- Yeah, you're good. Yeah, Yeah. We can see you and you
see that as a person and you're like this big,
and the log is like this big. Hey everyone, my name is Matt. Welcome to my backyard this
time when we slabbing up this giant, a black walnut log here, that my buddy Jeff brought
all the way from Ohio. Jeff reached out a little while ago and asked if I wanna cut this giant log. And I told him, you know, "If you're crazy enough to bring a log all the way from Ohio to
Minnesota abso-freaking-lutely. So, as we get in the log offloaded, Jeff is gonna tell us a little
bit about how he ended up with this big log and
how he ended up here. It was like 800 miles, 900 miles? - 800, that was miles. - Yeah, there you go. Moving, moving like 8000
pound log, 800 miles. This, there's a lot of eights in this one. (laughing) - Alright, so a year ago,
I knew the homeowner, the property owner that had the walnut and I asked him if he would
want to sell it, and he did. So we ended up working out a deal and we, they cut the walnut down for me and then I put on my
trailer and took it home. And then I started
contacting people to cut it and saw your videos and everything, and I said, you'd be the
perfect person to do. A little bit of the backstory
here on, on this, on this log. Once I had it cut and
had it in my property where I have a bunch of other walnuts that we intend to slab up. I wanna make tabletops and
so we started slabsrs.com. My buddy, Brian contacted me saying, "Hey, I saw that tree
when it was standing. "And the next thing I know,
it's not there there's a stump. "And I wanna know, I
want some of that walnut, "I'm a walnut fanatic. "Do you really have it?" And he tracked me down and
we had that conversation and sure enough, I still had
the log and we figured out that we could bring it to
Matt to slab it for us. And we're gonna take and use the slab. If Brian wants a couple, I'm gonna make some tables out of it, we'll probably end up selling some of it. So, yeah, slabsrs.com. So this particular, walnut crotch, it's 54 inches at the base, this tip to tip here at the crotch, and is 73 inches or so give or take, it's about seven and a half feet long. We estimate it weighs
right around 8000 pounds using some of the app. The center section that's narrower, that's about four foot in diameter. So we knew all that before we cut it. We, we got a little piece
of metal here in the middle which we didn't know until
it was on the ground. But that's okay, we'll work around that. And we have another one similar
that's about six foot long very similar dimensions,
walnut, nice crotch, haven't cut it yet. And then Brian and I in
going through our discussions with what gonna do and how
we're gonna cut these crotches, he ends up finding another
one standing walnut tree that he negotiated a purchase of that. We haven't cut yet, that's
even bigger than this one. It's, every bit at eight foot high, five or six feet across,
eight feet, nine feet high. Humongous. That will, we're gonna deal with later down the road production. And then I have a lot of other walnut that came off my property
and some neighbors properties that is smaller but yet still to be cut up into really nice hard to find
walnut slab in my opinion. - So the, the loading and positioning was a lot less exciting
than I thought it would be. But I guess today, it's a good thing. So, a log is on there, it's
in the the correct position, this way to get the crotches aligned. So, that's what we got for the first cut. Let's take a quick look around
here and see what's going on. It looks like it should be a
pretty good amount of figure and select spots in here. So, at least with the bark removed, we can kinda see a bit of the
undulation in the grain here. We've got these little
bumps, bump things here. So that should be some
interesting grain and figure. And then, (murmurs) a few of these things. Here we go. On the bark here, you can see the actual figure
in the wood beneath it, kinda coming up through the bark. So, we've got a little bit of curl right in here which is a pretty exciting. Coming around here is buttoned,
is like 50 something inches. So, it's pretty big. And you got some more
figure happening, of course beneath this limb here,
we've got compression figure. So we have all the weight
from this limb here pushing all this down here. And we've got a little
bit of rippling here, and hopefully you can
see that in the bark. And so, ripples and things here. So there is some figuring
here as you would expect but overall, this is a fricking big log. (laughing) So, the saw is a ready to go, we're gonna make the first cut, and then take a look and see what we got. (sawing machine hissing) Well, that takes care of the first cut. Was interesting to say the least. I think I heard metal
context somewhere in here. So, this is a little big. So we're actually gonna set
this a waste piece aside and we'll bring it back when we're done and we'll probably cut
it again into something, As long I've got a skid-steer, we're gonna get this piece out of here and take a look and see
what's the size of this tree. - [Jeff] I don't know if you noticed, but that's kind of a big log. - [Matt] Okay Jeff, it is
tradition that the guest of honor throws the first bucket of water. So, I know you watch a few of these. Let's see, I see what you got. That was good, you got some good momentum. - No, no, no. The beauty is there. - [Matt] That is nice. So over here is the, where is that nail? There it is. So there's a little nail cut
through, not a huge deal. I can't really get a whole lot in frame 'cause as long as so big (chuckling). - [Jeff] It's a big log. - [Matt] I mean it's pretty clear. And oh, down here you can start to see, we're getting into the the
buttress route patterns. So you have a bunch of
compression figure down here at the very base of the tree, where this buttress comes up from here, it supports the whole tree. You're gonna have some pretty interesting wild figure down there. So that's what we're
gonna re-cut the off cut, 'cause it's gonna have a whole bunch of cool stuff down here. (sawing machine hissing) (skid steer engine roaring) - Brian wants to sip some water. (skid steers engine roaring) (indistinct) (skid steers' engine roaring) - [Matt] You're ready to go wet? - [Jeff] Yeah, (murmurs). - Splash though. - [Jeff] Thought you were kidding. (helicopter engine roaring) - Oh yeah, oh yeah. So as always with walnut,
when you first cut it, has a not super exciting color to it but it will eventually oxidize to more of what's going on down here. So, was a little more greenish right now, but maybe in 20 minutes
or so it will be much more that deep purpley-brown
that we're used to. So I'm thinking what this thing, this is that wire that is over here. And it's probably travels all way through the tree to there. (skid steer engine roaring) (scratches) Pour all water in this bucket. I like you. (laughing) Basically just clear with
bursts of figure here and there. That's kind of the, I don't know, general theme around this log so far. Like here, if we're getting into that, compression figure here, there you can see all the
ripples, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa. And you can see how they
come out through the barks. So you can actually see them. Here, they get the glare go away. There you go. So you can see the ripples and you can see how it kind
of comes through the bark. And there's a little piece
of wire there in the middle. There we're starting to get
some little crotch figure here, 'cause we are getting down there. So, probably the next one, we'll start seeing some
actual crotch figures to come down here. Oh, here's some more compression figure. (sawing machine hissing) - It's a big log. - (indistinct) how we said that
yet, it's kind of a big log. (sawing machine hissing) Alright. So we have a
little more room to work. We're gonna put the
trailer out by the road and just bring the slabs up as needed. So there's a little more space. (metallic parts grinding) (skid steer engine roaring) - Oh, sorry (murmurs) (skid steer engine roaring) - Alright, Jeff is not here. But I'm still gonna toss some water. - [Brian] He's busy stickering wood. - Yeah, definitely into
the crotch zone now. Just in time. - [Jeff] Crotchy? - Yes, its getting crotchy. I think that will metal
inlay, there is a nice touch. - Yeah, it's customized. - It's custom, yeah. Ooh. - You have to get this (indistinct) - It's right here. (laughing) - Yeah, (indistinct). - Looking better. (scratches) - (indistinct), right? - Yeah, that's all the iron in there. - (murmurs) - And the cut there. Oh, that's some nice figure up in here. Hey, you look like tiny next to that. - I look tiny next-- - [Matt] You look tiny. - Well, I wish you get my good size. - [Matt] (mumbles) some
scale for you right there. - Yeah (indistinct). - Here we've got some, we've got to figure
down here the buttress. There you go. Arm span. (laughing) - It is an arm span. What are you looking at? - Almost 70, yeah. - Almost 70 inches right there. - That ain't bad. - [Matt] Over it.
- 102. - [Matt] Nice. - (mumbles) for the very tip. 40 inches.
- [Matt] 40? And up here, we're like
probably less than that, 39? - 37. - 37? I don't think if you can see on camera but there's a whole bunch of figure. - Yeah. - All those ripples over there. Those aren't those aren't blade marks. - Ripples, ripples. - Those are all, that's
all figure right there. So you got curly walnut
all up the side here. - I think it's that. - And then over here you got
some of that compression figure with the ripples in through here. So we got some roughly thicker grain here and the other side is all curly. Then again, we're starting to
get into the crotch figures a little bit there, and then we have our little friend like the copper jacketed
steel wire thing, right there. Has this beautiful. - [Jeff] 47. - Slide number four. Alright, let's get this
thing on the trailer and take a look at another one, I guess. - That's awesome. (skid steer engine roaring) - Alright, let's see what's
hiding under all this. There is a big piece of wood. That was a fun one Man, that is, that is something. Like the next one is gonna
have like the most stuff. I believe you can see all this curl here. It's all, it's all curly
walnut on this side right here. Around the side. This is really have the, some
more of the compression curl and we're getting into
the crotch figure now. You can see another limb here, so it's like a tri crotch
at some point there. And then we got our
little inclusion there. Oh man. (sawing machine hissing) (skid steer engine roaring) You look like you need a shower. (laughing) That's what it's all about right there. Throwing water on a piece of wood. - It's cleansing. - Awesome, nice one. - Yeah. - Actually this (mumbles) - This is the metal. - Oh yeah. And the bark conclusion. That's cool. (scratches) - And it's, it's closer
to the crotch than before. - Yeah. - Alright, look at that. - And it's got that inclusion
or whatever that is. - Yeah, that's our conclusion. - Do yo see the copper around it now? - Yeah. - (mumbles) - Yeah, yeah, that's nice. There's nice straight grain stuff and all the craziest
stuff happens up here. There's a little piece of metal in there. I get in some serious
crotch figure action there. There is curl. That's true, really good on camera now. Look at all this. That's all the compression
figure from this big limb pushing down on the base of the tree. Oh, oh. (sawing machine hissing) (skid steer engine roaring) Huh, oh, that's nice. So we're getting through
this bark conclusion here. We have some pretty crazy
figure happening up there for the crotch, and it's kinda
the same thing down here. More figure and straight
green and stuff we're into. It looks like we're pretty much
quarter size at this point. So we have, oh my God, I got a little bit of rifle like in there 'cause walnuts does not have the rays but let's see some flecking in there. And then there is the pith right there. Huh, that's nice. (skid steer engine roaring) So much for that. (skid steer engine roaring) - Oh, that's very nice. Alright, here's this guy. Unfortunately, I am
running out of time here. We've got family photos today. So, let me quickly take a look at these last ones and that's
probably going to be it. Okay, last one. Yeah, now we're getting into the, the crotch or the lower limb, it's sticking out the bottom of this tree. So this is a triple crotch. So there is another limb coming down. So now we're starting to get
into that guy right here. But lots of nice and crazy
figure in this stuff. (skid steer engine roaring) Alright. So we ran out of time on Saturday, pictures went about as well as
pictures with three children five and under can go. It's basically like a struggle of, can you please, please smile.
I know you know how to smile, can you please smile for this? (laughing) So I say a big thank you
again to Jeff and Brian for coming up and experiencing this. So we kinda got left with this
guy and then the first cut and then the, the other log
that Jeff had brought as well. He's actually gonna leave for me. So that was a very nice gesture. With these, few slabs something to get out of this
guy and that one I will either, well, I will drive them and have them. And if our paths cross
in the next few years, I would give them back to Jeff, or if Jeff wants me to sell
them for him, I will do that. Or if Jeff wants me to
use them for my own thing and I have a project for
them, I'll use it for that. But regardless, I still
got to cut this thing up. So I'm gonna start getting this thing cut. We're gonna do two pieces at 10 quarter. That will leave me with a piece
of 12 quarter at the bottom. So I should work out really nicely. Three more slabs left in this half. And then I'll bring
over that first off cut and just kinda flatten it out, and just try and get
whatever I can out of it. It's going to be kind
of a, it's gonna have, well, it's gonna be very sappy 'cause it's towards the
outside the log obviously. But there should be some
interesting pockets of figure I dropped down towards the buttress roots and maybe up towards the crotch area, there might be some some peaking of heartwood in those areas. The rest is pretty much sapwood though. (sawing machine hissing) (skid steer engine roaring) (sawing machine hissing) Alright. This is getting down to
like almost nothing here. Almost all sap was... So, I guess it'd be considered
a B-side to most people. So mostly, like entirely
sapwood all through here until we get down to the buttress where they can start seeing
some of the heartwood. But, yeah, there's still a lot of figure in this, buttress area. You can see all the curl right there. So I still have a little bit there. So I'll probably give this another slice just to get a small area here because it feels kinda wasteful to just throw this figure chunk away. There's also not much left
in BC either, but yeah, maybe I'd go into our slice
just to see what's in there. I don't know. It came a long way, I
feel like it's wasteful to this, put this off for firewood, which would I normally have to do. But having traveled 800 miles, (laughing) I feel like it's probably got idea to get as much as possible of the stuff. Or with this one, I think
maybe let's leave this one because it's gonna be
a rain cap, probably, depending on how I stack these. So let's take a quick look at these three and then just some quick other cuts. So those top one should
be pretty interesting 'cause it's got, it's got
a little sapling in it and it's kinda in that
area where the sapwood and the hardwood are
kind of mixing together. So it should have a kind
of interesting milky look. Oh look, all this figure here. So this is a fantastic
example of compression figure and you can really see it in this slab. So here's that limb that
was all the way up here, with all this weight, pushing down, smashing all of this fibers beneath it. And now you have a crazy amount of compression figure in there. There's all those ripples,
we've intersected them 'cause they're rippling in
this direction with the grain. So, just look at all the figure that's produced by the way
that limb, credible stuff. This is more than milky
stuff I was talking about, we have like sapwood and heartwood kinda peaking together in one piece. And then we had the figure
from the botches root, once again, down there, but... (skid steer engine roaring) Like I wash more in green this one is, because isn't oxidized yet. That is fresh. (laughing) We are through a lot of
the compression figure. We have a little bit, of
course still down here. And we got a little bit of
figure up here above this knot. So, you know, we're kind
of getting through it. I don't know, still, I'm
still blown away by this. (laughing) Oh, jeez. That is crazy. Anyway. So that's, that. That's that one. Let's take a look at the next guy and then hopefully this will
oxidize a little more bit. (skid steer engine roaring) So, I'll wait for this to oxidize for maybe 20 minutes or so. I was cutting some, a workbench kit parts. So, now it's been oxidizing for a bit little more purpley-brown, like we're kinda
accustomed to with walnut. I mean, it's getting there. It's not quite all the way. So, slightly less green but there's still plenty
of green in there. And this stuff has some pretty
interesting grain patterns, that's for sure. So we got some figure on top
of here from above the crotch. We're getting this
little tiny limb on here, that's showing itself now and a little bit of
compression figure there. We've got some really nice stuff down here towards the buttress. So, that is a really cool log. (sawing machine hissing) Not much there (laughing). Not a whole lot of wood here. But that's cool though. It's a very cool unique piece that could be used for
something decorative, I guess. A little bit of figure here and there, but it was really cool. Well, this one is like the, a pattern as the sapwood
comes through with the surface and kind of mixes with the heartwood. Very cool. And there's a little bit of figure right there from the buttress. So, nice small piece for, for something. So we've got a nice
little stack of slab here to find somewhere to go. This was, this was a fun one. I absolutely love this bigger logs that have a lot of crazy things going on. And especially when people
come this far to have them sawn and spend a day with me. It's just so much fun spending
some time with someone or other people that really
appreciate and enjoy woods. So thanks again Jeff for making the trip, really appreciate it. It was a lot of fun hanging out with you and cutting this log that you have been wanting
to cut for so long. If you are in the Northeastern Ohio area I will leave you a link
to Jeff's information. You can check him out. He is a kind of getting
into the slab thing and launching his business. So definitely check them out, and yeah. I know Brian who is here
is taking two of the slabs, and then I know Jeff is
trying to make some tables for his kids, some of the other ones but there's probably still
some available from this log if you are interested. So that is going to do it for this one. Thank you as always for watching,
I greatly appreciate it. For any questions or comments
on saw milling, I guess, or anything back in the shop. Please feel free leaving a comment. As always I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have. And until next time, happy working.
