Learn how to identify American chestnuts and send us a sample to support our research. American chestnut trees are mostly found in wooded areas with acidic soils on dry, well-drained hillsides. AMERICAN CHESTNUT WOOD American Chestnut comprised over 60% of the eastern hardwood forests when the first settlers arrived in North America. Our chestnuts are the progeny of still-existing stands of American chestnuts that have successfully resisted the chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica). These become more obvious when bark is sloughed off where cambium has been killed by the fungus, revealing the wood underneath. The American chestnut, Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Wood. Sep 18, 2013 #2 If it really is American Chestnut it's darn good firewood... from the … I’m trying to find a highly porous, or more importantly absorbent wood for a project. Many germinated. Most Chestnut barn wood is sold to be used with a freshly planed surface to reveal the wood’s great brown coloration and worm holes that many find romantic – thus the reason it is often referred to as “Wormy Chestnut”. $30.00. An American chestnut that big may have blight resistance. Whitespider. Wormy chestnut wood was salvaged by the owner, Mr. James Cooper, from the American Legion Building in Cherokee prior to its demolition to make way for a new office building. Whitespider Lost in the 50s. With this latest hybrid, unofficially dubbed the “Restoration” chestnut, breeders feel they have a tree with enough of the Chinese chestnut’s natural blight resistance to have a shot at surviving; but also a tree that is virtually indistinguishable in form, growth rate, and wood quality from a pure American chestnut. Chestnut splits easily, so care must be taken in nailing and screwing the wood. 0 bids. Varathane 1 qt. Comments:  Caused by an accidentally introduced Asian bark fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica), the chestnut blight of the early 1900s was responsible for killing over three billion chestnut trees. The American Chestnut dates back to 1800 and was an economic staple of the original homesteaders in the Appalachian Mountains. The salvaged American chestnut wood refinished and used in the lobby, restaurant, gift shop, and furniture of the Holiday Inn in Cherokee, North Carolina, is a delight to see. That gives chestnut a beautiful grain pattern. Because of its natural beauty and the challenge. The sapwood, or outermost part, can also be light brown or may appear as a pale white color. The nuts are not only delicious and sweet, but they are also nutritious because they are higher in usable protein than acorns or beechnuts. Search more similar 3d assets at Adobe Stock The registration desk at the Holiday Inn in Cherokee is just the beginning point for the observant visitor to enjoy the American chestnut wood used within the building. American chestnut is the rarest chestnut tree but can be identified by its leaves, which have large, sharp, and hooked teeth. When American chestnuts succumbed to the blight, an estimated five species of insect went extinct. Reclaimed American Wormy Chestnut Lumber (see history and links) 100% of our Antique Chestnut is sawn from salvaged barn timbers or directly reclaimed from old barn or house lumber and planks. Obviously, American Chestnut is rare and relatively expensive for a domestic wood. May be found in antique furniture, old barns, and other products manufactured before the blight affected trees in the early 20th century. See more ideas about american chestnut, chestnut trees, chestnut. This is a total of 85 board feet. American chestnut was once the most important tree of the Eastern North American Hardwood Forest. $49.99. Antique 19th Century American Chestnut Wood Country Farm Table 41.3/4Wx28Dx28.34. If you’re looking for large pores, woods like oak or ash are readily available. The American Chestnut Foundation has been cross-breeding American chestnuts with Chinese chestnuts for years in an effort to breed a hybrid that is as much like the American species as possible, but with the blight-resistance of its Chinese relative. North American Chestnut Oak Wood Turning Pen Blanks | Wood Pen Blanks | 3/4 X 3/4 X 5 by Dusty Dog Woodworks: Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home Are Rosewoods (and Bubinga) really banned by CITES? I wonder what those would be worth, rough figures at 800-900 board feet. Most of the American chestnut wood TerraMai sells is from structures from Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina. Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices or on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Until they weren’t. Identifying and Using Hundreds of Woods Worldwide, POSTER: Worldwide Woods: Ranked by Hardness. Now, several years later it stands about 12ft tall, just as broad, and about 4-6″ at the base of the trunk and appears… Read more ». Grain/Texture: Grain is straight to spiral or interlocked. Find an American Chestnut growing today that is large enough even to whittle a toothpick from About back in the day before the blight, now that would be a neat thing to see if anyone did that. Between the nail holes, discoloration, worm and insect damage, Wormy Chestnut is preferred in applications where a rustic or unpolished appearance is desired. “I bought some Chestnut from you this past summer to use in building blanket chests for my daughters. Watch; rustic 2 barn wood rare wormy American chestnut lumber 1 … The American Chestnut Tree. The unrelated Woodtickgreg, yeah, there are still a few American chestnut left, but for the most part, they come up as stump regeneration, live for 20 years or so and die back when they reach the size of your forearm and get the blight. Bill Powell met the tree in his lab. Nowadays, most chestnut wood is wormwood. American Chestnut. Powell grew up far from the Appalachians and chestnuts. The wood was rot resistant, with a straight grain, used in everything from cradles to coffins. Although less well-funded than ACF, this program is real and producing good results. The nuts were once an important economic resource in North America, being sold on the streets of towns and cities, as they sometimes still are during the Christmas season (usually said to be "roasting on an open fire" because their smell is readily identifiable many blocks away). https://www.wood-database.com/obeche/. One fourth of this forest was composed of native chestnut trees. Most Chestnut barn wood is sold to be used with a freshly planed surface to reveal the wood’s great brown coloration and worm holes that many find romantic – thus the reason it is often referred to as “Wormy Chestnut”. The course covers chestnut taxonomy, silvics, historical importance, ecology, and its… As some of you may know, chestnut was one of the dominant tree species in the eastern forests of North America a hundred years ago. Chestnuts are edible raw or roasted, though typically preferred roasted. Dwarf chestnut is very rarely used as firewood. The American Chestnut Foundation has partnered with organizations that plant trees on abandoned coal mines, and chestnuts are now growing on … The fruit is a nut en-closed in a round spiny cover called a bur. Some areas of an old beam are harder or softer, some are more brittle, and often there is internal insect damage. I have no idea where to start. Click here to read an article about Gary’s carvings that was published in a local MD newspaper. Due to its wonderful stable disposition, chestnut was used for every utility purpose by the colonials. podereilgiardino.it. Gary carved this Mallard drake using recycled American chestnut. The only way you can get American chestnut wood today is from the salvaged 18 th and 19 th century buildings, and the best and biggest material comes from the barns. Also, chestnut wood can split easily (think twenty-foot-long split rails for fencing).  I have often had to reorient a bird head or glue a piece back on. American chestnut -- United States. American Chestnut - History and Restoration Efforts in Virginia. The American chestnut was best known for its fruit and wood. Finden Sie perfekte Stock-Fotos zum Thema American Chestnut Tree sowie redaktionelle Newsbilder von Getty Images. Chestnut trees offered shade in town squares, were the wood of choice for pioneers’ log cabins, and were a mainstay of American woodcraft. The Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) maintains a chestnut research project at Lesesne State Forest in Nelson County, VA. American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was once a common deciduous tree in… Was: Previous Price $989.95 25% off. Then I wonder about the rest of the wood in the house, all in perfect condition as far as I see. Wormy Chestnut is also seen, which is chestnut that has been damaged by insects, leaving holes and other discoloration in the wood. Endgrain: Ring-porous; 2-4 rows of large, exclusively solitary earlywood pores, numerous small latewood pores in dendritic arrangement; tyloses common; growth rings distinct; rays not visible without lens; apotracheal parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates (short lines between rays). On the chance that it does turn out to out to be American chestnut, you need to find out where the stump of the tree is as soon as possible so that if it's still there, folks from the American Chestnut Foundation can check it out. The wood was rot resistant, with a straight grain, used in everything from cradles to coffins. Worm holes in many boards. Although the American chestnut was known for the fruit it bore and the quality of the wood the tree yielded, it also became known as a source of tannic acid, a substance used to tan leather. The bur splits open after autumn frosts. But of the couple that survived, I managed for one to take good footing in my yard. Size: 340mm x 150mm x 4mm. Dec 22, 2015 - American Chestnut | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwoods) or Best Offer. Time left 2d 1h left. Tree Size: 100-120 ft (30-37 m) tall, 5-7 ft (1.5-2.0 m) trunk diameter*, *Because of the chestnut blight of the early 1900s, very few trees of this size currently exist, Average Dried Weight: 30 lbs/ft3 (480 kg/m3), Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): .40, .48, Modulus of Rupture: 8,600 lbf/in2 (59.3 MPa), Elastic Modulus: 1,230,000 lbf/in2 (8.48 GPa), Crushing Strength: 5,320 lbf/in2 (36.7 MPa), Shrinkage: Radial: 3.4%, Tangential: 6.7%, Volumetric: 11.6%, T/R Ratio: 2.0. Would this wood be good? The Lord of the Forest: the American Chestnut | Our State The American chestnut ruled our forests for centuries, but a killer blight needed only 50 years to wipe the giant from the face of North America. Herb Darling met the American chestnut in his woods. Time left 2d 1h left. The wood in these standing trees was subsequently damaged by insects, leaving holes and discoloration. Wood utilization. Free local pickup. Stain and polyurethane is a time-saver that provides a rich color and polyurethane in one product allowing projects to be finished quickly. Watch; Antique 1800's Primitive Solid Chestnut Wood 5 Drawer Chest of Drawers w/ Locks. Free shipping . Wood -- United States. Fluorescence: A Secret Weapon in Wood Identification, Bow Woods (from a mathematical perspective), Brazilian Rosewood, East Indian, and Other Rosewoods, Genuine Lignum Vitae and Argentine Lignum Vitae, BOOK: WOOD! It was retrieved from a 19nth century’s barn in Ohio. Size: 340mm x 150mm x 3mm. Renewed hope for a comeback of the long-celebrated species. Of course I could be wrong, we live on what would be the western edge of the American Chestnut range. $35.00 + $25.00 shipping . That gives chestnut a beautiful grain pattern. Free local pickup. Some say this recovery could take 18-20 years, while others say it is a more long-term project (which will take 75-100 years before we know whether the tree can be re-established as a mainstay of eastern forests). 22 pc RECLAIMED WEATHERED CHESTNUT BARN LUMBER WOOD THICK CRAFTING FREE SHIP. This provides an antique look without a ultra-rustic cabin feel. What was once known as the queen of Eastern America—the American Chestnut tree—is now nearly extinct? He’s an american thoroughbred, holding a very rare gold certificate for his breeding and confirmation.. there are currently programs to revive the american chestnut tree population. The American Chestnut Cooperators’ Foundation (ACCF) is dedicated to breeding American chestnut strains from the many healthy stands and trees found throughout their range. When people see my work, they usually ask me about the woods I use for carving.  They want to know which wood is my favorite.  I tell them my favorite is American chestnut wood.  I also tell them that a person must be crazy to carve American chestnut. Narrow sapwood is well-defined and is pale white to light brown. Watch; Antique 1800's Primitive Solid Chestnut Wood 5 Drawer Chest of Drawers w/ Locks. Was: Previous Price $989.95 25% off. American Chestnut, Castanea dentata, is a large deciduous tree that is considered the finest Chestnut in the World. Wormy Chestnut is also seen, which is chestnut that has been damaged by insects, leaving holes and other discoloration in the wood. I have a house that is 232 years old, during renovations my husband discovered that it was built with chesnut. Color/Appearance: Heartwood is a light to medium brown, darkening to a reddish brown with age. But carving tools tend to dig into the porous layer and carving details in the porous layer is tricky if not foolhardy. Early Americans used chestnut wood to build barns and houses. Uses: No longer a commercial tree species due to chestnut blight. The fruit is a nut en-closed in a round spiny cover called a bur. The two accepted species of American chestnuts are Castanea dentata (American chestnut – eastern states) and Castanea pumila (American or Allegheny chinkapin, also known as "dwarf chestnut" – southern and eastern states). Reclaimed wormy Chestnut Lumber . United States. The underside of the leaves will be covered with many small dots and the twigs will be slender, smooth, and hairless. Also, I know nothing about wood turning and was wondering if it would be desired for turning. Yard trees are worthless because they figure that owners nail nails and other metal objects into it. Pricing/Availability: Because of the blight wiping out nearly all mature American Chestnut trees, its lumber is both rare and (relatively) valuable. Nuts of the European sweet chestnut are now sold instead in many stores. The American Chestnut Foundation has been cross-breeding American chestnuts with Chinese chestnuts for years in an effort to breed a hybrid that is as much like the American species as possible, but with the blight-resistance of its Chinese relative. Flowering American chestnuts are most likely to be found in areas exposed to a lot of sun, along roadsides, at the edge of the forest, and in areas where a lot of the overstory trees have been removed. Other Common/Trade Names: None Scientific Name: Castanea dentata Best Characteristics for Identification:Ring porous with uniserrate rays. Prices are likely to be high for a domestic hardwood. I didn’t find out any more specifics on where the wood came from until the table actually arrived. or Best Offer. The design is a cherry wood frame wrapped cherry veneer, in other woods (maple, alder, ash, light walnut, chestnut, pear, and a new American beech and walnut) is the frame made of solid wood. To a mill perhaps, but someone with a portable mill such as myself I’d be willing to risk a busted or damaged blade for something as rare as chestnut, (This is a monthly update, and your email will be kept private.). American chestnut wood is ring porous. $49.99. Unless you have an easy source for chestnut, I’d think there would be more readily available species, as chestnut blight has all but decimated chestnut trees here in the US. Due to its coarse texture, turning is mediocre. The wood grain is a warm honey brown color with Ash white contrast. Wählen Sie aus erstklassigen Inhalten zum Thema American Chestnut Tree in höchster Qualität. One must peel the brown skin to access the yellowish-white edible portion. Free local pickup. Rot Resistance: Rated as very durable, though many trees killed by the chestnut blight of the early 1900s were left standing and eventually were damaged by insects. or Best Offer. If you have a large tree then it is resistant to the Chestnut blight. Size: 340mm x 150mm x 6mm. A chestnut blight nearly eliminated all of the chestnut trees in North America, so most of the country’s supply is imported. I just had someone give me some chestnut that was near a structure..it was cut down already and posted for firewood..some of the log sections had small little living branches. Reclaimed American Wormy Chestnut Lumber (see history and links) 100% of our Antique Chestnut is sawn from salvaged barn timbers or directly reclaimed from old barn or house lumber and planks. Philadelphia botanists John and William Bartram listed the American chestnut in the first American nursery catalog, published in 1783. Geographical distribution. Consider contacting the American Chestnut Foundation and have them collect and start some seedlings from your tree: https://www.acf.org/ before cutting it down. podereilgiardino.it. Chestnut trees have all but disappeared from the landscape; the Virginia Department of Forestry recently had a rare opportunity to harvest pure American chestnut wood. Otherwise, if it’s just a matter of absorbing stuff regardless of hardness or strength, I’d think a softwood (technically pore-less, but very “thirsty”) such as white pine or fir would also work. The fungus kills the cambium by producing oxalic acid and enzymatically digesting this layer in order to grow. Plus, American chestnut and its restoration is one of my passions. These trees were nearly wiped out in a blight in the early 1900’s. When they were a couple inches tall I set them outside for sun. Each annual ring has a layer of porous spring growth and a summer growth layer with few pores. Color/Appearance: Heartwood is a light to medium brown, darkening to a reddish brown with age. This table was built from reclaimed American Chestnut. American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was once a common deciduous tree in many eastern North American forests and was valued for its nuts, lumber products and firewood. So why do I carve chestnut wood? Planks roughly measure 2”x 6”x 10’. To see more of Gary’s carvings, visit his website. It is estimated that in some places, such as the Appalachian Mountains, one in every four hardwoods was an American chestnut. Borkh., was once a common dominant tree in the deciduous forests of eastern North America. Wormy Chestnut in particular is usually salvaged from old barns and other structures, and reprocessed and sold as reclaimed lumber. $4.50 + shipping . Looking through the internet it looks like American Chestnut. This one was lucky enough to avoid it for 100 years or so. The nuts were important for hu-man, livestock, and wildlife food. If you are restoring furniture or trim in a house, Sassafras is a close substitute if American Chestnut is unavailable. Our hardwood floors were to be White Oak, finished with Minwax Provincial stain. American Chestnut Gloss Oil-Based Interior Stain and Polyurethane provides a fast and simple solution to stain and protect wood in just one step. Copyright © 2008-2021 Eric Meier | All Rights Reserved, Caused by an accidentally introduced Asian bark fungus, the chestnut blight of the early 1900s was responsible for killing over three billion chestnut trees. American Chestnuts from ArcheWild ArcheWild is now releasing blight-resistant American chestnut trees to land managers, nurseries, parks, and committed homeowners. Seven steps up there is a wide room with chestnut wood floor, stone and trussed walls, called for a long time "the Corn Room" (because here the farmers once stripped the leaves off the corn and danced, playing the accordion); an entrance; a double room; a room with two beds (and a 3° bed); a kitchen with a fireplace and a coal oven; a bathroom with a tub. Workability: Overall easy to work with both hand and machine tools. The registration desk at the Holiday Inn in Cherokee is just the beginning point for the observant visitor to enjoy the American chestnut wood used within the building. It is wonderful for woodworking due to its exceptional workability and gluing. or Best Offer. Antique 19th Century American Chestnut Wood Country Farm Table 41.3/4Wx28Dx28.34. That gives chestnut a beautiful grain pattern. The university has created a National Recovery Plan with the goal of producing a blight-resistant chestnut tree by hybridizing the American chestnut with other species of chestnuts. Stock 3d asset of Wood American Chestnut. The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was an iconic tree that is now functionally extinct. Our hardwood floors were to be White Oak, finished with Minwax Provincial stain. Narrow sapwood is well-defined and is pale white to light brown. The only way you can get American chestnut wood today is from the salvaged 18 th and 19 th century buildings, and the best and biggest material comes from the barns. Growth. Also, chestnut wood can split easily (think twenty-foot-long split rails for fencing). In Tennessee, workers cut 50,000 cords of wood every year to supply tannic acid to commercial tanneries operating before 1912. They sent chestnuts to George Washington’s Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. 1 × Solid American Chestnut working perfectly. Old growth American chestnut. This table was built from reclaimed American Chestnut. TACF National Office 50 North Merrimon Avenue, Suite 115, Asheville, NC 28804, Phone: 828-281-0047 Fax: 828-253-5373 chestnut@acf.org, TACF Regions Use Virtual Outreach To Forward Mission. Chestnut wood comes from chestnut trees, which are in the same family as beech trees. Feb 5, 2017 - Explore Sandra Aldrich's board "American Chestnut Trees", followed by 107 people on Pinterest. Can I put those in something and start saplings ? Nails and other metal objects into it 1800 's Primitive Solid chestnut wood and its root are represented this... Antics. ”, workers cut 50,000 cords of wood every year to supply tannic acid to tanneries... And understanding why there has been killed by the fungus, revealing the wood these. But there is internal insect damage the trees were then subsequently harvested and converted into lumber called... Gary ’ s carvings, visit his website 's Primitive Solid chestnut wood to build and... 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