I have a tree...now what???

Actually, 2 trees. Both walnut about 24" diam.

Had a dozer knock them both down and I have already limbed them.

I want to cut it so that stock blanks can be made. A friend of mine just bought a saw mill and we are going to hack it up ourselves but we havent a clue as to how.

I would assume(that word usually cost me) that the "burl" wood would be found in the root ball area?

I have heared the term "quartersawn". Is that the way to start and what the heck is it?

How thick, long and wide should I start with?

How do I dry it?

I would greatly appreciate any help, suggestions or info you could give.

Steve

Here's a quick tutorial.http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Lumber.html

Be sure to stack it and seal the ends immediately after cutting to reduce warpage and splitting.

Good luck.

Larry
Tinkerer

Thank you Larry,

Any idea on what to seal the ends with?

Steve

You can seal it with TAR, AUTO UNDERCOAT

Our 3” thick large walnut slabs are air dried after cutting. It takes 3 full summers to air dry a slab. Our slabs are listed by cut date and by average size. We have over 100 walnut slabs in our inventory at any given time and almost none stay unsold long enough to dry fully. After 1 summer of air drying we can kiln dry for you in our Nyle de-humidification kilns, however this is a slow process that usually takes 3-4 months. Of course you are welcome to buy them as is and dry them yourself . Please call us with any questions and to get freight quotes. We ship regularly throughout the US and have substantial discounts with the freight companies.
http://www.gobywalnut.com/catalog/wood-slabs-c-20.html

I saw that info on the above website... Looks like a lot of work to get the wood ready. I guess if you look
around the net you may be able to find out what you have to do to the wood.

Tom
SW Pennsylvania

Now that i think about it, the wood will have to DRY OUT for at least a year unless you have access to a drying kiln the best thing to do before you start to saw up your logs is to find a local stock maker and work a deal with him as you will have to wait as i said for the wood to dry.
The stock maker can advise on how to cut the wood for best effect and IF your wood is a figured walnut he may want to buy the wood from you, who knows you may come out on the good end of the deal.
You know how it goes YOU STEP IN SxxT AND COME OUT SMELLING LIKE A ROSE.

There are special products (available at woodworker supply, woodcraft, etc.) to seal green wood and reduce checks/splits/warps and I suppose that would be the best but about any type of non-porous finish would work (you are going to cut it off anyway when you get down to making stocks). Asphalt sealer works, one of my buddies uses latex house paint, another one uses shellac.

Stack it so air can circulate, seal the ends, keep rain etc. off and try to keep it someplace where the temp doesn't change too rapidly.

Good diagrams of how you can "quartersaw" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_sawing

Good figure can be sometimes be found where there are forks (crotches), etc. bust most of the time it is just random.

True burls are usually the result of damage (insects, lightning, etc.) or fungal infections. Lots more underground than on the trunk, if you see ugly "tumors" on the trunk it might be a burl. Not good for gun stocks anyway (difficult to work and prone to splits).

You can look for a commercial hardwood processor and perhaps sell the whole tree to them and use the proceeds to buy the wood or stock that you want. Obviously you won't get as many slabs, but you won't be hacking up a tree and ruining some otherwise valuable lumber.

I realize that this would kill the "I did it myself" satisfaction, but as others have written, it's not an easy or fast process,---- or foolproof. Good luck on your quest and let us know how it turns out (pictures). Steve

I have been following the links given here and reading up on the whole mess. I should have it slabbed by next weekend and already cleaned a corner of my shop to stack it. Who knows, maybe seven years from now, when the slabs are ready, my son will want to build a stock. :D

I appreciate everybodys help.

Steve