Harvesting Walnut

[Cabal]

I have been helping a friend clear some land for the past couple of months and he has offered to let me cut down and harvest one of his massive mature black walnut trees as a sign of his appreciation. The tree offered is huge, a left over from an orchard planted by sharecroppers from days gone by. Does anyone have any experience in harvesting trees of this magnitude and breaking them down into staves to make selfbows. And for that matter does anyone have any experience or suggestions on how best to utilize black walnut to make a quality selfbow as far as bow styles or dimensions? I have the means to fell and harvest the tree but a tree of this size would easily be a full day worth of work for two of us. I just don't know what to expect from this wood when splitting it and reducing it to bow dimensions. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[Gapmaster]

Not sure about splitting the wood. I don't know anything about that, but, if he is going to let you have the whole tree you might want to consider the burl wood. That stuff is big bucks. Not sure if it's good for bows, but you could buy alot of them with the money made. Just push the tree over with a back hoe. The burl is easy to sell as is. I've seen some of them go between 3000 to 15,000 dollars. Just some thoughts for you to think about.  

[Tbilisi]

Let it live...

[Danny Roberts]

Sounds like a real pal, a log like that would bring top dollar. Split it out like any other log for staves. Some people use the heartwood only and others like to leave a little sapwood on. Good luck !

[Cabal]

Thanks for the responses. The actual decision is still a couple of months away and I am inclined to let it live since it is a fine tree and I would be a bit upset to see it go. But on the other hand, a tree like this could provide enough wood to make a lifetime worth of bows with some left over to make furniture and the like. I'll make a new post later if the tree ends up being cut and show the process. Thnaks again.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I would cut out 2 staves from the trunk. If You have TBB Vol I... Look on page 173.. If my scanner was working I would post the pic.

[Burnsie]

If it is going to need to be removed as part of your friends project then you are looking at some potentially great lumber. If not, I would let it live.  If it were mine, I would not use it for bows. Could probably make a servicable bow from it, but there are much better woods for a bow and many other beautiful projects that could be made from it.  But that's just me. I'm sure you will be happy with whatever the decision is.
Burnsie

[Pat B]

I'm with Burnsie on this subject. BW will make an OK bow but if I were going to make a BW bow I would cut a smaller, easy to manage tree(4" to 8" dia). Generally you would use the white wood, just under the bark, for a BW bow.
  As far as quality grade BW a tree of at least 60 years old or older should be used. The sapwood on BW is quite thick so it takes a very large tree to get to the "good" lumber.
   There is lots of good bow making wood around the Athens area. Hickory, oaks, elm, HHB, ERC and many others. Bigger trees don't necessarily make better self bows.     Pat

[Ray Hammond]

I sent you an email.