Walnut stumps

[charlie s]

Back in November I cut down a couple of large walnut trees and had them milled into lumber. The trees were on some property that's going to be cleared for a shopping center and soon the earth moving equipment will be on site to begin work.

My question is: is it worth my time and effort to have the walnut stumps loaded onto a trailer so I can haul them to a miller for cutting up? I've heard the stumps are coveted by turners but I've never tried a venture like this before.

Thanks,

Charlie S

 

[jeff...]

Charlie, there are a couple of uses for Walnut root balls that I know of. One as you mention is turning stock. The other is gun stock, I would suspect knife scales too. I actually cut a Walnut root ball with my band mill. It's real rough on blades till you get it down past where all the embedded dirt and rocks are. I even power washed the ball twice before I started and still had to sharpen both my chain saw and band after each cut. It takes a lot time to cut and yields little material. Expect to pay for some new chains and bands plus an hourly rate if you decide to have it sawed. As you suspected, you'll end up with wild grained walnut but not very much of it.

Thanks

 

[MikeH]

Jeff,
Would it be easier to just cut them up with a chainsaw?

 

[jeff...]

Jeff,
Would it be easier to just cut them up with a chainsaw?

Not really, you ether sharpen chain or you sharpen bands. In my case I sharpened both, I trimmed with the chainsaw and made dimensional lumber on the mill. Everything went to a gun maker in Va. and was required to be 8/4 thick. I suspect if you want to hack out a few bowl blanks with a chainsaw then yeah, you could use a chainsaw - just expect to sharpen the chain frequently, root ball will dull a chain in a heartbeat... It's a lot of work for little material.

 

[MikeH]

I'm hoping Charles will let me have a pen blank from one of the stumps. :eusa_danc Not sure what I can do, but I'll even help with them if he wants me to.

 

[charlie s]

Mike:

I've got some really nice looking sections through the crotch of one of those trees. I suspect I can supply you with all the pen blanks you want out of some of that.

Charlie