I got excited....then was let down.

[IanB22]

Took one cut, and found the inside to be completely wet. Yup, she was to far gone when I arrived. Probably dead on the stem when they took her down. Really sad to find a 54" DBH tree, and a 6ft spread by 7ft of length.

Could have mad a fantastic table. Told the family I had to move on after finding out the tree was to far gone.

On to the next one...

 

[Ryan Hanzlick]

That sucks! Ive got a walnut that looks almost the same, except mine is fresh. I only have a 36 inch mill so Im not sure how to tackle it. I would hate to buy a new mill and new bar just to find out it is rotten inside. I set it down right outside my dining room window so I can come up with ideas while we eat!

 

[Dave Boyt]

I'd be excited, too. You say it was wet inside... but how soft was the wood? Walnut is extremely durable, and I've had good experiences with logs that have been down for as long as 8 years. The sapwood was all rotted away, but the heartwood was good. Still, if it was too far gone, not much you can do. Wood is like clouds & sandcastles. You'll find more.

 

[IanB22]

Yeah, walnut is not like big sugar maple. Sugar maple seems to go pretty soft before the tree is taken down. Then after it's down it can go quickly (like this one) or as slow as 2-3 years. Walnut can go way you longer. Just put a cookie 2"off the end and use an axe to determine if the wood is no good?

 

[Grey]

Sorry about your luck. Did you notice the fungus/mushrooms growing out of the log? Good sign that at least the sapwood is gone, heartwoods is suspect. That said, with walnut, "you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince." In my limited experience, walnut is notorious for rot/decay and for having embedded metal with ugly black streaks. My advice (not asked for), keep going after walnut logs. Look for mineral stain indicating embedded metal and/or rot of any kind. Every once and a while you will find a great, CLEAN, walnut, and it will be worth all efforts.

 

[woodchuck357]

That log doesn't look like walnut, to me. And walnut heart wood lasts decades in the log without rotting.

 

[Grey]

That log doesn't look like walnut, to me. And walnut heart wood lasts decades in the log without rotting.

Sometimes... Other times, walnut rots from the middle out. As I said, you have to open up a lot of walnut logs to find the golden ticket, the rest need to go to firewood.