advice on a walnut tree needed

[fredhorace77]

You don't have to do the stock from one piece. Here is a post with a picture of a stock I did from a cherry tree I cut in the early 90's.

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3811066.msg36203452#msg36203452

The wood was cut into 1" boards and air dried for 20 years, albeit it was just standing on end in the garage. I planed the boards and glued five pieces together to get the blank for the stock. A friend of mine made it on his CNC mill and it has had problems with minor splitting at the fore-end joints. My friend said it was a combination of the poor quality glue I used along with the wood not being as dry as it needed to be. If 20 years won't dry 1" boards, I'd hate to take a chance on 4" thick ones.

The best bet is to use 1" boards and glue them up with good glue, but have them kiln dried if you want to do it in your lifetime.

your link is not working

 

[pdhntr]

Finally got this thing out of the ground a few days ago. Cut it off 14 to 16 inches above the crotch to find 10 to 11inches of heartwood in each side. Pleasantly surprised with the color of it, though I'm certainly no expert. Nice Dark browns and yellows when I wetted the saw cut. Counted roughly 50 rings in the heartwood on one of the limbs.

Digging the huge wad of clay out of the roots so I could get it up to the yard with the skid steer was an "interesting" experience.....

I'll update next spring when I get it cleaned up, trimmed, and find someone to mill it. If nothing else, I should be able to get a few laminates out of it.

I used to collect pieces of walnut trees, much like you are doing, and process them into blanks and 5/4 for laminating. I have all kinds of stories I could tell.

One of the most important things is that the root ball could have inclusions such as gravel, rocks or anything else the tree grew around. Even trimming the roots with a chain saw will not remove the inclusions. When the band saw hits them, it will dull the blade and that is an automatic $30 dollars for the guy that does my band sawing. He has to shut down, change the blade and recut in a different place. If it works great, sometimes it doesn't.

Then you have to store the blanks or 5/4 in a place that doesn't dry it too quickly. Drying too quickly will produce cracks that run laterally through the lumber, pretty much rendering it useless for stocks, but fine for smaller projects.

The crotch you pictured may look good when it is cut and green. When the blank or lumber cut from it dries it may open up or what is called "shake". The two trunks of the tree don't sway in the wind perfectly together, and there is cracks all over the junction of the two in the crotch. You can't see them when it is wet, but a year or so after cutting, the cracks will be there, and they are usually large enough that they can't be filled without being unsightly. Wood on each side of the crotch can be used, and it will usually contain some nice grain, but you have to figure out how to use it.

If you get something out of it, great. There is intrinsic value in something from your land.

My best luck has been cutting 5/4 lumber and drying that, then laminating. If you go that route, and need some tips, PM me and I would glad to advise.

 

[1shot]

Find the phone number for Ceicil Fredi in Las Vegas, NV. He is one of the best gun stock suppliers in the United States. He will advise you of what you need to do. Ceicil Fredi Gun Stocks, he has 1000's of stocks and is always traveling to find good wood.

He has a web site but his first name is spelled Cecil if you want to do a search for him.

Lloyd

 

[NewLiberty]

The last walnut I had cut was 4 years ago, I bought it out of a log yard. It was 42" across and 8 1/2' long with a crotch at one end. I build muzzleloaders for a living so I lay things out differently than you would for modern stocks. I got 6 or 7 planks 3" thick. I got 3 to 4 blanks per plank. I layed the blanks out to give me good grain structure in the wrist. With the crotch i the tree I got some good really hard wood with some figure in the buttstock as well as some curl for the full length in the balance of some stocks. I had it cut, hauled it home and painted the ends and the heavily figured areas and stashed it in the barn with stickers between the planks. I let it dry for 3 1/2 years before I started cutting blanks from it. Even with painting the ends I got alot of checks, which I suspected as the log was oozing sap when I bought it, it was early spring and the sap was running. Here's a couple guns I built from that log.

 

[woodgrain]

Based on my experience, having made numerous guitars and gunstocks, air dried wood is the most stable and least likely to bow, warp and twist, when processed. Kiln dried wood, of thicknesses greater than 1 inch tend to have stress issues, which lead to bow, warp and twist. Take Danny Biggs' advice if time and patience permits. Saw more blanks, then you expect you'll need, purchase a moisture meter in about 7 years and check moisture content. If you're lucky your wood will be usable in a few years!

 

[NewLiberty]

Rule of thumb one year of air drying per inch of thickness.

 

[woodgrain]

Rule of thumb one year of air drying per inch of thickness.

Descent rule of thumb,but so many variables come in to play. For instance, time of year a tree is harvested, the species of wood and the environment. Humidity or lack of definitely plays a huge role,as well as air circulation and temperatures. I don't rule out the old rule of thumb, but I do know thumbs vary in shape and size.

 

[John from MN]

Based on my experience, having made numerous guitars and gunstocks, air dried wood is the most stable and least likely to bow, warp and twist, when processed. Kiln dried wood, of thicknesses greater than 1 inch tend to have stress issues, which lead to bow, warp and twist. Take Danny Biggs' advice if time and patience permits. Saw more blanks, then you expect you'll need, purchase a moisture meter in about 7 years and check moisture content. If you're lucky your wood will be usable in a few years!

Between the original post and now I decided to let the wood air dry. I have several years worth of more pressing and practical projects to keep me busy between now and when the wood is ready to be worked with.

Time will tell if there's anything cool under the bark.

 

[NewLiberty]

Descent rule of thumb,but so many variables come in to play. For instance, time of year a tree is harvested, the species of wood and the environment. Humidity or lack of definitely plays a huge role,as well as air circulation and temperatures. I don't rule out the old rule of thumb, but I do know thumbs vary in shape and size.

Well, I've been doing this for 36 years and have built 354 guns with more to come. My methods have always worked for me and I'll continue on the way I always have. Generally I never get around to using most of the stuff I have cut for 5 or more years, sometimes 30. But, I have used 3" thick blanks after 3 to 4 years of air drying with no problems. You may not be able to get away with the 1 year per inch in some areas of the US like the Pacific NW or the deep south where humidity levels are high year round, but here in the Midwest the 1 year per inch rule works for maple, cherry and walnut assuming you have handled the planks correctly.
I have more problems with dimensional change at this time of year going from a high humidity environment to low humidity due to the heating season, this happens like clock work with any gun I happen to be stocking up this time of the year. The gun I'm finishing up now has shrunk so much while I was putting on finish that I have had to re inlet most of the parts when I reassembled. This piece of wood was kiln dried when I got it and has been inside my shop for at least 6 years.
I built a gun last spring with a walnut blank that was a floor joist in an old Iowa barn. The wood had to have been cut more than 150 years ago. BTW, it was dry....

 

[hogpatrol]

TAG, interesting thread. Those Fowler's are something else. We've come a long way.

Free plug for NewLiberty; http://www.fowlingguns.com/index.html

 

[Barlow]

Two years ago, a friend of mine cut a big (30") hard maple that was in his back yard. He told me that he could not split it into firewood. I told him he could and I would show him how to do it. It was colder than hell and I knew it would split. To make a long story short, it was curly from top to bottom. I don't mean a little curly, but a ton curly. It was cut up in 18" chunks, and I got a few for small projects. That tree was worth a lot of money, but he just didn't know what he had. Good luck with your walnut. Barlow

 

[6MMsteve]

if you kiln dry it will suck the good colors out of the wood, air dry will make it beautiful

 

[NewLiberty]

TAG, interesting thread. Those Fowler's are something else. We've come a long way.

Free plug for NewLiberty; http://www.fowlingguns.com/index.html

Thanks for the plug. I have been building these things full time since '96. Started as a hobby in '80. Hope to "retire" at #400 and go shooting in competition again.