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Walnut Haul but what to do with it.

Pastor of Muppets

Pastor of Muppets

Full Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2017
Posts
279
Location
Oxford (ish)
First Name
Andy
Evening All,

A friend of my in-laws has going to chop down a walnut tree tomorrow its pretty decent size and my wife used to play in it as a child so its well matured.
He's offered my first chance to pick over it so i am going to pop over tomorrow and take a look.
but.....
I'm not sure what I'm looking for or what to do with it once I've got some.
any help and advice gratefully received. also if anyone wants some for themselves and is in the Oxford area let me know!

Cheers

Andy
 
Penpal

Penpal

Grand Master
Joined
May 26, 2013
Posts
25,342
Location
Canberra AUSTRALIA
First Name
Peter
Look for stress areas and above all grain. My experience with a tree one time it is really heavy timber and hard going to cut in every way. It lends itself more kindly to larger objects than pens. Take a good look at the branch wood. It needs end coating real quick.

All that glitters is never Gold all through.

Peter.
 
Terry Q

Terry Q

Fellow
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Posts
3,849
Location
Roanoke, Illinois USA
First Name
Terry
My first choice would be a couple pcs of trunk for big bowls. Second choice would be at least one crotch. The feather grain in walnut crotch can be very nice.
 
Phil Dart

Phil Dart

Moderator
Executive Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Posts
5,491
Location
Colebrooke, Devon
First Name
Phil
You can use wax to seal it, or PVA, or even emulsion paint. Anything to stop moisture/air exchange and therefore slow down moisture loss. It's the end grain you need to seal - don't worry about sealing the whole thing.

If the section you have is fat enough to cut it in half down the length of the grain and still have usable sizes afterwards, do so, through the pith, then seal it. You will have greater success seasoning if the pith is removed. If it's not fat enough, eg, branch wood, leave it in longer lengths and seal it. Hopefully any cracking will not go a too far down, and when its dry you can cut off the cracked bits, back to sound wood.
 
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