Stock Wood - A little OT sorry

[Dave Fuller]

I have a friend in Missouri who had a tornado blow thorough his farm in December. It knocked down some really old walnut trees a couple root balls are 3 or 4 feet across. Does anyone know a stock maker that might be interested in this stuff? Number one we're looking for someone who can use the wood, but number two someone who would make us some stock blanks from the stuff as payment-in-kind.

[Robert Delk]

Look under "sawmills" in the phone book and find someone with a portable bandsaw mill to process the trees.You will find it burns up the better part of a day or two to clean the rootballs with a power washer. You might "google" bandsaw mills and find a local owner willing to saw the trees or contact "Woodmizer" directly.

[Jerry Andrews]

I owned a timber company for about 10 years, needless to say, being a stockmaker also, many of the big ole' walnut trees with big branchs and Y's were made into blanks. ( to get the feather don't cut through the Y at the apex of the Y lines but cut as if you were trying to make as many 2 inch wide Y's as you could make). We would sometimes grub out the stumps and saw them as well but it's quite a chore to turn them into stock blanks. I'm thinking it would be tough to find someone willing to take the stump/roots across their blade as even after power washing they make a mess of a circular blade or a band either one. Lots of bark inclusions in the crotch pieces as well. Can't hurt to ask though and nothing as satisfying as restocking with your own wood. It should air dry about a year for every inch of thickness. Don't kiln dry it. Good luck with the endeavor. I'm still using stuff I cut. Jerry

[David Holes]

Well I did the root ball thing years ago. After chunking off the dirt I then put a yard sprinkler on top of the root balls for several days, then powerwashed. Took alot to get it clean enough to saw. Local sawmill cut into blanks, we dipped ends and then we air dried for years. The stump wood has some amazing grain in it. If you like hard work and a challenge go for it. If not call St. Joe walnut because thats what they do. They will buy the logs and process. I have walked through there plant .

[Robert Delk]

If you are sawing it yourself you have to remember to coat any figured areas right away with some sort of sealer to prevent rapid moisture loss which will cause checking. i mean right away as in as soon as the figure is revealed. I used to use a barbecue grill and melt paraffin which I swabbed on with an old paintbrush. I still have some of those flitches and over 20 years later they are free of checks in the coated areas.By the way,bandsaw mill blades are much cheaper than those used on a circle mill and they can hit a nail or 2 or 3 and still function and don't cost too much if you hit a sad iron and have to replace the whole thing.Good luck as it is more fun than you can imagine when sawing and watching the figure reveal itself on a log that is all yours. Remember too that there is no such thing as a bad piece of figured walnut and even the smaller pieces can be used by the creative to make all sorts of nice things.That goes for pieces with worm holes,bark inclusions and other problems.