Burned a few cords from a friend last season it had been down at least four or five years split nice burned pretty good I mixed with some ash and elm some of it was on the ground and in piles so it was a bit punky but the bigger rounds that were off the ground were still pretty good
I burned over a cord of it last winter, it's good stuff. Right up there with ash or red maple, and the smell it puts off when burning is fantastic! It does create a lot of puffy ash but that's ok......it's worth having in the stacks.
Walnut heartwood is very decay resistant. The sap wood gets punky quickly but underneath it should be some quality wood.
Thanks for posting this, I split up some walnut that I had just randomly picked up not knowing what it was until I split it about a month back. Now its been moved but it absorbed a lot of water it looks like. I asked the person I got it from and they couldn't answer that. I think I know what it was but won't utter that here. It split fine with a heavy maul some twists but otherwise easy but the middle was soaked. Having halved and quartered a couple rounds it was just worth getting it done and giving it a chance to dry. Probably going to just have to take it one step at a time and treat the wood as if I just cut it down. Too wet to really think about burning it soon but maybe thats not true. I guess the question is does walnut have a tendency to soak up water?
Walnut splits like a celebrity marriage, I hardly even stand the rounds up to split them (use caution if your going to attempt this) . You could darn near split the straight sections with a butter knife, it makes for a good time. I am a fan of the aroma walnut gives off when cut. It always makes me feel guilty to cut and split such beautiful wood for firewood though.
Smells like a bunch of cigar boxes when I split it but its better when its not so wet, Ive got the whole spectrum of that so I know what you mean. Got my tire on a splitting round so Im using that to keep them from falling, they are quite heavy... Im also feeling you about the guilt trip when splitting it. It would be nice if I could put it to better use but im afraid I didn't catch this at the right time and all but I still have 3 rounds left and I could possibly get this to a friend of mine after getting it cut into block form. It was a car load of wood but I never know about value unless I were to have spotted the tree as a whole and called someone about it who is knowledgeable in sawyering and willing to barter.
