I really can't advise you on what to do, but the sawyer is correct. A log yields more lumber when sawn random width. You didn't say how big the logs are, but if you want all heartwood (the dark wood), you will want to maximize as much lumber as possible out of each log and make sure they understand whether you want all heartwood or if sapwood is okay in your flooring.

We put in site finished walnut, 4" planks in our first floor. We stained with DuraSeal "Special Walnut" & then 3 coats of Bona high Traffic, matte finish.
It is one of the two finishes on the left.
It is not as hard as the oak we removed. I wouldn't think that would be an issue in your DR & living room. I have a few small dents in the kitchen where I've dropped a heavy item. No cracks in the finish.

Another pic

Wow, how lucky to have the wood available. Romy's pics are lovely.
My great grand father cleared the land of some of the fir trees and used them to build all the cupboards in his house and paneled one of the rooms in the 60's. I loved being in the house surrounded with all that homestead wood.

thanks for sharing your pics, Romy. It's lovely! So if I understand correctly there is a stain color on the floors?? Yes, Terri I think it will be special if I can only get DH back on board. :/

I'm still not sure about the varying widths. I hear it's more informal and since this is going in the formal parts of the house??? However, if I do what the miller says and I get as much wood as he says I'll have enough for the Master Bedroom too!

I would be really mad at my husband for that. I hate whenever trees are taken down, too, and can see myself making a deal like that, but then for him to renege... I guess it depends on his reasons for wanting the oak. If it's that oak is harder, I would contend that your kids are grown. If it's that he doesn't like the dark wood.. well, he should have thought of that earlier.

Is there something he can give you to make up for what you should have gotten out of this deal? I don't mean that in a "keeping score" way, rather that you may have some resentment that you were promised something, and gave something that you valued up, and at the end you are left with nothing. Resentment is no good for a marriage.. so is there something else you would rather, or would like as much as the walnut, that he would be willing to get for you now?

You can probably get some money selling that walnut, if you decide to give it up. I don't know how big your trees were, but according to hearsay (so take it with a grain of salt lol) a 200 year old, big walnut tree around here is worth $30k (or was it that the big one was $100k, and its offspring were $30k...? don't remember).

Oh my. I would have to put my foot down on this one! Walnut is absolutely gorgeous and the grain is lovely, IMO, much prettier than oak. You made an agreement and he needs to uphold his end of it. I would resent it for the rest of my life that we made an agreement and he wouldn't uphold his end.

Tracie, I hear you in regards to trees. Our local township keeps hounding me to donate one of my huge blue Spruce trees for the Christmas tree. This is the second year that they have asked. I have two in my front yard at our second house. Those trees are the home of so many birds. It looks gorgeous in the winter when the cardinals dart in and out of it and land on the branches. I refuse to allow their home to be destroyed and that gorgeous tree to be cut down.

Thanks for helping me vent, Tracie!! His reasoning is that we already have oak flooring in our Great Room (which is three rooms away from where the walnut will be!), oak cabinets in the kitchen, some oak furniture etc. He also doesn't like the darker color, but mainly he just loves oak! I mainly want the walnut for it's sentimental value. The miller calls them Memory Boards. I love that!

So I'll get my way in the end, because he promised! :) Now, I just have to decide on the widths. I think as it will be site finished the varying widths will not look as prominent? Thoughts anyone??

Thanks to you too, Holly Kay!

You are very welcome Kayl. You will have the most beautiful floors in town! Please post pics when they are installed.

Found a couple more pics of the stain samples (DuraSeal) Our floor guy put down 6 different samples of stain. We could have gone lighter. One of these is 3 parts chestnut, one part Spice Brown. I wish I could remember the others. Spice Brown was lighter than the Special Walnut. Jacobean & Ebony were way too dark & hid the beautiful grain of the wood. I remember when the raw wood arrived & was wondering if the sapwood was going to be an issue. The sapwood (lighter parts) mixed with the heartwood (darker parts) is lovely.

Another

Another. You can see the mix of heartwood & sapwood in the unstained wood.

This post was edited by romy718 on Tue, Oct 21, 14 at 10:07

Dining room

Romy's floors are incredibly beautiful.

Keep the walnut. To sell it would be too awful. I have oak floors. They are fine, but seriously? These grew in your yard and your kids played in/around them? Would you sell family photos for some generic prints to put on the wall?

A deal's a deal. Get the floors. Get whatever widths you can to maximize finished amount. The sapwood looks great with the heartwood. It's real. Your existing oak floors will be green with envy.

Oh Romy, stunning! I, too, was wondering about the sapwood? I think my compromise with DH will probably be to go natural as it is already a dark wood. It seems no one here wants to stain walnut anyway. I'm guessing if I go natural, the sapwood will show more? Does anyone have natural finish walnut I could see in comparison?

"Your existing oak floors will be green with envy."

linelle, love it!~

Kayl - Realize that walnut will naturally lighten over time when exposed to light. Your floors most likely will not remain dark for very long unless you stain them that way. Regarding your husband, this may be a win/win for you.

Also, whether your air dry the wood or kiln dry it before turning it into flooring will affect color.

Below is one of many threads about walnut fading:

Here is a link that might be useful: walnut fading

Here is another link about staining sapwood to match walnut heartwood. It's the second video down from the top:

Here is a link that might be useful: Hide sapwood in walnut

Romy, your floors are gorgeous. If I was a guest in your house I might be tempted to lay down and caress them.

I wouldn't worry about the varying widths. I have oak floors with two sizes of floor boards. They have pegs in the wide boards. The narrow boards are plain.

I get compliments all the time. I can't take credit. The house came that way. I'm going to replicate them in the kitchen during our renovation.

Yes Walnut will lighten with age. I love the color of Romy's floors. They are stunningly beautiful!

I love oak too - so much that we put oak cabinets in our new kitchen last summer. All the trim in the house is oak. But when we put in hardwood floors, we went with Brazilian Cherry - because you can have too much of a good thing.

I am another one who hates to see trees cut down - but if it had to be done, you should at least have something to show for it. I think walnut floors would be spectacular, and provide a lovely contrast to the oak everywhere else.

Thanks everyone, for taking the time to post. rmtDoug, I will go through those links tonight. Thanks!

I will keep you all posted on what I decide and post pics once its finished. Now I'm looking at the walls and trim. They are going to need a spruce up too! The fun never ends~

Kateskouros has walnut floors that are unstained. A Google search "Kateskouros gardenweb walnut floors" should pull up some pics.
Her floors are gorgeous.

Put me in the walnut loving camp. It is simply breathtaking IMO. While I do not have them to share, I have seen photos of a random width install where it was nearly impossible to find the edges of boards because of the nature of the grain. It all blended quite nicely.

If you have extra wood left over (because I'd just about fight to the death to keep the walnut floor), perhaps a local furniture maker can make you something special - a rocking chair, hope chest, memory boxes etc. If you have grandchildren who love the outdoors, perhaps they can each have walking sticks carved from the tree's branches. It could be a sentimental and symbolic gift from you and DH to them as they grow to understand the importance of family. That way you'd have family heirlooms to pass along as well.

That was a bit off topic, but I love the idea of preserving the memories of those trees and your family's growth around them.

Between ItsTheDetails' grandparents' house remodel and your walnut floors, GW is going to make me cry. Such wonderful stories. Please don't let your husband talk you out of walnut floors! Romy's are gorgeous.

Before deciding on random widths,make certain installers agree because from the mill widths are a real mess to work with. If you perfer appearance of random,installer might want them cut in 3 or more widths instead of trying to fit boards of unlimited variations.
I to have walnut boards from trees harvested by me and my brother from the family farm several years ago. For primitive,antique and country pieces I am pleased with appearance of mixed sap and heart wood. For highly figured examples and use in formal pieces I steam the material rather than staining. The land which home sits on was sold a few years ago so I'm glad we didn't use the wood on floors. We have built and had built several pieces of furniture for various family members. I completed one rifle stock and have a secound about 3/4trs finished with help from a grandson. Both stocks are fitted to rifles passed down from Granddad. Each piece has a brief history carved underneath or inside and a desk plus both rifle stocks have additional hand written details concealed within them.
If you don't use the wood in floors,for goodness sake don't sell it.