Black Walnut trees growth and harvest tips

[timberland]

I recently purchased some land in the WI driftless area and was excited to find some black walnut trees. I want to develop a plan for managing and harvesting them. Right now i am in the process of locating and marking them, but would be interested in any advice for specialty loggers, marketing, size and quality goals, etc. so I don't inadvertently reduce their value.

 

[taskswap]

If they've never been managed before, I'd start by looking closely for any signs of walnut blight and/or insect damage. FYI, I'm no arborist, but hung out on arboristsite.com a lot while we were burning wood exclusively to heat our home and they're basically the Rokslide of Trees. You might want to join and repost this there.

 

[Macintosh]

What's the draw to harvest them? How big are they now?

 

[timberland]

What's the draw to harvest them? How big are they now?

some that I saw were 12"-16" DBH. I am not sure if I want to harvest any of them now, but I do want to treat them right, like release the canopy, etc. I also want to understand the value and process of specialty wood harvest to market

 

[Q_Sertorius]

My understanding is that they are not as valuable as they were 50 years ago since tastes in furniture and etc. have changed. But they are still lovely trees to have around for the squirrels, shade, and the grazing that is possible underneath them. The fact that they inhibit the germination of other plants underneath them is potentially very useful. The yard around the cabin in which I was raised has turned into a walnut grove since we moved out of it a few years ago. It’s quite lovely now.

Caring for them makes a great deal of sense to me, since fashion is a circle.


____________________
“Keep on keepin’ on…”

 

[TaperPin]

That’s really cool. It’s not uncommon to end up with a portable mill cutting them on your property, or maybe you pay for transport to a custom mill and back home and you’ll stack and dry them out of the weather for as long as it takes to get into equilibrium with the air moisture in your area. If you are just going to sell the logs to a mill, that’s just going to be at the going rate, which will be shockingly low.

There’s a lot of information on how logs are cut by sawmills to maximize every bit of value, but for the most part you’ll probably just slice it into slabs for the thickness of boards you’re after, dry it, and maybe resaw and thickness plane when dry so the eventual buyer can see the quality and grain direction. Completely rough sawn hardwood is heavily discounted unless it’s large slabs since it’s a crap shoot what it actually looks like for things like furniture.

A visit to a local hardwood supplier would be fun just to see how hardwood boards are marketed commercially. Normally it’s planed on two sides with rough cut or natural edge on the other two in random widths, and sold by the board feet. For making heavy dining tables or counter tops, wide boards at least 8/4” or 10/4” thick are ideal with a finished thickness after being planed of 6/4”or 8/4” and that thickness also makes nice legs when doubled up. Personally, I’d cut the entire tree 10/4” in 10’ lengths and approach local cabinet and furniture makers when dry. 10’ allows 9’ tables, with enough length for three legs. Maybe there is a local shortage of a certain popular thickness, so talking with local furniture guys may show more of a demand for thicker or thinner boards.

There are some good video channels that cut hardwood slabs from local logs. Matt doesn’t have a portable mill, but he has a ton of videos cutting and drying logs in small quantities, sometimes for other people. Other mills with hydraulic turning and clamping are better for beams and rectangular boards, but it’s a cool channel.

 

[TaperPin]

When I was buying 1,000 brdft of hardwood every month and working as a full time woodworker, chatting with a small custom sawmill operator, he did say it’s much less hassle to sell slabs, because if you cut small boards, people want to high grade the best ones and leave you with a lot of odds and ends that can’t be sold, or they don’t want to pay for oddball thicknesses so boards sit for years. With slabs the entire tree goes away.

 

[WiscoHoundsman]

Being in the driftless area my self I would just suggest you talk to a few different loggers or arborists on what your desires for the property are and what value you may have. Good trees are worth something and they would have an estimate for you. Some trees can be worth a pretty large chunk of change while others are not.

What part of the driftless area are you in?

 

[timberland]

Elmwood

 

[insanelupus]

On our midwest farm, in the 80s, maple was quite popular and we had a lot of logging done at that time. Maple, red oak, and walnut, primarily. The logging was done mostly as an income producer for my grandfather and he worked out a deal with an outfit that produced verneer and were/are a lumber company as well. Worked out great for all parties and the tree tops and bases they did not use, were used for firewood (oak and walnut, not the maple).

I've helped cut and split a lot of walnut to be chunked into a fireplace over the years. Some of them beautiful burl pieces. I tried to save those back and have my father advertise them to local artists at the time, to no avail.

We did retain some of the lumber cut off our place, and it is still stacked in the barn covered by a tarp. When a new gun stock is needed, the pile gets raided for the right piece. Nothing fancy, just straight grained, plain ol' walnut. But they do hold a special place for me.

One in particular was a stock made from a red elm tree that was standing at the house site where my grandfather was born. It was used to restock a single shot .22 belonging to my great grandfather, which had been a Christmas present. My grandfather was there that day and fired the first shot from the new .22, and it road behind his pickup seat for decades. Looked like it had also. That red elm was a real pain to work with according to the gunsmith that hewed it out for us and it is far from a show piece, but just the fact of what it is and what it represents makes it worth it.

Bottom line, find someone local who deals in the markets you are thinking and pick their brain. That's probably the best way to maximize what you are wanting out of the standing timber you have on your place.

 

[backcountry_hunter]

The hardwood market in that area is more stable than a lot of the timber in the rest of the country. BW will still be fairly valuable. I would get in touch with a forester with wisc and have them take a look. Even the dnr likely has a PFM program that would probably be free of charge advice.

 

[JustABritCrazy]

I've worked as a hardwood forester for over 40 years. Hardwoods are a quality product. Veneer logs from the bottom of the tree sell for top dollar while the upper logs from the same tree will sell for pennies per board foot. It all has to do for the quality of the boards that can be produced from the log. 12 inches dbh is considered minimum size for a sawlog. 16 inches is considered a medium sized log. Volume is determined by the small end of the log. 10 inches is usually considered the minimum top diameter. Most of trees that produce veneer logs start at 18 to 20 inches dbh. Even then the majority of the trees that size won't veneer due to external defects you can see and internal ones you can't until the log is cut. Given your description make sure the crowns have plenty of space to grow into and let them do their thing for the next 20 or so years. Cutting a 12 inch dbh tree is like shotting a yearly buck. A 16 inch tree is a 2.5 year old buck. You want them to get to the 4.5 to 6.5 year old buck range which is going to take time.

 

[KsRancher]

I've worked as a hardwood forester for over 40 years. Hardwoods are a quality product. Veneer logs from the bottom of the tree sell for top dollar while the upper logs from the same tree will sell for pennies per board foot. It all has to do for the quality of the boards that can be produced from the log. 12 inches dbh is considered minimum size for a sawlog. 16 inches is considered a medium sized log. Volume is determined by the small end of the log. 10 inches is usually considered the minimum top diameter. Most of trees that produce veneer logs start at 18 to 20 inches dbh. Even then the majority of the trees that size won't veneer due to external defects you can see and internal ones you can't until the log is cut. Given your description make sure the crowns have plenty of space to grow into and let them do their thing for the next 20 or so years. Cutting a 12 inch dbh tree is like shotting a yearly buck. A 16 inch tree is a 2.5 year old buck. You want them to get to the 4.5 to 6.5 year old buck range which is going to take time.

I REALLY hate to agree with a forester. (Just poking fun) But everything he said is correct. Curious how the OP figured the DBH. Example, let's say you walked up to a tree and it measured 51in circumference at chest high. More than likely that will end up only being a 13in butt cut. For two reasons. You need to take your circumference x .28 instead of .314 because logs are measured inside of the bark not the outside. And the log will likely taper enough by the first cut that you bump down to the next lower inch from where you measured at chest high. DO NOT cut those trees if thats the size of trees you have. Like was already said. Let's them grow for 20 more years

 

[JustABritCrazy]

And as much as I hate to agree with a logger, (also poking fun) KsRancher is spot on. Bear in mind we are both just skimming the top of how things work. Get ahold of the local CFM or county forester and walk the woodlot with them. Then if they spark your interest there are other things you can start doing. WI probably has a forest landowners organization. Join that and you'll meet all types of interesting people.