Posts: 16,152
Threads: 0
Joined: Dec 2005
Back when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s walnut logs were rare. Rumors of single logs selling for upwards of $10K were heard, but I never knew anyone that got that price, just rumors. And the logs were never just "around" like they are today. All through the midwest there are walnut trees everywhere. People planted trees in the yards decades ago and the squirrels moved the nuts and now it is common to see trees around the periphery of every woods. That is where they do very well. I've driven through small towns like Northfield MN and lots of Iowa small towns where most all the trees lining the streets and in people's yards are walnuts.
There are the onesey-twosey big monsters in people's yards that are ~40-80 years old. I know of one in St. Paul in a front yard that is all of ~6' across. Lots of other nice ones around too that are 20-30" in diameter in yards.
A few years ago an old neighborhood of St. Paul (Highland Park) got hit with a tornado or strong winds and a friend and I went up with his skid loader with grapple and we scoured the down trees. I would find the trees and negotiate with the homeowners to get the walnut logs. I would cut the log and he would get it out of the yard. We offered cash (usually $100-200 depending on the log) or to make something out of the wood for their house. We scored over 10,000 bd ft of nearly clear logs. I didn't waste time with anything that wasn't nearly clear and certainly no metal in it. My friend did not know how to grade logs or how to cut them with a chainsaw or how to look for problems like nails.
We had a woodmizer come in and work right in the front yard of a friend and the sawyer worked for over a week making boards. A few people stopped by and asked if we would saw up a log from their property that was not walnut. They wanted lumber from the tree to remember the tree. We did that for ~10 people and charged a small fee for handling the log and delivering the lumber.
When we were done we had one of the tree services chip up the slabs and I used a dust collector to get every bit of sawdust out of the lawn and driveway. We ran one heck of an efficient operation. I did it just for fun and the guy that got the lumber used some but sold the rest. He bought me my midrange Chainsaw for my help. I did it mostly for the fun and not see the lumber go to waste.