Black Walnut Limb

[rcflyer23]

My dad (JCraig) just had a nice sized limb taken off of his black walnut tree to prevent it from crushing his shop . We are both wondering if the limb is worth taking to a sawyer or should we just cut it up into Bowl and Pen blanks.

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[Gotcha6]

I may be a little biased here, but it appears that wood needs to be spun!:icon_thum

 

[Travis Porter]

FWIW and your consideration, a lot of times limbs are under stress and have reaction wood.

Still, whether you spin or saw, you definitely need to use it.

 

[Ken Massingale]

As Dennis and Travis said, limbs don't make good boards, spin the heck outa that nice Walnut.

 

[CrealBilly]

 

[rcflyer23]

That's kind what I thought. I thought I remembered there being an issue with trying to use limbs as boards. Guess we will slab it up as bowl and pen blanks and see what comes out. I'll be interested to see what comes out of that crotch. Okay so that being said what is the best way to but them up for bowl blanks just split them and cut to size or what?

Jeff I would hate to use that as firewood.

 

[MrAudio815]

FWIW and your consideration, a lot of times limbs are under stress and have reaction wood.

Still, whether you spin or saw, you definitely need to use it.

I had a small dogwood limb that I thought would be great for coasters as that wood is pretty hard and same roundness throughout the 30" log. I anchor sealed the ends, waited 6 months, cut in on the bandsaw into 1" coasters and anchor sealed the heck out of them~!

Well out of the 26 coasters I cut, I have two left~! And they took between 1-4 months to crack, and when they did the split all the way past the pith and I couldn't with all my might push them back together or even move them a mm they had so much pressure pushing outward. I could with some effort pull them apart where they were cracking. So there must be a ton of stress in those limbs.

If you were to turn them, I would turn them quick, seal them quick. Or just turn quick, finish and watch the move.:swoon:

Or maybe they won't, wood sure is tricky sometimes. :icon_scra

 

[CrealBilly]

Limbs hang at some horizontal degree all their life, constantly fighting gravity. By nature they are full of stress - I would not sell any limb wood as turning blanks and I surely would not even think about trying to make boards out of a limb, no matter how big the limb is. I would not hesitate splitting it up for firewood but that's just me.

A man is gonna do what a man is gonna do, so rock on and good luck.

 

[Kyle]

Limbs hang at some horizontal degree all their life, constantly fighting gravity. By nature they are full of stress - I would not sell any limb wood as turning blanks and I surely would not even think about trying to make boards out of a limb, no matter how big the limb is. I would not hesitate splitting it up for firewood but that's just me.

A man is gonna do what a man is gonna do, so rock on and good luck.

+1

 

[Gotcha6]

I would not hesitate splitting it up for firewood but that's just me.

Jeff, given your adverse reaction to walnut, how does the smoke affect you, or it just the sawdust that bothers you?

 

[rcflyer23]

Thanks for the input Jeff and Kyle. I think we will probably just cut them up and turn and see what the heck happens and use them for practice and then I guess we can burn the smaller stuff.

 

[MrAudio815]

That's kind what I thought. I thought I remembered there being an issue with trying to use limbs as boards. Guess we will slab it up as bowl and pen blanks and see what comes out. I'll be interested to see what comes out of that crotch. Okay so that being said what is the best way to but them up for bowl blanks just split them and cut to size or what?

Jeff I would hate to use that as firewood.

Cut the limb down the middle, then cut out the pith on either side of the log, seal them up like crazy. Trust me, seal them up like crazy. As Kyle and Jeff and Dennis said, they have tons of stress. Oh am make sure if there is already checks/cracking on the end of the log to cut that off, go in an extra 3-4inches to be safe and cut that off.

Wait a few weeks if you want to turn something right away, or like has been said about air drying wood, you gotta wait 6 months or so.

Unless you do what Jeremy does, and turn them down to a good size, seal them up like crazy, and put them in a brown bag and wait, wait, wait.

Otherwise, just turn the heck out of them while they are still green, put finish on them and watch them mooooove~! It might get some cool shapes out of them, and then agin the might split with a vengeance~! :new_blowi

I'm not kidding, those coaster's some of them almost split from one side all the way to the other within an inch. :new_blowi I wish I had a picture. Then again I am not sure what the wood movement is on dogwood compared to walnut??? :dontknow:

 

[Gofor]

If you split the limb along the grain, you can make some nice walking sticks out of limbs. If they bow and twist, it just adds to the unique look.

Go

 

[CrealBilly]

If you split the limb along the grain, you can make some nice walking sticks out of limbs. If they bow and twist, it just adds to the unique look.

Go

Now Go that there is a awesome idea - I never thought about for limbs :thumbs_up

 

[CrealBilly]

Jeff, given your adverse reaction to walnut, how does the smoke affect you, or it just the sawdust that bothers you?

I don't know I try and not smoke walnut :gar-La;

 

[NCTurner]

Nah, Jeff just prefers snorting it!:rotflm:

I would turn them, but turn them VERY thin to final thickness and let the dry and move then finish.

 

[MrAudio815]

If you split the limb along the grain, you can make some nice walking sticks out of limbs. If they bow and twist, it just adds to the unique look.

Go

I can agree with that, I have seen Mark's Walking sticks and they are beautiful. He say's he can never seem to keep them around, They keep walking into others hands, there so nice~! :eusa_clap :icon_thum

Try that for sure.

 

[PurpleThumb]

+2

 

[CarvedTones]

There are uses for less than perfect wood...