I've been offered a Willow tree...

[AndyD]

I hope someone can advise me please...

My neighbour had to take down his old weeping willow tree last weekend, and he’s offered the wood to us. My wife, keen as mustard to recycle says ooo-yes, ‘we’ could make a couple of seats for the garden, or create an outdoor chess table from a stump (so my daughters could practice sitting in their willow seats at their willow chess table with using the willow chess men 'we' carved :roll: )

Seriously, the tree…white willow I think is the proper name, was about full height at around 40’ so there are two huge bits of trunk, about 2’ in diameter and about 6-8’ long each. Above that it split so there are longer but smaller diameter trunk sections, and then all the rest in a vast pile etc. I'd hate to see it burnt & dumped into a skip.
He also took down some smaller Sycamore a bit less than 10” in diameter, but let’s not go there.

Do I take the willow, which parts, and how then to use it? I don't do turning.
Would rustic axe-hewn seats be viable? Would it make a nice coffee table? Or 500 netsuke :lol: ? I just don’t know. Willow is soft and bendy. Cricket bat wood. Not suitable for outdoor use?

I did search of this site and will be looking for the recommended book Brown, Seasoning & Conversion of Wood (or something similar), but I'll ask anyway:
Once accepted, how then to dry it? Should I split the larger pieces (or at least cut length ways) to aid drying or it'll take years? Cut it all now? Or leave it? Get it under a tarpaulin? Take the bark off?
Suddenly I know so little.

Andy

 

[radicalwood]

Hi Andy,

Welcome to start with. Not sure I will be much help, but here goes. Have a look and see if there is a mobils saw mill in your area, try and get the large sections into planks about 2.5" thick and store them out of the way for a couple of years. you need to seal the ends as soon as possible, gloss paint will do. With the rest pick out the larger limbs and seal the ends and store, they will always come in useful for handles etc.

Hope that helps, but no doubt some one with more experience will come along and put me straight :lol: :lol: .

All the best
Neil

 

[CHJ]

Whatever you do Andy, do not leave any of the wood lying on the ground, especially in a damp area like grass, It will throw out roots and shoots readily.

Do not remove the bark from any complete logs whilst it is drying, need to slow moisture loss down to avoid splitting.

 

[AndyD]

Thanks. Paint the ends, leave the bark on, keep it off ground.
So what sort of thing is the wood suitable for? I suppose once dried and depending on the finish, anything?

Andy

 

[CHJ]

Cricket Bats :lol: :lol:

 

[PowerTool]

From "Wood - identification and use" :-

Typical uses
cricket bats;artificial limbs;flooring;sieve frames;boxes and crates

Also sliced for decorative veneer.

N.B. Health warning - people allergic to aspirin may also be allergic to willow :shock:

And welcome to the forum

Andrew