A friend is having a 4' diameter walnut tree taken down and hauled away.
($1,200!!) She asked if I wanted any of it. As it happens, I just got a
bandsaw and have been playing with cutting firewood into lumber. Trying it
on her tree should be fun. But how practical is it? I have split plenty of
firewood, but never anything this massive. Is it even possible to split a
4' diameter (by what, 3' or 4' long?) section with a maul and a couple
wedges?
Or should I settle for some large branches, or will they be mostly sapwood?

Anything special to look for, as long as I have the whole tree to chose
from? I know crotches are desirable, but they are also just about
impossible to split.

She is not having the stump ground out because it is too expensive. I have
heard that is the most valuable part; is it worth trying to sell? I suppose
the tree service would do that if it were practical.

(I have more firewood than I can use, so I don't need any for that...)

In article ,
"Toller" wrote:

A friend is having a 4' diameter walnut tree taken down and hauled away.
($1,200!!) She asked if I wanted any of it. As it happens, I just got a
bandsaw and have been playing with cutting firewood into lumber. Trying it
on her tree should be fun. But how practical is it? I have split plenty of
firewood, but never anything this massive. Is it even possible to split a
4' diameter (by what, 3' or 4' long?) section with a maul and a couple
wedges?
Or should I settle for some large branches, or will they be mostly sapwood?

Anything special to look for, as long as I have the whole tree to chose
from? I know crotches are desirable, but they are also just about
impossible to split.

She is not having the stump ground out because it is too expensive. I have
heard that is the most valuable part; is it worth trying to sell? I suppose
the tree service would do that if it were practical.

(I have more firewood than I can use, so I don't need any for that...)

Being a tuner, I'd love to have this opportunity. If you have a chainsaw
available, that would be the way to go to size the trunk to fit your
band saw - and also take care of any crotch sections. You could say that
a $350 chainsaw purchase is more than justified with obtaining the wood.
I'd likely avoid the branch sections smaller than 12"-14" in dia. - the
sapwood just becomes too much of the total to make it worthwhile for
lumber.

To obtain the stump section, the tree service really needs to cut the
main trunk about 3' above the ground. Much of the demand for walnut
stumps is in the highly figured wood at ground level where the root
burls and junctions occur - especially sought after by gunstock makers.
If they cut it off near the ground, then the usability of the stump is
severely compromised. In order to harvest the stump one really needs a
backhoe or some such heavy equipment.

This wouldn't be in NW Oregon by any chance???
--
Owen Lowe
The Fly-by-Night Copper Company
__________

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
Corporate States of America and to the
Republicans for which it stands, one nation,
under debt, easily divisible, with liberty
and justice for oil."
- Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 1/24/05

"Toller" wrote in message
...


Well, NW New York.... I will think about the chainsaw. The one I have
would just bounce off a tree that big.


Pssssstttttt.... Toller - NW New York is Lake Ontario...

--

-Mike-

"Mike Marlow" wrote in message
...

"Toller" wrote in message
...


Well, NW New York.... I will think about the chainsaw. The one I have
would just bounce off a tree that big.


Pssssstttttt.... Toller - NW New York is Lake Ontario...

Darn close!

In article , Toller
wrote:

A friend is having a 4' diameter walnut tree taken down and hauled away.
($1,200!!)

Is there no one with a portable sawmill in the area? If she's prepared
to pay $1200 she could hire someone to cut it to lumber.

On 4/15/2006 4:59 PM Toller mumbled something about the following:
A friend is having a 4' diameter walnut tree taken down and hauled away.
($1,200!!) She asked if I wanted any of it. As it happens, I just got a
bandsaw and have been playing with cutting firewood into lumber. Trying it
on her tree should be fun. But how practical is it? I have split plenty of
firewood, but never anything this massive. Is it even possible to split a
4' diameter (by what, 3' or 4' long?) section with a maul and a couple
wedges?
Or should I settle for some large branches, or will they be mostly sapwood?

Anything special to look for, as long as I have the whole tree to chose
from? I know crotches are desirable, but they are also just about
impossible to split.

She is not having the stump ground out because it is too expensive. I have
heard that is the most valuable part; is it worth trying to sell? I suppose
the tree service would do that if it were practical.

(I have more firewood than I can use, so I don't need any for that...)



You might be able to find someone with a portable sawmill to mill up
something that big. That's a lot of walnut. I'ld love to have just 1/4
of that.

--
Odinn
RCOS #7 SENS BS ???

"The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never
worshiped anything but himself." -- Sir Richard Francis Burton

Reeky's unofficial homepage ... http://www.reeky.org
'03 FLHTI ........... http://www.sloanclan.org/gallery/ElectraGlide
'97 VN1500D ......... http://www.sloanclan.org/gallery/VulcanClassic
Atlanta Biker Net ... http://www.atlantabiker.net
Vulcan Riders Assoc . http://www.vulcanriders.org

rot13 to reply

On Sat, 15 Apr 2006 20:59:05 GMT, "Toller" wrote:

A friend is having a 4' diameter walnut tree taken down and hauled away.
($1,200!!) She asked if I wanted any of it. As it happens, I just got a
bandsaw and have been playing with cutting firewood into lumber. Trying it
on her tree should be fun. But how practical is it? I have split plenty of
firewood, but never anything this massive. Is it even possible to split a
4' diameter (by what, 3' or 4' long?) section with a maul and a couple
wedges?
Or should I settle for some large branches, or will they be mostly sapwood?

Anything special to look for, as long as I have the whole tree to chose
from? I know crotches are desirable, but they are also just about
impossible to split.

She is not having the stump ground out because it is too expensive. I have
heard that is the most valuable part; is it worth trying to sell? I suppose
the tree service would do that if it were practical.

(I have more firewood than I can use, so I don't need any for that...)



Send an email to the Woodmizer people right quick for the names of
people owning that equipment near you. For a tree like that, if it's
good inside, this could be a good deal.

If you know what you need, I suspect the fellows she hired might agree to
some special cuts for you for an extra twenty bucks a piece and a couple of
six packs for lunch.

"Fly-by-Night CC" wrote in message
news
In article ,
"Toller" wrote:

A friend is having a 4' diameter walnut tree taken down and hauled away.
($1,200!!) She asked if I wanted any of it. As it happens, I just got a
bandsaw and have been playing with cutting firewood into lumber. Trying
it
on her tree should be fun. But how practical is it? I have split plenty
of
firewood, but never anything this massive. Is it even possible to split
a
4' diameter (by what, 3' or 4' long?) section with a maul and a couple
wedges?
Or should I settle for some large branches, or will they be mostly
sapwood?

Anything special to look for, as long as I have the whole tree to chose
from? I know crotches are desirable, but they are also just about
impossible to split.

She is not having the stump ground out because it is too expensive. I
have
heard that is the most valuable part; is it worth trying to sell? I
suppose
the tree service would do that if it were practical.

(I have more firewood than I can use, so I don't need any for that...)

Being a tuner, I'd love to have this opportunity. If you have a chainsaw
available, that would be the way to go to size the trunk to fit your
band saw - and also take care of any crotch sections. You could say that
a $350 chainsaw purchase is more than justified with obtaining the wood.
I'd likely avoid the branch sections smaller than 12"-14" in dia. - the
sapwood just becomes too much of the total to make it worthwhile for
lumber.

To obtain the stump section, the tree service really needs to cut the
main trunk about 3' above the ground. Much of the demand for walnut
stumps is in the highly figured wood at ground level where the root
burls and junctions occur - especially sought after by gunstock makers.
If they cut it off near the ground, then the usability of the stump is
severely compromised. In order to harvest the stump one really needs a
backhoe or some such heavy equipment.

This wouldn't be in NW Oregon by any chance???
--
Owen Lowe
The Fly-by-Night Copper Company
__________

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
Corporate States of America and to the
Republicans for which it stands, one nation,
under debt, easily divisible, with liberty
and justice for oil."
- Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 1/24/05

In article , says...
A friend is having a 4' diameter walnut tree taken down and hauled away.
($1,200!!) She asked if I wanted any of it. As it happens, I just got a
bandsaw and have been playing with cutting firewood into lumber. Trying it
on her tree should be fun. But how practical is it? I have split plenty of
firewood, but never anything this massive. Is it even possible to split a
4' diameter (by what, 3' or 4' long?) section with a maul and a couple
wedges?
Or should I settle for some large branches, or will they be mostly sapwood?

Anything special to look for, as long as I have the whole tree to chose
from? I know crotches are desirable, but they are also just about
impossible to split.

She is not having the stump ground out because it is too expensive. I have
heard that is the most valuable part; is it worth trying to sell? I suppose
the tree service would do that if it were practical.

(I have more firewood than I can use, so I don't need any for that...)

In this country a lot of the portable sawmill people will either charge you per
cubic metre of timber milled, or they will do the job for half the lumber.

Half the lumber out of that tree should easily pay for a large chunk of your
friend's 1200 Dollar bill. If we were on the same continent, I'd put my name
down for some of it right away :-)

cheers, -Peter


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