Butternut wood

[TD Tractor]

Morning all, my neighbor got ahold of some freshly cut butternut wood. Got some really nice 5-7 ft logs anywhere between 14-30 inches in diameter and one really nice butternut crotch. We hauled them to a guy in Beaverdam that has a saw mill last night to get them cut into 2 inch slabs. Does anyone have first hand knowledge or know anything about working with butternut wood? Looking to make some tables from the crotch slabs. I'll post some pictures after its cut.
Thanks for any info or help!

 

[85Hokie]

It is a soft wood - despite being in the hardwood family.
It works well with any type of cutting tools also.
Sanding will leave little "fuzzies" sometimes.

WHATEVER you do - get it kiln dried before doing anything - the ol' "been in a barn for years" drying ..........aint good enough for fine furniture!

Love to see the crotch cuts - that will be awesome! With crotch(s) - the grain is so tight and stiff that cutting via table saw or even power miter boxes can be a PITA - the internal bind that is occurring is hell on the blade and machine!

by all means shoot up some pictures!

 

[RCW]

Only a little experience with it from a tree in the yard that died. Probably 22" DBH or so.

Another common name is white walnut. Same family, but seemed much softer than black walnut to me.

Can have a really cool grain, color, etc.. Light colored with some darker streaks.

Like Hokie said - can be stringy.

Only species I ever dealt with where those stringy things got in the sprocket tip of my Stihl 046 Magnum, and locked it up just as tight as the Chain Brake! Had to shut it off, loosen chain and pull the junk out of the tip. In 40 years running a saw - never had that happen.

For 2 or 3 years, I had a maple sap bucket nailed to it. Most people didn't get the joke - but a few did!

 

[NoJacketRequired]

My father did his main bathroom with butternut wainscot. Absolutely beautiful. We did it with tongue and groove edges and a slight bevel on the face edges. It was very nice stuff to work with and is definitely a bit softer than black walnut.

WRT the "dried in a barn" comment, this butternut had been stored in an outdoor lumber shed for about 25 years, then stored inside the workshop for a couple of years. It has been absolutely stable, despite having been installed in a house that's heated exclusively by a wood burning stove. It's key to use crossers between each row when piling it. and to paint the ends of the boards to avoid end checking if there's any potential for even slightly unnatural rates of drying (eg the pile will sit in the sun, or something similar).

As for the "fuzzies", that's where a really good sanding sealer comes into play.

 

[85Hokie]

"Absolutely beautiful. We did it with tongue and groove edges and a slight bevel on the face edges."

With tongue and groove - there is always a place for the wood to move slightly - the joint is a slip joint - even hardwood basketball courts have a perimeter 1/2" to 3/4" expansion zone. Now painting the end grain will help quite a bit - as wood looses a lot more moisture through the end grain as apposed to the face and edge.

Now if anything will dry something out - it is a wood stove! That typical dry heat will suck the life out of wood! Even perfectly dried wood that had been locked in place via glue will crack under the drying load of a wood stove! BTDT - I would go through 3 gallons a day just to try to keep up back in the days of wood heat ( I loved it - wife hated it!)

My point was, any wood that is built as furniture, i.e. chest, kitchen table or china cabinet - the % humidity will not be achieved just from being cut and stored out in the ol' barn. You will not get a piece of wood to 10% humidity sitting in an uncontrolled environment. Summer humidity levels can easily reach 90% and in the winter less than 20% - now having said all that, placing the wood in an environment that IS controlled will help quite a bit.

ANYTIME you buy wood for a new hardwood floor, the first thing you do is stack it inside the heated/cooled house for at least 2 full weeks - this wood has already been kiln dried, yet must get acclimated to the humidity of the "new" house!

I have seen many of solid oak floors - that even in the summer months, the cracks in the joints are so large - pennies will stick in them! And in the winter - well ....it is worse! ALL this because some contractor wanted to push the schedule and didnt give a crap!

The grain structure of the butternut does make for a beautiful sight for sure! I bet the bathroom is off the chart based on your description Post a picture - I would love to see it!

 

[Grouse Feathers]

Hardwood that is properly air dried is as good or better then kiln dried hardwood. You have to know what you are doing and be patient.
Most hardwood floor problems are caused by not controlling the moisture under the floor. No mater how carefully you handle the flooring before installation, moisture under the floor will cause problems.

 

[D2Cat]

Not Butternut....

I bought a trailer load of boards that were on the ceiling of a commercial building on the town square that was probably 75 years old. Part of the building had a fire and they removed the entire building.

Needed to use them for something!

I had to create a tool to clean all the paint and material out of the grooves. Driest boards I ever tried to saw.

 

[pendoreille]

Wood is good....made living with it for 35 years. Loved all the fruits and nuts.

 

[sheepfarmer]

Wish you guys lived closer...saved all this in my barn for projects that I thought I'd get done but don't seem to be happening. The pic shows ash, but there is black walnut, spalted maple slabs, and some oak. I also wanted to get into bowl turning, but after a couple of classes decided I wasn't safe around that big power tool. Had visions of an unsteady hand sending a gouge through the wall. Moral: start doing your bucket list when you are about 30. Waiting for retirement doesn't leave room for everything.

 

[pendoreille]

sheepfarmer...nice stash
You could get a pen turning lathe. you have enough blanks there for say a million four pen blanks.
and then some

 

[Tooljunkie]

I had considered wood turning on my old south bend, has the taper attatchment, only used it to understand how it works. Tried making a morse taper, just to see if i could.

Sheepfarmer, that is an impressive stockpile you have there.

Took a few boards out of the attic in my barn, had my brother in law build a couple bedframes and headboards. It was some 50 year old fir,hard as steel. Had to pre-drill for screws.

 

[skeets]

Good Lord that maple would make one eye popping stock on a Pa Long Rifle

 

[TD Tractor]

Here's the first picture of the butternut wood fresh from the sawmill. Will pick it up tomorrow evening.

 

[Lil Foot]

That looks beautiful! I can think of a whole bunch of stuff I'd use that for.