Woodworker's Journal 2008-32-3, страница 30

Back From the Brink?

By Rob Johnstone

Photos provided by

The American Chestnut Foundation June 2008 Woodworker S JOUmal

It was a great prospect for our refinishing book. The classic-looking little cabinet was obviously handmade, but more important to our work, it was covered with many layers of hideous paint and who knows what. But we ran into a curious problem after the cabinet's wood had been exposed. The guys working on the project could not figure out what the heck it was made of. My coworkers were baffled, so as I walked across the shop, I sensed the opportunity to show off a bit... to demonstrate the scope of my nearly encyclopedic knowledge of wood and wood species. (Honesty forces me to I confess I may have spoken a bit disparagingly of my fellow shop rats' skills and knowledge as I made my overly dramatic stroll to the rescue.) Unfortunately, when I paused to closely examine the wood, I, too, was unable to tell them what it was. (Needless to say, my buddies enjoyed my embarrassment.)

That was my first experience with chestnut lumber. Although I had been actively involved in woodworking for nearly 20 years by then, I had never seen a single piece of unfinished chestnut.

This healthy American chestnut is part of a small Wisconsin population that avoided the blight. Above are chestnut burrs that hold chestnuts.

Good quality chestnut lumber is still available for sale. Here is a sample of a piece sold at bigwoodslabs.com — it seems to fit that bill.

Which was curious, because chestnut lumber had once been one of the most common species available in the United States. Chestnuts were the dominant trees of North American Eastern forests. It was said that a squirrel could travel from Georgia to Maine on the limbs of chestnut trees without ever touching the ground. When the trees blossomed in the spring, hillsides looked as if they were covered with snow.

There was an entire rural economy developed around the American chestnut. As described by Tim Knight: "Farm life was difficult in the mountains and hills of the East. Settlers in the Appalachians relied on hunting, fishing and chestnuts for their livelihood. Chestnut wood was durable, highly resistant to rot and decay, straight -grained, easy to split, saw and work. Unlike most other woods, the sapwood was as decay-resistant as the heartwood so the tree was used for split-rail fencing, posts, poles, logs and siding for cabins, shingles, furniture and many other products. When the tree was felled for all of these products, the bark was removed first and sold to hide-tanning enterprises due to its high tannic acid content. The industry of bark sales was known as the "penny business," as it was sold for pennies per 100 pounds. The nuts were plentiful and sweet and

The American Chestnut suffered a near fatal blight... is it possible this majestic tree could make a comeback?