Chestnut

Re: Chestnut

tek

>I'll gladly take that chestnut off your hands so you don't have to bother with it. Seriously, I haven't turned any yet but they used to make some nice furniture out of American Chestnut and caskets too. At one time it was the most important tree in the Eastern Forest. Chestnut blight wiped out the American Chestnut, Some sprouts still grow up from the roots. They usually succumb to the blight after about 15 years. There are some chestnut trees up in Canada that the blight didn�t hit yet, and some still in Wisconsin I�ve heard. There are a couple of programs to try to reestablish blight resistant American Chestnuts, so far the blight is winning. It could also be horse chestnut, or Chinese chestnut also. There aren�t too many species of wood we won�t try to turn. Yes. the crotch is special . There are some very nice grain patterns there; it is great for making platters. Slice it through all three centers if you can, so you can see the Y in the grain pattern. Do a forum search on saving green wood. There has been quite a bit of discussion on it. How big in diameter is this tree? If you are just starting turning try some. You need to practice anyway, and green wood turns easier than dry wood.

Where are you located?

Tom

Re: Chestnut

Doug Reynolds in Seattle

>The great Pacific Northwest, suburb of Seattle.

Re: Chestnut

tek

>Your area is way out of the natural range of the American Chestnut. The Tree was probably a Chinese, Italian, or Japanese Chestnut, and planted for an ornamental or for the nuts. Let us know if the wood was interesting!

Re: Chestnut

Pascal Oudet

>Hi Doug,

I turn a lot of chestnut. It's probalby not the best wood for beginners, since it has an open grain (like oak), so is less forgiving to improper cutting techniques (against the grain for example) than species like maple.

but I like it, it has some very interesting properties: differences of hardness between hard and soft fibers make it a good choice for sandblasting or wire brushing. It also ebonizes well due to its high tannic content.

worth trying for sure

Pascal

Re: Chestnut

Leo Van Der Loo

>Hi Doug

Would you by any chance know the shape of the leafs, is it a rather big leaf like a hand, I mean with 5 or so leafs on a stalk, or was it a long oval leaf with a wavy pointed edge.

It could very well be an american chestnut, planted and out of the blight's range it would survive, the wood last a long time without decaying, the area of holland I grew up in has a lot of chestnut, european chestnut is very similar to american, I did enjoy gathering and eating the nuts, wish there where some here.

If it is american chestnut you have some very rare wood, enjoy.

Have fun and take care

Leo V