"Andy Dingley" wrote in message

you may find that the greatest value is in the root balls.

Strictly it's the root crown (above the root ball itself). The height
for felling a walnut is higher than for a typical tree, just so you
don't put the chainsaw through the very best part of it. You can lose a
_lot_ of the value of a good quality walnut by having it felled by
someone who isn't familiar with felling walnuts.

With an orchard that old, he may be able to retire and cut just one or two a
year to feed the shop habit.

That can't be stressed enough to someone who owns an orchard and is not
familiar with the economics of figured walnut. I've seen one in the back of
a pickup truck going for $3K, and it was small.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/17/05