Leatherneck

Picked up my walnut after 4-6 weeks in the kiln. This is the tree i harvested from my yard back in March. I had most of it milled 2'' thick.

13 pcs. total. Some are only 1 1/4'' thick. these are the widest. For reference the raised panels in the garage door are 20'' wide.

Notice the piece looking at you? Seems to have a tumor growing on his left side.

He milled it, dried it and planed it for $110.00.

I'm starting with some coffee and matching end tables. I plan to inlay some solid serface,

I have a concern about the staining in the enormous amount of sap wood on these pcs. Any tips? I would like to leave these natural.

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Daren

Nice ! I would not worry about the sapwood at all, the stain will add just that much more character when you finish it. I like live edge walnut crotch wood left natural, probably my favorite to work with...don't be like me though and just stare at the slabs , get to building something.

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RHarkins

Just out of curiosity, how much does it cost to have wood kiln dryed?

Leatherneck

This is my first time having any wood kiln dried. It cost me $45.50 to have mine done. I don't even know how many board feet I have. It just sounded like a good deal to me. I do know it will vary by region.

Hopefully someone here will chime in.


Daren ..
I plan to get building something when this heat wave passes.
In the mean time ... I'll just stare at it

Daren

Like Lneck said it varies around the country. I charge $.35 bft here in central Illinois, which I would say is average for my area...I have heard as low as $.20 in other states and $.50+ in yet others.

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bradleywellsoff

Good lookin slabs! Lots of character. I myself have a case of "Walnut Fever"

Gene Howe

Bradly, that's a disease that is not terminal but never cured. I've had it for 40 years. It gets much worse when you live in an area like I do, where Walnut is hard to find (read expensive).


Gene

Rick C.

Purty slabs,I'd stare at 'em for a while,Good find.

Chad

Nice wood. Now I'm wishing I had some to.

wolfmanyoda

Those are some nice looking pieces of wood.
I'm going to check out some black walnut I found on craigslist tomorrow.
I've not working with it before, but I used to have a fantastic antique dining room set made out of english walnut. I can already feel the fever setting in.

Leatherneck

I've been staring and listening ... thought I heard one of those slabs tell me what it wants to be.

dirtclod

$110.00 sounds too cheap! Getting so a sawmill operator can't afford to... Where's he located at so I can go TP his house?

What can you make out of 'em? Fortunately I don't have that problem since I lack the skill/desire to turn the raw material into a finished product. But I was looking at my stack of short walnut crotch flitches and what I saw was a complete set of nice tables for a cafe/bar/etc.

wolfmanyoda - if you wasn't so far north in Indiana I'd say come on down and get some from our inventory. We've even got a couple large trees waiting on deck that could be custom milled.

Leatherneck

TP his house ... thats funny He a retried sawyer. He still does it for poops and giggles.

Basically .. it's custom rustic funiture .. inspired by a man name of Nakashima.

I've been surfing the net for ideas ... came across a few interesting sites. I've found the simplicity of these pcs. of furniture and the asking price is to say the least surprising

Have a look see at the first table on this page ... note the asking price. simple yet elegant. The furniture isn't for everyone .. but Ive been drawn to it like a magnet.

http://www.dumonds.com/index.html

I also googled "crotch slabs" and found a world of businesses that deal in nothing but. saw one pc. that cost $22,000 just for the raw slab.

Daren

I am familiar with the style, it's what I do with my live edge slabs. There are some on the bottom of this page

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Dean Miller

I have about 100 bf of black walnut in the solor kiln now. Horses havn't died yet either. Its so pretty I don't want to cut it up. Going to have to be a pretty special project. I have enough white oak to keep me busy for several winters. Its denser than red oak and doesn't absorb stain as well I noticed on the first project.

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nblumert

The only person I could find within an hours from my house charged $0.60 a bf. I asked the same question here and they said that it was too much, but I couldn't find anyone else to do it. I found a mill that deals in only dry lumber now. Thats a much better option for me.

Julian the woodnut

You can build a solar kiln for under $500. If you plan on drying a bunch of lumber, it's a great way to go. For a little more you can make a dh kiln.