Black walnut just cut

[gzecc]

I just dropped a black walnut tree. I am surprised how easy it splits. What are your opinions on its burning/drying characteristics. I was thinking of making a couple of slab benches out of the better parts of the trunks. Am I crazy?

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Walnut dries pretty fast, even though it has a lot of water weight when green. It burns okay; there are better and worse woods than it. I wouldn't want it for extremely cold nights unless you load more frequently, but it's a decent enough fuelwood. Go ahead and make those benches-why not?!

 

[Jake]

I was thinking of making a couple of slab benches out of the better parts of the trunks. Am I crazy?

hell no youre not crazy, walnut is expensive, make the benches...

 

[Duetech]

I get a number of black walnut log rejects from a saw mill because of fence posts & other stuff the tree has grown around. Steel can whack a saw mill blade. Any how (link) (broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm) as you can see black walnut is about at the top of the bottom 2/3 of the linked btu chart. Except for the coldest weather, in my EKO40, black walnut will get me through the winter. I works for the whole winter actually but in the coldest weather I have had to fill the firebox 3 times in stead of twice daily for the rest of the season.

 

[TKeller]

First time I had a whole cord of black walnut to burn I was so proud. I looked out at that pile all summer and admired how beautiful it looked and looked forward to just as beautiful a burning experience. That winter how greatly disappointed I was. It burned average and produced a lot of clunkers. Granted I had an old smoke dragon stove but subsequent experiences with black walnut have also been similar. Looking at the beauty of the wood is the greatest aspect of burning black walnut. Granted not everyone has oak, hickory, locust, etc. but black walnut just doesn't measure up for me.