What's the best way to saw Black Walnut

[rbjones03]

The wood fairy has smiled on me. I was given a 23" DBH black walnut!!!!!      30' before the first branch, then it forks.

Should I flat or quartersaw? I have never sawn Black walnut before and don't want to ruin this beauty.

[ronwood]

I would flat saw it. Also might to cut the log such that you can have some bookmatched pairs especially near the forks.

Ron

[rbjones03]

Thanks, that's what I thought but I just wanted to be sure.  Would wider boards be better than say 6"? How stable is BW? I was just going to saw it 4/4

[tnlogger]

rb i see ya got a peterson i would saw as wide as i could down to where i could get a good wide flinch roll the log over and do the same thing to end up with a good wide table board about 2. anything you can double cut to 16" i would. and go at least 5/4 to leave room for drying and planing.

[DonE911]

I dont know if there is a market for them there, but walnut fireplace mantels are popular here.  I have a few on hand drying.  The guy at the flee market will buy them. He sells them at $800 when he finishes them.  He wants them 12% MC and one natural edge though... that takes a while and he will only take them 2 at a time until they are sold.
 He likes the character pieces also.... knots, wide sapwood ect...

[rbjones03]

I knew I could count on you guy's. I'll just saw them wide as possible with one live edge, and leave a slab. I'm going to saw the crotches the same way, maybe saw them 8/4. My Dad is a genius at millwork and I'll going to let him have his pick of the cuts. He found the tree for me. I'll post pic 's when I cut it. Probably next weekend.

Hey DonE911 how does the guy finish the mantles, I mean does he just plane them smooth and coat them with poly or something special?
 

[DonE911]

It looks to me like he just planes them down and puts on a oil finish of some type.  He also puts some wall anchors in the back side and makes up some shelf supports for under the mantel.  Looks to be a simple deal....    He sells alot of pine or hickory ones also (much less $$) and he dresses those up with a draw knife instead of the natural edges.

I asked him who was buying them and he just said custom home people.  He was probably just protecting his market on that comment.  He sells lots of furniture, iron work, mantels and that kind of thing.  There are alot of Vacation cabins built in this area, so I'd imagine thats where his products go.

[mike_van]

Ditto on the flatsawing, you get the nicest looking boards that way. Quarter may be more stable, but it sure looks blah.

[AtLast]

In my opinion and MOST in this industry...the only logs you should consider quatersawing is Oak...typically MOST others should be flat sawin because the end result MOST look for is that flat sawin look....your cherrys....maples....walnuts and such..are better served flat sawin...

[Tom]

Here is the link to the 3rd chapter of the Handbook.

There is some good info on Quarter sawing and Flat sawing in it.

Look for the table 3-2 and find descriptions of flat and vertical grain on different species.

Handbook link