave Daniel]

Martyn,
I regularly get calls on available walnut trees from people that have bought my natural-edge walnut bowls. I have found it best to get the wood cut into transportable lengths and into the shop as soon as possible. Then the logs are cut into turning-blank length, split with the saw to remove the pith area, coated with anchorseal (completely except for the bark), and stored in large boxes in a cool, dry spot.
Doing it this way speeds the seasoning process, minimizes checking that I always got in logs with the pith intact, and I've got blanks ready to mount and turn (even if green).

 

[ab7cd]

I got a bunch of already cut logs from a lady at church, so big I could barely get two and three foot lengths into my truck. I had never heard, at that time of the commercial stuff you guys are putting on end grain, so I used beeswax disolved in turpentine. Has anybody done it that way? Any comments?

 

[Bob Hadley]

A few points to ponder:

First get a tire iron or something like it to whack the trunk to make sure it is not hollow. If it is, run far and fast from that tree! If not, read on…

I use "Green Wood end-grain sealer" on all cuts. This can be purchased from Rockler or Anchorseal (both the same thing as Anchorseal private label packages their sealer for Rockler). Beeswax and turpintine? Whatever works!

Unless the tree is rather small -- say 10 inches in diameter at breast height and not too tall – you should consider having a professional tree service remove it for you. If it is that small (10 or less) it is probably not worth the trouble as the amount of heartwood would be not that great. Anyway, unless the limbs will be firewood, you will need a chipper service to haul away the limbs or you'll need to rent a dumpster.

If the tree is decent size – say 16 inches in diameter or larger – then you should also seriously consider trying to extract the root burl. This is where some GREAT turning stock could be hiding. COOL! But the laws of physics apply (action = reaction, etc) in other words, extracting said burl could be a monumental task. I was privy to a burl removal project and they were about 3000 pounds each (from trees with 16 to 20 inch trunk diameters). As you can see from the photos (click link below, then click on "Walnut Burls"), removing these required a rather large loader/back-hoe. This may not be an option if the tree happens to be located in a homeowner's yard.

Even if you forgo the root burl, the log or bolts (short logs) can be really really heavy. Figure about 500 to 700 pounds for a 8 foot long log 16 to 18 inches in diameter. A couple of weeks ago I got a 7 foot long English Walnut log 18 inches in diameter at the big end. Loading it onto my truck required a forklift!

As or tuning green walnut: yes it stains everything, but it is beautiful. You can reduce the staining by allowing the blanks to dry out a couple of years. Properly waxed blanks will dry slowly and cracking will be minimal.

Photos: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bphadley@pacbell.net/my_photos