Recent Wood Score

[Jon]

Recently my great grandmother's house was sold and my grandfather worked out a deal with the buyers to let my dad and I have all the wood in the house and keep the dead Black Walnut tree in the backyard. So over the past month, I have been spending all of my spare time tearing down the house before the house is bulldozed. Almost the entire house is built out of Redwood! Here's a picture of a little less than half the wood in my workshop. These are all the short pieces, from 4 to 12 feet long. The longer ones are 13-20 feet in length and are being stored elsewhere until I have some more space.

Below are a few pictures of the Black Walnut tree cut up into about 8 pieces. Originally, the tree was about 30+ feet tall. Right now I'm trying to locate a local to mill the wood for me. Biggest piece is the far left and far right, measures to about 40" length x 45" diameter. Weighs a good 300-400 pounds.

We got a few pieces of Oak, Ash, and I believe Elm as well. I'm still not sure if it's an Elm tree, but it looks sweet! Possible Elm and Ash is pictured below. I'll be using these for knob turning!

Edited July 3, 2007 by Jon

[HuntinDoug]

Very cool Jon! Nothing like salvaging old wood that is slated for demo.

[Woodenspoke]

Jon, I hate you you lucky bastard.

Woodenspoke

[CrazyManAndy]

That is awesome Jon! I love black walnut. Looks like you'll have plenty of redwood too.

CMA

[Jon]

Yeah, I'm pretty excited to have all this wood. I thicknessed one of the redwood pieces a while back, it would yield one amazing acoustic top. I also picked a flatsawn piece for a my 6-string fretless I've been planning out the past year. Can't wait to start on that bass!

[WAK Guitars]

Dude you are lucky! Our tree came down in Hurricane Juan 4 years ago and boy is it nice to get free wood. I didn't send mine to a mill, I just used a chainsaw and got a decent piece of wood (not planed yet but). I think you're being much smarter in sending it to a mill though.

[Jon]

If I can afford it! I may be better off buying a Laguna bandsaw, I'll check out the prices of the milling cost though. I cut up the "Ash and Elm" pieces. I suck at guessing wood, they were neither. The two woods were Walnut and a Cherry wood. Oh well, I've got a box of Ash somewhere.

[tubab0y]

share?

[Rick500]

I've got a big maple in the back yard that's down, I need to get out there and cut it up. I tried unsuccessfully to find someone to mill it for me, but I'll give it a shot myself.

That redwood you've got there looks great!

[TheIRS]

Man oh man! I've been looking for places to find good wood for a while and you hit the jackpot! If you are willing I'd definitely be interested in purchasing some of that redwood or black walnut. Nice stuff you have there, should make quite a few amazing instruments!

Edited July 3, 2007 by TheIRS

[jmrentis]

Very cool stuff Jon, nice when you run into a fat supply of timber. Well Jon, I'll make you a deal, when my parents rip out the solid Koa(supposedly flamed) spiral stair case in their maui condo, I'll swap you a couple fat stairs for a grab bag of what you got, lol. It won't be for a while, maybe a year or two, but hey its worth the wait, hopefuly by then some of that walnut might be ready. Anyhow, can't wait to see what you do with all that great stuff. Will you be offering some of it through your site? Best of luck. J

Edited July 3, 2007 by jmrentis

[Jon]

I know all the smaller pieces I'll use for turning knobs. But the larger logs? Man, it's going to be a long time before this stuff is relatively dry. I still have no idea what size I'll have them cut to. Max length x 8-9" x 3" sounds reasonable, but I'd really be afraid of shooting myself in the foot going with that. I know some of the wood will be sold locally for gunstocks.

I'd be willing to sell and trade some of the Redwood, but the vast majority I will be keeping. A small amount for woodwork and the majority will be used for interior housework. I do need to get rid of larger pieces, because I could fill up my 16x20 workshop with the rest of the wood that is stored. If any of you guys are interested in the Redwood, feel free to PM me. I have a fair amount of well quartersawn wood that I can thickness down for acoustics, I just need to have the stuff inspected by a local acoustic builder to see if the wood is stiff enough and all that. I don't know enough about the needs of acoustic builders yet!

[MiKro]

Jon just be careful of REACTION WOOD. what i mean is Limbs. They had tension so be aware. Trunk wood and root are very worthwhile. just be careful with the other. Just some friendly advice!!!LOL:)))

Mke

[jmrentis]

Yeah, I always forget how long it takes for drying time on freshly chopped wood, wouldn't be a big deal if it was fully dry anyways, I got patience,sometimes,lol. Anyhow,I was just messing around a bit, but I do plan on selling some(for cheap or on trades) to a few of the people I know here, both for their personal use and if they want to sell some to the other forum members, but thats a long while away yet, probably a year or two, but you never maybe sooner. I will have a butt load of the stuff, each step being plenty big enough to bookmatch for an accoustic top/back or electric and something like 4-5 inches thick(I believe).

Thats cool that some will be sold for gunstocks! What worries you about that size you mentioned for drying? I know diddly squat about how to dry from the point you cut the tree down, except for what I've read here when people ask advice. Does that size limit what you could possibly to with the wood or will it dry too slow or what, I'm just curious as I wouldn't know. All those woods look seriously amazing, you definately came up. I expect in a few years we will see a flood of guitars in the GOTM made of walnut with cherry knobs, lol, jk. Best of luck. J

Edited July 3, 2007 by jmrentis

[Jon]

Jon just be careful of REACTION WOOD. what i mean is Limbs. They had tension so be aware. Trunk wood and root are very worthwhile. just be careful with the other. Just some friendly advice!!!LOL:)))

Mke

No branches on this tree. The Cherry is stumpwood, too. Man, I really wish I could have taken a picture of the stump of the cherry tree. It was like a perfect 10" x 10" stump, very beautiful color, all orangey colored sapwood. I kept saying "that would make the most beautiful headstock veneers ever!". The next day the tree guys ground the stump down.

For the drying time, I'd be looking at about one year per inch thickness on the Walnut, probably a little less since the tree hasn't grown in a long while. I was told it's been dead for 2-3 years. In fact, this wood felt extremely dry compared to all the other woods I have been cutting to size. So it just depends on what size I have it cut to. What worries me most about the size I'd be cutting to is the loss of wood. I don't know how much I'll need to thickness off if I do have it cut to 3". So say I lose a 1/2", that's only 2 1/2" total. Not quite thick enough for a nice resawn body blank. This whole ordeal has been a fun learning process, it's pretty amazing how much lumber you can find if you go out and look for it. Cutting the small pieces up is a lot of fun! I'm going to go out and find some more small pieces at the house next time I'm out there and hopefully get the Walnut trunk out of the ground. Got a good 1 -2 feet left in the ground.

[jmrentis]

Man, get some pics if you can get the stumpy roots/truck out that would look cool. Thanks for explaining about the cutting and drying, before I typed out that last response I was going to say if you were going for a finished thickness of 3" then maybe you could even leave a bit more on like some 3.5 that way could resaw into a solid body blank if you wanted to. I know I have seen some cool looking basses that were just a thick piece of walnut. Just a thought, personally I don't know if I could resist putting a top on even with some nice walnut, especially when you come across some nice bubinga or maple. I dunno, I see what you mean though about the size now, I would be tempted to leave it thicker, but I don't know the ins and outs of the whole drying/thicknessing/wood loss game, so just ignore my mumbling, lol. PS: That cherry is super cool looking, can't wait to see what you got planed for that stuff. Headstock veneers +1. J

Edited July 3, 2007 by jmrentis

[Jon]

Upon closer inspection, the cherry wood has some crazy grain. I can't wait to see what I can do with this wood in a year or two! I'll bring my camera next time I'm out there and get a few pictures of the property.

[pdizzle]

you know i live in fort worth, if you catch my drift and it was my birthday yesterday and i really want some wood!!

but really, what part of fort worth do you live in?

[Southpa]

Crazy grain cherry is nice but you might find it unuseable once its cured. I've seen similar wood turn into split and twisted wrecks after drying.

[Jon]

you know i live in fort worth, if you catch my drift and it was my birthday yesterday and i really want some wood!!

but really, what part of fort worth do you live in?

Happy late birthday! My workshop is located in southwest Fort Worth, about 2 minutes away from Southwest Highschool. My youngest sister currently attends that school. You're more than welcome to come out to my workshop once I get the damn thing organized.

I'll make the cherry wood work. It would be a small use anyways, something that wont involve strength in a guitar, at least not too much. Either knobs or headstock veneers.

[pdizzle]

DUDE!!! I'm a sophmore this simester!!!! Southwest Raiders FTW!! whos your sister, what grade?

Edited July 4, 2007 by pdizzle

[cherokee6]

WHOA!! Lots of good building for the next several years! And its all dry!! We look forward to seeing pics of your projects!!

[fryovanni]

Jon,

I was looking around the web and ran across a couple forums for milling. That may be a way to track down a guy with a portable mill(unless you are willing to haul it to them. I have met up with several people that mill in Oregon and Washington(private partys with fairly simple mills). There are also a lot of people that will mill for you and take part of the wood as payment. Another place I have crosed paths with mobile mills is at the woodworkers show that tours the country(Woodmizer I believe has a list of people with their mills that are doing business, might be worth getting ahold of them). Also look for companys that do Urban wood recovery(they are generally looking for donated or cheap logs, but you may be able to swing a deal for payment, I really support these guys because what they do is soooooo... awsome).

Jason, Buddy, When you get those bits of Koa. Keep in mind unfigured Koa lumber is currently running $55-$60 bd. ft. Mild Curly is running about $60-70, and strong curly Koa is running between $90 and $110 bd. ft. Assuming each piece is at least 8"x 21"( a little over a bd. ft per inch of thickness) each inch of each piece is worth between $60(plain) and $100(high figure). That is in lumber form and based on lumber prices. Resaw guitar tops or acoustics back and sides sets are more valuable yet(per. bd.ft.). If you are able to get your hands on some high figure stock. I would recommend you send it to a professional "high yeild" resawer(they charge about $60 hr., but you will get extra acoustic sets maximizing the yeild). A single extra set from a high dollar wood will more than pay for the fee they charge and you will get solid, accurate, smooth cut wood.

Peace, and good luck with the wood fellas.

Rich

[Jon]

Definitely good advice there, Rich. Thanks again!

[bentwood999]

Yee ha i guess your gonna be drying wood for a while

very nice indeed

Edited July 5, 2007 by bentwood999