O.T. Walnut trees

Plumcrazy · Mar 27, 2009

The county is going to clean the ditch that runs along part of my farm. Along this one stetch, I have over 70 walnut trees, 12" or more in diamiter. I know the county will just bulldoze them into piles, and ruin them, so I called two different logging companies to get an idea what they would be worth. The first guy said they were poor quality walnut trees, and offered $325.00 for them, saying that they were only good for pallet stock. The second guy estimated $450.00. I had visions of thousands of dollars for these trees. What a bummer.

Gun guru · Mar 27, 2009

Well,,,,,,,What I would do is drop many of them and cut up 10foot long logs and see if you can advertize them and sell to wood workers.
If I was building a house again I would love to have Walnut timbers for my great room exposed trusses for the ceiling. something like 4" x 8" beams maybe 20 feet long.

A guy I work with has a very large oak tree on his 40 acres in Michigan. 2 guys cant get their arms around this tree. 15 years ago a furniture maker came to him and offered him $5k for the tree, and they cut it up haul it off and leave the brush.
(That tree would be dropped by me in a hurry)
He decided to keep it.
Dont let the county wreck your land and try to get a decent price for that walnut.

TGIN · Mar 27, 2009

Cut them yourself and have a bandsaw come saw them for you then sell the lumber . There s not alot of board feet in tree s that size and your pro s cant make much money unless you give them to them .

Mike M · Mar 27, 2009

Good chance there is not very much dark wood in the center of trees that small. Might be worth as much for firewood ?

tlak · Mar 27, 2009

An Amish here makes pallet stock and I've never seen any walnut cut up in pallet size stock. At another Amish place I saw someone grading out walnut and he was grading it down to pretty small sizes, so I don't know what "poor quality walnut" could be.

thurlow · Mar 27, 2009

Have had a mill for a long time; Mike and TGIN have it right............

bruster · Mar 27, 2009

Lumber trees are down at this time, and your 12" trees are only going to have about 10-10.5" of "black " heartwood in them. They would be even a little small to sell to a veneer mill. If the county is just going to trash them (are they that close to the ditch, or power lines?)it would be better to cut them down and mill into lumber with a band saw mill (less waste)
I've never seen black walnut pallets. Most are make from Maple, Poplar or Pin Oak

Anonymous-0 · Mar 27, 2009

county should pay what trees are worth when mature, not what they are worth now.UNLESS trees are on county right of way.

Dave 2N · Mar 27, 2009

Walnut for pallets?? Never heard of such a thing.

Yup-lumber is way down but those walnuts have way more value than to just cut and bulldoze them into a pile.

T'were me, I'd cut them into 10 logs and get them out of the way somewhere. Hire someone with a bandsaw mill to come in and cut them. Stack, sticker and cover them somewhere. Woodworkers will buy some from you sometime, I'm sure. And who knows what else might turn up?

RockyMo · Mar 27, 2009

I am suprised the mills will offer you anything for the trees at 12 inch diameter. The mills usually do not want anything less than 18 inch diameter due to the lack of usable dark heartwood in smaller trees. I see lots of small stuff loaded on trucks back east for the paper mills but I don't think they buy high dollar trees for that purpose. Sorry to hear of the loss of trees but around here those would just be firewood.

Rocky in MO

Anonymous-0 · Mar 27, 2009

This may seem like a dumb question to many, but is all walnut the same or is there more than one kind of walnut? I am fimilar with black walnut for woodworking. It is VERY expensive here, in South Dakota, because we don't have a lot of wood like that. Would think it would have more value than that, but I am not fimilar with the wood when it is still "in the tree". Everything I get is all planed and ready to work with.

thurlow · Mar 27, 2009

English walnut, Juglans regia; black walnut, Juglans nigra; California walnut, Juglans hindsii. There's also Claro, which I'm not sure is a species, but may be a grafted combination.

rrlund · Mar 27, 2009

Trouble with the COUNTY paying for anything is that YOU,the landowner,are the one that pays for it. That ditch cleaning will be assessed ONLY to the land owners in that Drainage District. In other words,those affected. It won't be spread out county wide,or even township wide if it's a short ditch. Last one we needed cleaned,even though it was a county drain,the Drain Comissioner advised that the two of us affected most,hire somebody to do it. Said by the time he put it up for bids and ran it through his office,it would cost us at least twice as much.

John B. · Mar 27, 2009

Walnut trees in 12" diameter don't have that much dark wood in them is probably why they won't offer you much for them.

You would be better off cutting them your self and storing them for a year or two then sell them for seasoned hard wood.

Spook · Mar 27, 2009

A local guy here had a mill for many years. He would let walnut logs lay on the ground unil the bark was coming off. He said it allowed the tannins in the bark time to work their way into the wood.

fregienewbee · Mar 27, 2009

At 160-180 a cord,those trees are worth more as firewood. That's what I'd do.

Larry in Michigan

teddy52food · Mar 27, 2009

I would cut them for logs down to a 6 inch small end. If they are crooked, cut at the bend to get random lengths. Check on E-bay for walnut boards. I would not cut them for firewood except for the tops.

bruster · Mar 27, 2009

I was thinking.........That size will not give a lot of lumber, but mill cut for GUN stocks might be a way to get your money's worth.

Some of you gun guru's chime in!
Would this be a better money maker?!

waltdavies · Mar 27, 2009

First thing are they on your property or the counties. Check your deed and see if your land goes out onto the road bed if so then they are on your property. Then tell the county to either pay you full price for the trees or leave then right where they stand. The ruling passed on by the Supreme Court is that they can't take what is your without "Do compensation"
I have been wondering when some smart lawyer is going to make the counties and cities pay for all that land that they use for roads and sidewalks, going to cost trillions if they do and they will win in court. That has already been proven by a local guy here in Oregon.
Walt

NEsota · Mar 27, 2009

C-man, Not knowing where in S.D. you are or what your walnut needs might be, I would be glad to put you in touch with a small mill in S.E. Nebraska, who, last I knew had walnut sawed and ready to go. E-mail is open.

paul · Mar 27, 2009

I assume the lumber buyers know your plight, and are bidding accordingly.

Small black walnut or crooked isn't all so worthwhile. Is that $400 a tree, or for all 70?

The county would likely have an easement for the ditch, and can control vegitation so many feet out - as things should be, an overgrown ditch is a problem to everyone. So it wouldn't be wise to try to get tough with the county, as some are saying.

Dad always said how miserable farming our low land was until the county ditch came through, he was real thankful for it & viewed it as an asset to be cared for, not a hardship.

--->Paul

teddy52food · Mar 27, 2009

The fancy gun stocks come from large trees out of the crotch or the stump wood. The plain stocks are from plain wood. The core is usually no good. Also I don't think the sapwood is used.

GordoSD · Mar 27, 2009

There's large woodworking shop in Mitchell. They make all the woodworks for all the Cabela's stores in the U.S. They can also do millwork. I'd give them a ring.
owner is Mike Honnerman hm ph eve 996-0008

Gordo

Cub n M in OR · Mar 27, 2009

Walnut trees have to be pretty good size to be of much value. The lighter sapwood is less desirable. I've got some crotch grain walnut slabs that my dad cut out of a tree that was being taken down for a road widening 20 years ago that are all 10' long and 20-22" wide. REALLY nice stuff!

Ben

bruster · Mar 27, 2009

This is true, but out of a 12" tree you should get at least half a dozen out of a 10' section with no sapwood. It also depends on the growth pattern of the tree and age (a 12" walnut can be 15 to 30 years a old depending on growing conditions)

Bob Kerr · Mar 27, 2009

The only trees worth a lot of money are veneer grade logs and there are many factors that go into having one. First, They must have started life crowded with other trees to keep the log growing straight and the lower limbs to a minimum. Second, they must not have suffered any damage while growing, like wind shake, damage from other trees falling or equipment being used in the woods.Third, there must not be any defects visable in the bark pattern that would indicate an internal problem and those buyers know what to look for! Fourth, for some reason I have never understood is if the land had ever been pastured, the trees will be almost worthless. I never cut any trees personally in pastured woods so I could not tell you what happens to them. Could be animals chewing the bark, could be animal waste causing some discoloration inside,Could be from amimal hooves or rooting disturbing the root systems, possibility of embedded wire but that usually shows up in the bark, but leaves a long black stain yards long inside the tree, who knows why, I just hear that is a problem. If your land was or is pastured, that may be why you got lowballed. If it was mine, I would cut them myself and have the lumber sawn and sell if to hobby woodworkers and cut the tops for firewood. I like walnut firewood! I have for sale right now some nice Cherry, Ash, Red Oak and soon will have some very nice wormshot White Oak. All of these woods are very straight grained and narrow growth rings, (deep woods stuff!)

Anonymous-0 · Mar 27, 2009

I've got several on my place. I was surprised when I saw the first one, then got a few more....

2x4 · Mar 28, 2009

Grazed woodlots always have wormy wood. Even if the tree shows no outward defects, the interior is usually hollow or rotten. Forestry teachers suspect that cattle compact the root system & weaken the trees immune system. Loggers & foresters have long known about this.

2x4 · Mar 28, 2009

Caucasian walnut from the Caucus Mountains in Russia is recognized as the best in the world for strength & beauty. The very best gunstocks are made from it.

Bob Kerr · Mar 29, 2009

I just talked to a local logger last night. He said Walnut trees aren't affected by stump worms. They just don't mess with walnut. He did say, if those trees are only 12 inces wide though at the stump end there will only be 6 inces of useable log and worth very little for furniture. He also asked me how far they were from a road. That is another factor.. One thing I would do is find out who the county is going to have do the work and contact them and find out if they are going to shove those trees down, or if they can go in on the other side of the ditch in that area as you want those trees to mature. If you put a sign up stating that you sell unshelled walnuts, you might have a case to get them to leave those trees.

O.T. Walnut trees

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