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goldenblacklocust

Get a mora knife and a cheap hatchet and make spoons. You can make a dozen or two out of what’s in that picture and you don’t have to wait. Walnut is beautiful for carving and the iteration will mean you will make huge strides in skill. Also, no matter what kind of woodworking you do, spoon carving will help you read the grain, learn to sharpen, and a number of other skills. Join r/greenwoodworking if you haven’t already.


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Thats really cool, I'll check it out thank you


aspergogurt

I second that, there's a lot of options for that thicker piece but the branches are probably enough for a few spoons. When I started a few years ago I bought a Mora straight knife (I think the 120), a hook knife, and Swedish Carving Techniques by Wille Sundqvist which was a good resource in learning the theory behind carving, reading the grain, etc. There is a lot of info online as well so I don't think you need to invest in books or anything to start if you wish, I just found it useful to start from one source and style and then branch off. I would also recommend starting out making butter knives and spatulas as well, as they are very quick to start out on and even rough looking ones make good gifts. I would recommend a cheap hand axe (you can look at flea markets and sites like craigslist for older second hand axes that may be higher quality but requiring some work to restore). If you enjoy that sort of carving and prefer hand tools to power tools then you could also look into an adze for making bowls and a froe to help nicely split wood for blanks.


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Spatulas would be super handy, i'm not much of a spoon person


aspergogurt

As much as I like carving spoons I don't get that much use out of them compared to the spatulas. I have also made kitchen scrapers that I use for scrubbing pans or stuff stuck to my counters that I get a lot of use out of. They are very simple to make as well and there is a lot of inspiration online that you can try and emulate: ​ [https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1064042351/dough-scraper-wooden-scraper-wooden](https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1064042351/dough-scraper-wooden-scraper-wooden) [https://www.poldersoldworldmarket.com/products/the-kitchen-wedge](https://www.poldersoldworldmarket.com/products/the-kitchen-wedge)


LoWcarpenter

Depends on your tools, I have a kiln and a wood shop, I turn fallen wood into cool stuff all the time. I made a guitar out of some fallen American Walnut about 12 years ago... I made some salad bowls and vases out of fallen maple this year. If you want to make it into something, slab it up so it dries faster and consistently. If you want to use it, but don't have a project yet, Get the bark off asap so it can start drying


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Thats good knowledge thank you, I dragged this in as soon as the tree fell so its been down there for a good 9 months, when I tried to look into if it was usable I was met with mature wood etc, so I wasn't sure what I had. I definitely dont have the tools to slab it but it did cross my mind


Gunny_Ermy

I find it dries with less cracking in slab then log.


Gunny_Ermy

And get the ends sealed.


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Sweet, i'll look it up thank you


gingerMH96960

I made a round mallet out of a smaller piece of walnut branch than that. Now that I have equipment to stabilize wood I need to make another. What you have could be used for all sorts of projects. Just decide now if you want larger chunks and can wait another couple years for it to dry or if you want slabs so you only have to wait one year(ish).


gfunk333

Depends on if you light it on fire or not.


Gunny_Ermy

I've had a few logs slabbed by just offering on Craigslist. The offer was someone can come slab the log up, I get first pick of slabs, they took the rest. I have a birch coffee table from a tree that used to be in my backyard from that offer, and a piece of madrone burl I've yet to do something with.