chestnut!

[excess650]

Has anyone here milled any chestnut? An aquaintance wanted me to stop by his sister's to look at at tree he wanted taken down. It turns out that it is/was a chestnut, and the largest that I recall seeing. I'll speculate that its not a native American chestnut due to the size. It was 36"+ across the stump, and SOLID. It had lots of dead branches, but had a huge amount of burrs around it on the ground.

I'm going to try and see how much lumber I can cut from the trunk, and several of the larger branches. I know the branches will have stress in them, but I would rather take the chance of possibly getting some unusual lumber rather than just cutting it into firewood. You can always burn lumber....

 

[cavemn1314]

You should instead talk him into saving the tree if it is in good health, Chestnuts are hard to come by these days.

 

[RVALUE]

I got into a chestnut of about that size, and what a nasty tree. Had the burrs still on, (storm damage) Nasty....

 

[Farmall Guy]

never milled any but the old part of my parents house is all built out of chestnut. my grandfather cut all the chestnut on the proporty back in 48 and had it milled up, in 49 him and grandma built the camp out of it. When we bought the place in 91 there was no sign of rot or insect damage even though the camp only set on piers with no skirting around the bottom for over 40 years. Mom and dad jacked the camp up, moved it 20' dug out a full basment then moved it back onto a new fondation and added on. The chestnut held up very well through the years.

I can still recall some of the stumps that were still around when I was growing up, most of them were over 36". Over the past 17 years that we've been here all but the biggest ones have finally rotted down to nothing but there are still a couple around, amazing that they held up for over 60 years out in the weather

 

[Can8ianTimber]

Here is a couple pictures of some chestnut that I cut. This was from a 4' plus tree and it was not american chestnut. In the NW these tress are notorious for ring shake. After drying this wood it exposed the shake even more and I probably had 80% loss. That is only in my local area so yours may be different.

Good luck

 

[curdy]

Wow, that is some gorgeous wood!

 

[jags]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is "ring shake". I don't know if I have ever heard that term.

 

[karlthev]

Hate to jump in but you might want to suggest saving that Chestnut tree particularly if it is an American Chestnut---very, very few of them around. You could call them (The American Chestnut Society) at 814-863-7192 in Pennsylvania--seemed as you might be from here....they'd sure appreciate it if it is the Amercian variety....


Karl

 

[fubar2]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is "ring shake". I don't know if I have ever heard that term.

I'll stick my nose in here and answer for him. We always called it heart shake but what it amounts to is radial cracks from the center of the tree.

 

[jags]

I'll stick my nose in here and answer for him. We always called it heart shake but what it amounts to is radial cracks from the center of the tree.

Got it. I'm pretty new to any kind of "advanced" wood working like you folks. Just an old farm boy trying to learn.

 

[excess650]

The owner of the tree didn't care to hear about the possible rarity of the tree, and was determined to have it taken down. In fairness to him, it had lots dead limbs, and had shed numerous live limbs during the summer and fall storms. Luckily, the trunk was solid, so no drama in falling it.

The buttlog is roughly 3' across for the first 4', and then tapers to 2' by the time it was 10'. The next 8' has numerous crotches, so who knows what it will yield. It may have some ringshake, judging by looking at the butt cut after a couple of days. I'll cut as much lumber as possible from it, and will even try to make lumber from some of the branches. I :censored:HATE to cut what I perceive "good wood" into firewood, and I'm sure the entire tree would have been destined for that had I not taken it down.