# I have a large Black Walnut



## Jackfre (Dec 23, 2009)

on my property in CA. I'm moving out there next summer. On the property line (my side) is a gorgeous walnut. Its about 5' diameter and about 12' to the first branch. The elderly couple next door have told me they don't care for it overhanging their place and years ago, when the neighbors build their house out behind my place the power company pretty much destroyed this tree. The property is pretty much ringed with walnut and the biggest is in the center of the place. A magnificent tree, well except when it sheds and clears off the electrical service as it did a couple weeks ago. I'm going out in early Feb and putting an underground service in.

I'm going to take the property line tree down. I'm going to keep the wood and do a lot of live edge trim, tables, etc. How would you handle milling this tree? How thick would you cut the slabs? I have a good experienced friend with a band saw mill who will do this, but because he has been a good friend for 45 yrs i need to be properly armed to deal with him, if you get my drift!


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Jackfre said:


> . . . On the property line (my side) is a gorgeous walnut.


Is, or was, the property line ever fenced? Watch for barbed wire or other metal fencing even if there's not been any fencing in the neighbor's memory. You can often see a bulge in the tree where wire was taken in, but with a 5' diameter tree it might not be visible if there hasn't been any fencing around for a long while.



Jackfre said:


> Its about 5' diameter and about 12' to the first branch . . . I have a good experienced friend with a band saw mill who will do this . . .


You'll have to quarter a tree that big to get it on a band mill. 






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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Jackfre said:


> How would you handle milling this tree?


Since it's going to milled on a bandmill we are limited to the size of log we can get on the mill/width of cut...A 5'er won't fit :no:

This is how I do it, right or wrong. I like wide lumber. http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f26/working-logs-too-big-mill-9592/

Just for reference a 5' x 12' log will have 2300+ bft. Figure in waste since it has to be whittled down to size to even mill, still 2000+...And that same log will weigh 13,000+ lbs, that's a pig.




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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

Did you mean 5' in circumference instead of diameter? Just checking.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

5' in circumference would only be a 19" diameter tree. He referred to it as "large" so I was thinking he knows the difference. Always good to check though.






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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

You are probably right TT.


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## Jackfre (Dec 23, 2009)

*Diameter is 5'*

Some of the lower branches are over 2' thick. My biggest problem is getting it out of there. 20-25' from neighbors house 8' from my storage shed and the septic piping on the downhill slope. Two blocked in other words. I may be able to map out the septic piping and take it down hill and around, but it may require a cherry picker. I've done a lot of crane work on power houses and refineries and such so that isn't a problem, but with the proximity of houses and power lines, it'll be ticklish. I may ask PG&E for assistance. Ya never know, they may go for it.


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