My Walnut wood

[PeterGee]

Hello all,

My first official post.

In early 2023 I decided to embark on a long term project that involved cutting down the mature Walnut tree in my back garden in Hampshire, keeping all the wood, drying it out in my garage, and then using it for local woodworkers to make furniture for me. It has been drying out for about 18 months, and the trunk was sawn into basic 2" x 80" planks by a man with a Chainsawmill in Summer 2023 (which are now ready to use). The trunk planks will go into making a large coffee table and also a large Cabinet. The rest of the wood (and there are a lot of large logs) will probably go into a large movable kitchen island, and smaller pieces of furniture such as dressing tables.

For now, I myself have decided to explore the quality of the Crotch pattern on the smaller pieces, using my Bandsaw to slice them. The first pictures are below, and more will follow... What do you think? Enjoy!

 

[Chris152]

Lovely idea.

 

[Yojevol]

Hi Peter and welcome to the forum. From your photos it looks as though you've got some nice walnut. Judging from timings I would be a bit sceptical about its readyness for use. The basic formula for air drying is 1year per inch of thickness, but this is based on it being stored in the open with good air flow between the slabs. This process will get the moisture content down to about 14%. However that's not the end of the process. Most woods will dry out to about 8% in normal CH houses, so its best to try and get down to somewhere near to that before working the timber. This can be done by bringing the slaps indoors from the garage for a few months. Commercial timber suppliers will sell kiln dried hardwoods at about 8% MC.
If you're anxious to get going, you could go ahead with a simple slab coffee table design where it won't matter too much if it does distort after completion. As for the cabinet I think you need to be a bit more cautious. I would recommend finding your maker and get him involved asap. He could well have a moisture meter and will advise you when it's ready to use.
Brian

 

[PeterGee]

Thanks Brian,
I do have a moisture meter that I use for judging how dry my firewood is, and I get a reading for the planked boards of 15.5%, so there is indeed some drying left to do here. I have a conservatory with enough space to put it in, but it does get exceedingly hot there in the summer, so I might leave it in the garage (which is south-facing and also gets warm in the summer). I can wait until the end of this coming summer before I send it off to be made into a slab coffee table, which is exactly what I was thinking about. Some more pictures, showing some of the Walnut wood:

 

[Cabinetman]

Thanks Brian,
I do have a moisture meter that I use for judging how dry my firewood is, and I get a reading for the planked boards of 15.5%, so there is indeed some drying left to do here. I have a conservatory with enough space to put it in, but it does get exceedingly hot there in the summer, so I might leave it in the garage (which is south-facing and also gets warm in the summer). I can wait until the end of this coming summer before I send it off to be made into a slab coffee table, which is exactly what I was thinking about. Some more pictures, showing some of the Walnut wood:

View attachment 196926View attachment 196928View attachment 196929

The problem is Peter, that if you were to cut that board in half and check the centre it would still be quite wet, a lot of the moisture is wicked along the grain to the ends to evaporate, sorry. As they are 2” planks I hope you have a good bandsaw for resawing.
Welcome btw.