Is Walnut wood worth anything?

Steelfan · Jul 2, 2006

About an 1/2 hr ago, a huge Walnut tree uprooted on my property. It just missed the power and phone lines when it fell. The tree is about 70 ft long and very straight. Does anyone know if this tree is worth the price of removal at least to a lumbermill? Thanks for the past answers to my questions.

monkeymonk · Jul 2, 2006

What kind of walnut? Black?-high dollar

Iowachild · Jul 2, 2006

I would think it would be worth having sawn. Anybody in your area have a portable unit. In my area of PA there are two or three guys that will come to you and saw up your logs. Can't really tell you what they get for it, but if you do any wood working it would sure be worth having it sawn and sticker it up for a couple years.

goaliedad · Jul 2, 2006

I would check into the market for veneer logs- if the log is of veneer quality it could be some big bucks- not sure if they would have an issue with it coming out of a yard- the possiblility of nails in it could be a problem.

Deerlope · Jul 2, 2006

That tree plus the tap root is probably worth 25 or 30K dollars. Thats no bull either if it is black walnut. The gun manufactures use the tap root for gun stocks. That root has to be dug out carefully with a backhoe. Check around and you will see that it is worth some good bucks.

MotorSeven · Jul 2, 2006

You can check in at the forestryforum.com, there are alot of sawyers there that can help. Unless someone is close they may or may not want a single tree and some are shy of "yard trees" because they seem to harbor lots of hidden metal(nails,spikes etc) which ruin blades. Take a pic of it and post them, you may find someone to take it off your hands for $ or half the lumber.
RD

TNhobbyfarmer · Jul 2, 2006

Deerlope said:
That tree plus the tap root is probably worth 25 or 30K dollars. Thats no bull either if it is black walnut. The gun manufactures use the tap root for gun stocks. That root has to be dug out carefully with a backhoe. Check around and you will see that it is worth some good bucks.

You've got to be kidding. By 25 or 30K dollars, do you mean $25,000.00 to $30,000.00? Where do I sign up? I have several large black walnut trees on my farm. I may have hit the lottery.

ScottAR · Jul 3, 2006

If you get someone to pick the logs up after you clean up the branches your doing good.
Commerical mills don't want any yard trees period due to harboring secret metal pieces, concrete chunks, fence wires, bullets etc...

These mythical $25,000 trees are not found in someones yard. The magical walnut myths never come from someone in the timber trades.

You should be able to find a portable sawmill to come in and saw you some lumber. A largeish walnut should make enough wood for several projects.

Otherwise, get out the splitting maul and make some firewood.

monkeymonk · Jul 3, 2006

Its the specialty market your looking for.I mill and my buddy who mills can get 3$ and up a board foot for Black walnut. The real money is in the Burls/ root wad, and crotches that make fiddle back grains premo stuff that fetches way way more.

Most sawyers that deal with these kinda woods use metal detectors and are able to cull or work around the inperfections and it is possible to find rocks of diffrent sizes in the burls... thats part of doing buisness.
When and if anybody taps into this market it can be profitable.

People/companys ship these burls/wood over seas! The person making the larger money is not so much the tree/home owner but the sawyers and middle man that deals with you. In the end that tree may make a bunch of people some really good money. Depends how large the tree is 5ft? 8ft..even 10 and up!!

My other buddy specializes in this trade and will pay home owners several thousand dollars for a quality tree. He cuts the tree down digs out the root wad,loads everything on a truck,cleans up. In some cases he hikes in digs masive wads out by hand sometimes taking 2 days and then has a helicopter
do a GPS pick up takes it to the veneer mill and still makes money on it. I havent seen him in 6 months but he's always scouting the west coast for trees neighbor hoods to timber lands was even setting up a veneer mill last we talked.

This may not be realistic for you in your area but it is in mine and i would LOVE to have all YOUR Black Walnuts,Pepperwood,Cherry,Madrone...........

Steelfan · Jul 3, 2006

Thanks some much for all of the replies. More information on the tree is that I believe it is a Black Walnut and more importantly the tree was cut off at one time in its beginning. There are 3 main trunks that are about 3-4 ft across and narrows to about 2-3 in about 12 ft. The base is 6-7 ft across but is only about 3-4 ft long. Because of its location there is no way that most of the metal objects would be a problem. I can't say that there are no bullets in it for sure. I attached some pictures if anyone wants to take a look at it. Thanks again, you have all been great.