I had an interesting conversation with a developer friend of mine who just purchased a 100 acres that he intends to develop. There are exactly 100 English Walnut trees on the property and he his current plan is just to clear them off. So in essence, I can pretty much have them if I get on it right now. The question is…..drum roll… Is it worth my time, the trees average 12 ft tall so they are probably not that big.
Steve – in Northern California
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Northern California is a big place. If you can provide me with a county, maybe I can put you in touch with some people who know some local millers. They might have better local knowledge of grade yield and recovery.
The other option, since these trees are small, would be to transplant some. That way you could get the nut crop for many years and have them available for lumber at some later date. Not exactly the best time of year for transplanting since you are getting into the dry season!
Thanks, The Trees are in Lake County, I live in Sonoma County. Steve - in Northern California
My blankity, blank damn California State highway map (courtesy of CalDot) does not list counties.
The people I know tend to be near the Humboldt/Medocino county line. Basically what you are looking for is some peckerwood operating a portable saw mill. If you can find a local woodworker in the area of the trees, he/she might know where to find one.
If the trees are less than 10" dbh, it is likely they will yield little usable lumber. The Juglans regina that we have in Orygun, tends to have some pretty wide sapwood. Generally the J. regina is grafted to J. nigra rootstock so you can get some real funky looking wood at the graft line. It could be that all the wood in those trees is sapwood which would make them more or less useless for lumber. And if they are <20 years old, a majority of the wood will be juvenile wood and thus about a cooperative as a teenager.
I think these are pretty young trees. I haven't seen them yet but plan on taking a ride this weekend to check them out. I have a feeling that there wont be much in the way of wood and it would cost more to find that out then they would be worth. However, if they are mature trees then the wood definitly has value and might be worth the effort. Steve - in Northern California
Steve
I am in Oregon and have used them a lot, would like a lot more.
My father gathered a lot of English walnut "logs". He liked to leave them in a pile, let leaves and crud collect over the very wet Willamatte valley winter and then have them sawn the next spring.
I was skeptical, but I cut a lot of them and was amazed at the color the wood developed. I learned to listen to the old logger/sawmill owner operator when it came to wood.
The fresh cut & air dryed wood tended to be a lot lighter colored, the "cured" wood was sandy brown to nearly a dark purple, some spalting.
Watchout for termites and such on any that have some older dead wood. I burned quite a bit.
If you have too much, let me know. I am in Central Oregon & I can resaw 12" on my Hatichi.
Curt
Just found out the trees are very young.. Apparently some investors dream that never came to fruition.. Probably another dot com'r trying to find a life like me.
The only chance that there will be good wood here is if I buy the property, go broke and wait... No, I don't think so. Well what the heck, I got some excitement from the thought.Steve - in Northern California
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