Black Walnut

[BigV]

I have a large Black Walnut tree in my back yard that was struck by lightning a couple of years ago. The bark on one side is almost completely gone and the base of the tree is beginning to rot out with signs of insect infestation, but the tree is still alive and produces lots of Walnuts every other year. My fear is that the tree will soon succumb to the insects in the next year or come down during the next wind storm. I am thinking about taking it down and burning it I my wood stove. Anyone have any experience burning Black Walnut? Is it considered a hard wood?

I though about selling my Black Walnut trees about 3 years ago (I have 12 huge perfectly straight trees) and had a guy come out and quote a price. He told me he would give my $50. each ($600. Total) for all 12 trees. I have been told that Black Walnut can fetch upwards to $10,000 each for straight mature trees used for veneer. I laughed at this guys offer (he must of thought I was stupid) and I told him I would cut them down myself and burn them for firewood before I gave them to him for $50 each.
Thanks,

 

[laynes69]

Walnut burns good, but burns kind of fast. It will produce alot of heat, makes good firewood. I just wouldn't use it for nightime.

 

[yukiginger]

I don't know how suitable your trees are for lumber (or veneer) or if they've reached their peak, but you should locate a reputable logger or two in your area and have them come out and look at the trees. There can be some money in those trees (much better than firewood value).

MarkG

 

[begreen]

Walnut burns good, but burns kind of fast. It will produce alot of heat, makes good firewood. I just wouldn't use it for nightime.

That's right, send me all your black walnut! Bad stuff to burn at night. I'll keep it safe piled next to the stack of fir.

 

[ChipTam]

Yes, veneer quality walnut trees can fetch a lot of money. However, these trees are few and far between. An average walnut tree won't command much more than the same quality oak or maple. Still, you may want to satisfy your curiosity. In some states, the agricultural extension service will come out and evaluate your trees and recommend which ones you might want to cull. Also, they often have a list of reputable logging companies. These companies will look at a number of factors besides tree quality before setting a price: how easy will it be to get at the trees, are they in a location where the trees are likely to have metal in them, etc.
In my experience, walnut burns fine and is usually very slow to rot. Just don't burn it in your charcoal grill. It can give a rather nasty taste to meat.
Chip Tam

 

[restorer]

I would suggest contacting a few of the hardwood companies in your area. They have buyers that will come out and give you a quote for buying the standing trees. It then becomes their responsibility to have them safely removed. Usually, if you are in an urban or suburban area where there is a possibility of nails or pieces of fence wire embedded in the tree, no major company will be interested. Sometimes small sawyers will make a deal. If they are nice trees, you could have them cut down and sawn into boards on site. Then you would trade the rough sawn stock for lots of fire wood. Urban foresters do nice work in my area. Some will bring to you a portable mill and do the whole job on site, one I use cuts and hauls to their yard. They charge by board foot of lumber to saw, or they will make a deal to credit you for the salvaged lumber. I have some great slabs of Black Locust, Curly Birch, and English Oak thatcost me about a buck a board foot.

 

[johnsopi]

I burn a lot of Walnut as other burns fast but is nice to split.

 

[Jake]

I sell wood flooring, I also burn the scraps,

WALNUT flooring / lumber is VERY VERY EXPENSIVE right now,

DO NOT burn your trees, SELL THEM

The scrap burns ok, faster than oak.

 

[JAred]

you guys are nuts! I would love to have a dead black walnut tree to burn. I went thru maybe 1 a cord of it last year for long burns.

Wood like that is hard to come by around here. cause the only hard wood trees are in peoples yards. ie you have to wait from them to die or get struck by lighting!

 

[DavidV]

I have a couple hundred board feet of walnut lumber in my shop right now. 50 bucks a tree is a bit low, but $10,000?? Don't burn your finger on the pipe. As was stated, veneer quality trees are not that common. Depending on the area you find yourself in walnut lumber can range from 3-8 bucks a board foot. That's for rough sawn clear lumber. for him to pay 10 grand , even if he sold it for 8$ a board foot he would need 1,250 board feet of lumber out of that tree just to break even, and that doesn't account for his labor or the wear and tear on his tools. Since it's behind your house it may have nails, etc. in it. So he's looking at the possibility of tearing up blades. If one of your trees was veneer quality that would change the story but 10 grand is still high.

 

[KarynAnne]

No offense to any reputable loggers on this site - honest. Try contacting a certified forester to determine your wood value. Just my .02 worth.

 

[Eric Johnson]

As everyone else said, you might want to check around. If the trees are near any buildings, then they most likely contain metal and will be worth considerably less than if they were growing out in the woods somewhere. However, sometimes even crotchy old walnuts are worth a lot because the crotch wood is used in gun stocks ("crotch feather walnut").

The bottom line is that trees like that are worth what somebody is willing to pay you for them. So it sure doesn't hurt to get several opinions, particularly since there might be somebody out there with a specialty market who would be willing to pay more than the going rate in your area, whatever that is.

Because of the metal factor, my take on yard trees is usually if you can get them removed for free, you're ahead of the game.

 

[Jake]

food for thought...

quoted a Guy today

8" x 3/4" Select and better grade walnut flooring 8.50 a sqft.....

He needs 4300 sqft...

 

[JMF1]

I live in Rochester NY and have a friend that hooked me up with 6 or 8 black walnut trees that we have to go cut down. I plan on using them as firewood but after reading this thread I'm now wondering............ These trees are supposed to be approximately 30 feet tall and 12-15 inches in diameter so I figured too small to be worth anything, am I wrong?

 

[glenng]

I operate a small tree sevice in western ,PA . In the past 10 years I have seen only 1 veneer quality walnut log. That log had a 9 ft section that was veneer quality. Around here you need to be able to have a full tree truck load of wood stacked roadside before they will pay you to come get it. If its not a full truck load you have to take it to the mill to see what they will give you for it. Also many mills don`t want yard trees because they often have nails from clothes line, signs , tree houses, etc. Trees from the backyards often contain embedded bullets. While most walnut trees offer some great lumber, if they are of suitable diameter, many folks over-estimate the value of their trees. Walnut poses health hazards to horses and many commercial mills are are now refusing to cut walnut since they sell the sawdust to horse farms. If you want to make the most from your walnut trees you should cut the trees yourself. Hire a guy with a band mill to come to your property and cut for best grade, on your property. Then stack-n-sticker the wood on your property. Put an ad in the paper and sell the lumber to local wood workers. What wood that is left over , which will be a considerable amount will make good firewood. If you really want to maximize your profits you can sell book matched electric guitar tops on ebay. To do so the wood needs to show flame, curl or really attractive figure. Not all trees have the figure but some do. Yes some trees can fetch good returns but Walnut trees are not worth their weight in gold like every one thinks. On many occasions I have taken down Walnut trees for homeowners asking that I leave the wood on site so they can sell it, only to be called back months later to get it out of their yard, because they found no takers. Bd Ft prices for White Oak, Black Cherry, and Walnut are all fairly close for woodworking grade lumber in my area.

Good Luck
Glenn

 

[Elderthewelder]

Walnut burns good, but burns kind of fast. It will produce alot of heat, makes good firewood. I just wouldn't use it for nightime.

That's right, send me all your black walnut! Bad stuff to burn at night. I'll keep it safe piled next to the stack of fir.

when you get it give me a call, I will take half and stack it next to my cedar

 

[laynes69]

LOL, I'll burn it, which I burned mostly walnut at the end of sept, but I won't use it for an overnight fire. Of course it beats cedar, but around here I have osage orange and locust. Compared to that theres no comparison.

 

[Elderthewelder]

but around here I have osage orange and locust. Compared to that theres no comparison.

must be nice

 

[tjg911]

i thought all black walnut was as valuable as gold, apparently that is not true.

iirc, i read a story in yankee magazine probably in the late 80's or early 90's time frame about this giant black walnut out in a field in nebraska or kansas. loggers wanted that tree bad, for veneer again iirc, and offers of $40,000 were being made! it was a huge tree and the family would not sell it.

if i found black walnut i don't think i could burn it. i thought this was a rare tree?

i just got 3 pieces of chestnut! old boards, from 12-18" long, 5-6" wide and 1" thick. i was going to burn it but just couldn't do it. i hung them up in the wood shed until i can think of a suitable use. they have beautiful grain! i truly never saw grain like this but then unless you are in old buildings who's seen chestnut? around here they get about 2" in diameter 20' tall and die, suckers from an old stump. they have blight resistant chestnuts that are growing but i'll never live long enough for chestnut to be a viable wood.

tom

 

[KateC]

I agree about chestnut---a friend of mine gave me an old church bench he'd had for years---thought it was oak until I started cleaning it up. A couple coats of tung oil later it just glows and is beautiful.
I re-finish alot of furniture as a hobby and sometimes feel a pang when I burn certain stuff like maple with bird's-eye and looking at the gorgeous grain in the apple we have I'm thinking of taking up whittling.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Dylan,

Birdseye maple is actually technically a defect, but it's one that can be worth a fortune. Basically, it's a series of little pin-size knots that give the wood a distinctive grain. Nobody really knows what causes it--and it's almost impossible to identify with the bark on the tree--but it seems to be a regional thing. There's some pockets in Upper Michigan and some places in Maine where it seems to grow best. In log form, birdseye maple can bring more than $20 per board foot. Another, related defect in hard maple creates "curly" grain. Curly maple is almost as valuable as birdseye, but you'll also find it in other species as well so it's not so rare. Soft maple gets a fair amount of curly grain.

The trick with both is to get whole logs that are dominated by the defect. It's not at all uncommon to see birdseye and curl in small sections of maple boards, but if the whole board is that way, then you've got something.

Spalted Maple is simply hard maple that is halfway rotted, but instead of being soft, it's simply discolored. The early stages of decay create some interesting grain coloring and patterns that some people find appealing and as a result, can have more value than "straight" maple. Of course, it's all in the timing.

Here's what birdseye and curly maple look like:

http://www.bellforestproducts.com/gallery.html

Here's a recipe for making spalted maple:

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Tips_for_creating_spalted_maple.html