Friend offered me a tree what now?

[decibel]

My dad just told me a friend of the family just took down a black walnut tree. This person had seen a pen I mad my dad out of walnut and thought maybe i would want it. So the question is what do I do now? He said it has not been cut into small pieces yet so what's the best way to attack it?

I can pull the trunk up on a trailer but where do we make that cut right before the first limbs? then can I take the limbs for turning blanks etc? Not sure if the trunk is big enough to have sawn or just cut it up for big turning blanks.. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[DaveO]

A lot of your answers will depend on the size of the butt log. If it is large enough in diameter (16" or greater on the small end) to be sawn into boards, you will want to buck in into 8'6" sections. But that decision also depends on how long the main log is. If it's 10' leave it as it is. Branch wood generally has a lot of stress in it. It would be great for turning practice, but don't expect it to stay stable. If you can get any pictures of what you have to work with it would help greatly. No matter what you are going to do with it, get some end sealer on the cut ends as soon as possible.

Dave