The neighbor had an ancient black walnut tree cut down, and we were able to get the tree choppers to drop a good deal of it on our driveway, rather than trucking it away to a dump.

While splitting it into firewood I pulled out a good-sized pile of beautiful dark-chocolate-brown heartwood, with the intention of making a few holiday presents. It appears I saved far more than I need, but I hate to throw the stuff back on the log pile and burn it.

I'm thinking of cutting up what I have into roughly a 2 by 4 inch size (real measure, not nominal sized) and maybe 8 to 9 inches long. I figure I should have about 100 of these. Hopefully this will weigh in at less than 3 or 4 ounces, and the postage will be fairly cheap.

I'm thinking people could send me a stamped, 9x12 envelope with their address on it, and I'd shove a chunk of wood in it and send it back to them. No cost to me, nominal cost for stamps to them. In a few days I'll know what a typical chunk weighs and how much postage you can paste on the envelope.

I don't want to post my mailing address online, so, if anyone wants a chunk of black walnut, e-mail me. I can tell you if any is still available, and if so, give you my mailing address (PO box), and how much postage to put on your envelope.

What can you do with a short 2x4 of walnut? Really, just some accents. I wish I could supply longer and bigger amounts of this wood, but I can't. On the other hand, anyone trying to get small pieces of nice wood for accents would pay a premium at a hardwood dealer.

The most obvious thought I had was to do a compass rose and use the walnut for the compass points.

If you rip the block into 1/4 inch strips you should get about 10 or 11--depending on the kerf. Edge glued that would give you an area about 20 inches wide by the length of the block If you got an 8 inch block that would be 160 square inches, or a bit over a square foot. Obviously you could cut it thinner and cover more area. Using it as 1/4 inch strips, and alternating with lighter wood you should have enough for coaming risers, or checker boards. With a little creative cutting and scarfing you could use this for edges on paddle blades.

Cut it thicker and other uses might be for toggles for deck lines, grip handles, or recessed deck fittings. Any other ideas are up to you.

E-mail me for more info. My e-mail address is at the top of this post. Please, USA residents only as I don't want to deal with exporting or foreign postage rates. When it's gone I'll let you know.

PGJ