# Black walnut tree in our backyard



## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

We've been considering getting our black walnut tree in the backyard cut down. But we know the cost would be great as it's a huge tree (about 40 feet high). Someone recently mentioned that walnut trees are prized not only for the walnuts but the wood itself. I wonder if people ever consider bartering---they cut the tree down for free, if they get to keep the wood and walnuts. Ever heard of people doing that before?


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## Kap (Jun 20, 2008)

They do that here with palms. Nurseries will remove mature palms for free so they can sell them.

Call some of your bigger local landscapers/nurseries.


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## Kap (Jun 20, 2008)

You may want to ask here too:

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/


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## KHouse75 (May 14, 2008)

Black Walnut trees are worth a lot of money from what I hear. There are people who will sneak onto your property when you aren't home and will cut your tree down because it's worth so much.

You should be able to get much more out of it that it would cost you to pay someone to cut it down.


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## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely look into seeing who might want this wood. In taking another look at the tree, I'm guessing it's 50 feet tall, so it might be worth quite a bit.


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## Shamus (Apr 27, 2008)

You don't mention the diameter. That has everything to do with value.

There was a saying 25 years ago. Plant 40 walnut trees the day of your childs birth. Sell the trees and pay for their college 18 yrs later. 

Depending on your location, the Northeast or the Midwest will bring the highest prices. You can match the highest value hardwoods selling in those areas and it's most likely double that, upwards to $100/ton or $800/MBF on the stump. 

Value in the south and west are lower due to demand. Just not much walnut wood used there due to availability.


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## Charles (Jul 9, 2008)

I used to live at a place that had a black walnut tree and during the spring it would spot your car in a thick sap that actually ended up messing my neighbors paint job up a little bit. I can sympathize with wanting to get it cut down, but I used to love having a very steady supply of walnuts.


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## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

I never noticed any sap on our cars before; but then again, I didn't look very closely, plus, our cars are black. My car is new, so thanks for that head's up.

Our tree splits off from the main trunk about 5 feet up. At the very base, it's about 24 inches wide. Then the secondary branches are about 16 inches wide each. The tree is about 50 feet high. We're in Ohio (the Midwest), so I might have some luck in finding a buyer/tree service to barter with. Here's a picture below:


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## buletbob (May 9, 2008)

Shamus said:


> You don't mention the diameter. That has everything to do with value.
> 
> There was a saying 25 years ago. Plant 40 walnut trees the day of your childs birth. Sell the trees and pay for their college 18 yrs later.
> 
> ...


that is so true. that saying live's on here to. they are worth a lot. call a locale hard wood dealer, you should be able to have the tree removed and then still get paid at the same time , don't work on a bard er, you will be loosing on this deal. BOB


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## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

Well, I called all the sawmills in the area and I got the same general response. They were interested in taking this tree down ONLY if it was standing in a field somewhere (because it would be them to take the tree down). But since this tree is in our backyard very close to the house and I would insist on a certified tree service that is bonded and insured to do the job just in case it did any property damage, they weren't interested at all.

I just can't justify the expense of removing this 50-foot tree if it's not causing major problems. It's just the minor inconvenience of millions (slight exaggeration) of nuts in the backyard and on the patio and driveway.

Oh well, it was worth a shot. Now I know.


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## jackpine (Sep 3, 2008)

You could cut it down yourself. All you need to do is winch it down, away from the house. Attach a winch to another big tree in the direction you want the tree to fall. Make your notch cut in the same direction. Then make your back cut slowly as to not cut it all the way through. At this point the tree is just standing by the small hinge left uncut. Now, get on the winch and crank it down until it falls. I have cut dozens of yard trees down using this method. Some of which were 80 foot tall birch trees, 10 feet from my house and leaning towards the house.


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## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

Would I ever consider doing this myself? Absolutely not. No matter which direction this 50-foot tree would fall, it'd be landing on something major (either in our yard or one of our 3 neighbors' yards). And with my being such a novice in this area, it'd probably end up landing in the worst possible place. It's staying.


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## jackpine (Sep 3, 2008)

Well, this is a do it yourself site and I just was telling you how to do it yourself. If I was closer, I would come and help, it is not really that much of a job. As far as selling the timber, you probably have 30 bucks worth of tree there so trading the job out would not be real fair. If you want it down and will not DIY, then call an arborist. They will either do it like I explained or climb it and cut down small sections at a time, or have a truck with a boom on to accomplish it. 1000 dollars is probably ball park for that job. And that may not include clean up. My advice, live with the nuts.


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## KHouse75 (May 14, 2008)

sounds like you should invest in a lawn vaccuum to suck all the nuts up.or pay the neighborhood kids a penny per nut for them to pick them up.


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## buletbob (May 9, 2008)

jackpine said:


> Well, this is a do it yourself site and I just was telling you how to do it yourself. If I was closer, I would come and help, it is not really that much of a job. As far as selling the timber, you probably have 30 bucks worth of tree there so trading the job out would not be real fair. If you want it down and will not DIY, then call an arborist. They will either do it like I explained or climb it and cut down small sections at a time, or have a truck with a boom on to accomplish it. 1000 dollars is probably ball park for that job. And that may not include clean up. My advice, live with the nuts.


A fifty foot black walnut will most likely pay out over $4000.00 in tember


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## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

buletbob said:


> A fifty foot black walnut will most likely pay out over $4000.00 in tember


I sure wish I could find someone local who thinks the same as you! If the wood is that valuable, then why wouldn't a sawmill owner invest whatever hundreds of dollars it would cost to cut this tree down down so they can have all the wood for free? The sawmills here sure aren't interested. Maybe it's worth that just in certain parts of the country, but not here in Cincinnati.


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## jackpine (Sep 3, 2008)

buletbob said:


> A fifty foot black walnut will most likely pay out over $4000.00 in tember


I may have underestimated the value, but 4 grand is way over estimated. Looking at that tree in the photo it probably has 3 sawlogs, maybe 3/12 total. With the total height being 50 feet, the merchantable height is probably around 30 feet. Thats roughly 240 board feet depending on which log scale you use. at 800 per thousand, thats about 220 dollars.


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

Agreed, there is very little usable heartwood in a tree that narrow. Very little. Probably not enough to justify someone's time in cutting it down and hauling it away.

I have a monsterous 36" diameter walnut in my yard. It is always the first to lose its leaves in the fall and the last to get its leaves in the spring. I regularly get tree services stopping by offering to remove it for free, stating that it is dead. It certainly isn't dead. It would have a lot of usable lumber in it. I have two really nice walnut dents in my truck's hood from this season alone. Beautiful tree, but it is always dropping something. Walnuts, leaves, stems, sap, little fuzzy leafy things that look like caterpillars, and more sap.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

Agreed, there is very little usable heartwood in a tree that narrow. Very little. Probably not enough to justify someone's time in cutting it down and hauling it away.

There is that and the fact that most lumber co's do not remove trees in a residential neighborhood because of nails,etc which damage their blades.


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## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

The previous owner did have a cable installed to keep the 2 big limbs from splitting apart about halfway up the tree. So I guess there's a minimum of 2 nails/screws up there. 

I guess we'll just have to work around living with this tree. Right now I am offering this tree on Freecycle and Craigslist. Let's see if there are any takers in my area. I'll be sure to post back if there is.


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## ekulrenlig (Sep 1, 2008)

I once heard of one black walnut tree selling for $27000. They can be quite valuable if the quality is good. I think you could find someone to do the job for you and get paid too.


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## jackpine (Sep 3, 2008)

ekulrenlig said:


> I once heard of one black walnut tree selling for $27000. They can be quite valuable if the quality is good. I think you could find someone to do the job for you and get paid too.


Yes, that would be veneer quality. You need a large diameter, say anything above 26 inches and an extremely straight bole with little taper for a long ways before a veneer mill will purchase the tree. And no branches below the minimum diameter limit.


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

ekulrenlig said:


> I once heard of one black walnut tree selling for $27000. They can be quite valuable if the quality is good. I think you could find someone to do the job for you and get paid too.


A tree that would produce LOTS of blanks for _highly figured_ gun stock blanks or fancy veneer would be the only way to ever see big money, or much money at all for that matter. The tree in the picture is not a tree that is going to do either. Sorry for being a funsucker, I just don't want you to get your hopes up. :no:


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## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

Thanks for painting the realistic picture. In my wildest of hopes at this point, I hope that there's someone out there who will take it down for free so they can have the wood. But if not, the squirrels will just continue to enjoy a bountiful crop of walnuts.


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

$27,000???? i have some toothpick sized scraps here.... i wonder if i could get a few thousand for them? seriously though, has ANYone ever had GOOD dealings with tree buyers? i'd sure like to hear them. all i ever hear is rip-off stories around here. the guy that took down some maples for me screwed us pretty good. starting with the second UNMARKED tree he took when i went in to answer the phone....ending with him not doing any cleanup and trying to lower the price quoted on the contract for the oaks i wanted down "because the market changed"
i sold him the maple he'd already cut for a higher price and then told him to take a hike. at least i have the tops for firewood this winter.

DM


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## beccalynn (Sep 4, 2008)

I have heard of that, and actually black walnuts are kind of pricey. Maybe put an ad in the paper and collect them in little containers and sell them off? We actually just saw a house with a pear tree and the pears were causing the branches to hit the ground, so we asked if we could pick some [traded the man some sweet corn from my father in laws] and got pears AND apples!  Try bartering! I wish I lived closer to you!


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## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

I, too, have heard that about walnuts. I checked out "walnut harvesting" on the Internet and found that it's a lot of work (and dirty work, at that!) to finally get to the edible nut. If I liked walnuts, I would go to the trouble, but since I don't like the taste of them, I won't. Now if they were cashews or almonds, that'd be a different story.

No, I'll just leave them for the squirrels to round up. They appreciate them.


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

beccalynn: where's that pear tree again? lol

DM


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## buletbob (May 9, 2008)

proofer said:


> I sure wish I could find someone local who thinks the same as you! If the wood is that valuable, then why wouldn't a sawmill owner invest whatever hundreds of dollars it would cost to cut this tree down down so they can have all the wood for free? The sawmills here sure aren't interested. Maybe it's worth that just in certain parts of the country, but not here in Cincinnati.


After reviewing the picture that these other posters were referring to , I have to agree that tree is not worth anything. I can't believe that I didn't see the picture when I first replied to the post. But did here of people getting big money for there tree's . you'll get more money for the walnuts then the wood. :laughing:

My miss take.


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