Luthier's opinions on harvesting massive walnut

[Glenn23]

Hi all,
I have a 30 ace farm that includes a walnut glade. There's an old matriarch of a walnut (it's visible as a fully mature tree in a 1930 aerial photo of the farm!) I'm considering the best way to harvest and mill her. She has a 45 inch diameter at the base, and about 36 inches 4 feet up. I'm not sure what can be deduced about figure from looking at its exterior but it's a gnarly old thing. It looks to have a burl protruding about ten feet up.
Any suggestions on how I might approach harvesting this tree with an eye toward luthier use?
There's some metal to contend with. An old barbed wire fence runs through about a quarter of the way in on the uphill side. It's on the side of a steep ravine (shades of "The Tree"!) but accessible to my excavator.
Any Opinions?

[ewh2]

No idea where to start, but I'd recommend posting at the link below. There was a thread along similar lines of a walnut tree which was turned into guitar sets, which I think Bruce Sexauer acquired some sets off.

Hopefully John Arnold will provide some tips (what he doesn't know about guitar wood isn't worth knowing)

http://theunofficialmartinguitarforu...6#.VI4ZsWSsUvM

[Tim McKnight]

Many saw mills will not mill wood harvested from fence rows because of the fence you pointed out. If they damage their blade they will likely charge you for the damage so you may want to inquire about that in advance. The fees could be an unpleasant surprise.

There is no way of know what kind of figure is inside the tree until you open it up. You can expect some severe iron stains around the barbed wire which often shows up as blue or green streaks in walnut. It may or may not be an interesting surprise?

You may want to call around a find a mill that will custom cut the wood for you into accurately quarter sawn boards. You do NOT want it slab sawn if you plan to use it to build with.

As quickly as possible, after felling the tree, paint both ends of the log with two coats of Anchor Seal or several coats of latex paint. Cut the log into lengths of multiples of 3'. i.e 3', 6', 9', 12' etc...

[Alan Carruth]

I agree with what Tim said.

If you can, as soon as possible after felling, buck the trunk into usable sections. Split or saw these into wedges that subtend no more than 45 degrees: thinner is better. Remove the bark. Paint the ends with something that will slow down moisture transport through the end grain; a couple of coats of latex paint will do. The idea is to equalize the transport of moisture through all the surfaces, so that the shrinkage is as even as possible. Bark is water proof, and end grain looses moisture much faster than side grain generally. Square stack the billets: one layer running N-S, and the next on E-W, to minimize contact between pieces. This allows for rapid air circulation and drying. The pile should be in the open, but not in direct sunlight. Cover the top with something to keep the rain out, but don't restrict air circulation through the sides of the pile. The faster you can get it dry the less problem you'll have with mildew and discoloration. Turn the pile over after a week or so, checking each piece for problems such as end checks and mold, and take appropriate actions.

The wood should be about 90% dry in 6-8 weeks. At this point you can bring some of it indoors. It will need to season for some time before it will be usable for instruments: the rule of thumb is one year for each inch of thickness. That's one good reason to make the wedges thin!

There's a lot of work in processing a big tree, and a lot of waste. Walnut, on the other hand, is a very valuable wood. There will no doubt be a lot of problems in that tree, but there could be some beautiful wood, too, and it may well be worth the effort.

[Glenn23]

I was thinking of finding a guy with a woodmizer. I read that a slow feed would cut through small iron but I have no experience to back that up. Is there some kind of log mapping that I should try to follow, ike those wedge shaped billets of spruce you see, or are they shaped like that only because they're split?

oops! as I'm writing this I see Alan has already answered that. Thanks!

[Howard Klepper]

Is it alive? Is your time worth more than $1/hr?

If your answer was "yes" to either question, leave it alone.

[tadol]

Thats an awful lot of guitar sets - unless you plan on trying to exceed Taylor and Martin in sheer volume just in walnut guitars, I would talk to someone about milling it into as much high quality lumber for furniture and cabinetry, and while your at it maybe get a couple hundred sets of back and sides out of it -

Traditionally, you'd want the straightest and most quartersawn material for luthiery, while that may not be the most showy grain or the optimal cuts to utilize the bulk of the tree effectively. This is worth getting someone with lots of experience in to advise you on. It may cost you a bit to get it milled, but I think you can make a good bit of money eventually if you have the room to store it and the ability to market it -

[Bruce Sexauer]

It's a big enough tree that you are bound to get some useable wood from it, but quite frankly it does not look ideal to me for Lutherie wood, or lumber generally speaking. The clear section of the trunk is very short, and there are major branches inconveniently located on a regular basis. You will work exceptionally hard for what you may or may not get.

[Glenn23]

I've seen flitches of walnut the size of this tree going for impressive amounts of money. Crotches and burls seem to command top dollar in that case. I cut a much smaller daughter of this tree over thirty years ago to build my kitchen cabinets, but that tree was clear lumber and pretty easy to handle. With this tree I'd hope to get enough lumber and flitches to pay for the effort and then hand pick the hero wood for guitar sets.
Maybe it's just too much work for too little reward, though.

[Don Musser]

If you remove some bark - and the wood is figured - you should be able to see it.

[KevinLPederson]

If you feel its worth your time, then harvest it. As others have mentioned, sawmills probably charge you a little extra for the hassle/service to run a metal detector over it. Even if you don't get guitar wood out of it, you'll get some nice usable wood/lumber.

Kevin.

[PWoolson]

At the risk of being pessimistic, I'd have to agree that this tree looks less than ideal for guitar lumber. You mention the burl as if it would be highly sought after. Aside from decorative pieces (rosettes, headplates, end grafts) I'd never use a burl in my building. they are incredibly unstable/unpredictable. I suppose it could be stabilized with epoxy or CA but it's not worth the effort, in my opinion.
The burl might be worth something to a turner however.
But as has been said, I think you've got a LOT of work ahead of you for very little yield.

[BlmJn]

Looks more like over grown knots rather than burl. Burl is distinctively different looking.

[Bruce Sexauer]

I used to think burl was a form of cancer, but recent was told by a theoretically knowledgeable National Parks ranger that it is actually the trees reproductive system going nuts. Rampant hormones? I can relate to that. Reading back I see there's room for a pun or some such, but I am serious today.