American Chestnut?

[DLH]

Anyone ever worked with american chestnut I have some that a guy gave me and I planed it today. I thought it would be a light would but it was dark like walnut I think it would look good as handles. Anyone made a bow from it either just curious?

[PEARL DRUMS]

No experience for me. Any nut tree should make a fine bow. 

[Parnell]

That's some old wood - isn't it extinct?

[luke the drifter]

i am with Parnell on that one.  the blight killed them all out during the thirties.  they are really close to bringing it back fromwhat i have read and heard.  any one that has got a piece of the real american chestcut has something that i would keep and not use.  how wide is the board, i wonder?

[Parnell]

Saw a large beam of it used for a fireplace mantle in a private wood shop, once.  Very valuable.

[Pat B]

I don't think chestnut is a good candidate for bows because it is physically light, at least the stuff I've seen.  Make a beautiful bow rack with the chestnut instead and find other wood for bows.
  There are still a few Am. Chestnut trees in existance. My wife and I saw one in full bloom this past spring up along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  There is a natural stand of mature chestnut trees somewhere neer Pine Mountain GA. They are being used for breeding stock for the hybrids that are being produced.

[Prarie Bowyer]

Chestnut was commonly used for carving in Europe in areas where Linden was scarce.  Many Enchlis carvings from the renassiance that were though to be oak turned out to be chestnut.  It looks similar I understand but it dosent have the flecking that oak does.

I had a piece  of maple look just like walnut when the tree was split but it dried white.


I ahve seen Chestnuts along the road in NJ with nuts falling off them.  I hope the make a comeback.  I love chestnut stuffing.

[crooketarrow]

  Their to solf a wood I would think a backed stave maybe but a board bow. I wouldn't atemped it. I don't know or ever heard of it being used. Give it a try.
 Any one know where I could get some nuts. I love to sart some around hear. If you do PM me.

[Pat B]

American Chestnut Foundation.

[dwardo]

The chestnut we have over here would not make a good bow. Its very light and poor intension and compression, feels like lime/basswood when under teh knife.
Also known for its horrible twisting grain, i beleive we got it here when the romans brought it over. Seem to remember they used the conkers for cattle feed, a good wiki search will probably put light to it.

So if its the same tree as ours

[Parnell]

That's really cool Pat.  I'd like to see that sometime when I get back up to that area.

[George Tsoukalas]

There is none around here. There used to be but the blight took are of that. I think the wood I used to make a bow for my daughter while visiting here in Germany was chestnut but not sure. It was obviously not American Chestnut though. Jawge

[Pat B]

FYI, before the blight, Am. chestnuts were 40% to 70% of the tree canopy in the Eastern US. After the blight they were mostly all gone(harvested for the wood) within 3 or 4 years. Deer and bears weighed about 100# heavier when the chestnuts were still producing nuts.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I see one every few years around here.

[Pat B]

When the blight hit everyone was told to cut the trees and sell the timber. Most went for telephone poles or rail road cross ties. There are still a few pockets around with surviving trees but not many. If they had not all been cut back then some may have developed a resistance to the blight. We have old chestnut stumps in out woods and some still sprout saplings but after a few years they sucomb to the blight.   The tree my wife and I saw was a mature tree with an 8" trunk or bigger.