Drying Chestnut

[Andrew Nichols]

I have some Chestnut that was milled about three weeks ago. It consists of 10 12' 1X12", and is currently stickered in my garage attic (unheated), with a fan running on it.

I would like to have it ready to work with asap, but kiln-ing it is not an option. I could move it into the house for the winter, and slide them under our king-size bed. This would get it 70 degree air, fairly dry due to having a heat pump. The downside is that it would have less air movement, and would not be stacked (weighted by the other boards).

Thoughts on the possible move? Upsides vs Downsides?

Thanks!
Andrew

[Scott T Smith]

Andrew, my biggest concern would be the potential to bring any bugs inside the wood into the house.

If your attic is reaching temperatures of 100F or more during the day, with fans running on it (targeted air movement of 350 FPM) 4/4 chestnut should be dried down below 10%MC in less than a month. If it were me, I would leave it in the attic as long as possible - preferably until it is below 10%, and then sterilize the wood.

FWW's "Tools and Shops Annual Issue" from 2009 had an article on page 92 about how to "Cook pine to harden the sap" at home. When I read Christian Becksvoort's recommendatations, it struck me that his system would be a great way to sterilize air dried boards too (except use 135F as the targeted temp - not the 170 needed to set the pitch in pine).

Do not sterilze the wood until it is dried; else you will probably honeycomb it and ruin it.

[Frank Drew]

I have some Chestnut that was milled about three weeks ago.
I would like to have it ready to work with asap, but kiln-ing it is not an option.

Andrew,

Patience is a virtue when it comes to drying wood. If you bring still wet wood into your house you'll introduce perhaps too much moisture in addition to any bugs that Scott mentions. Boards stacked right on top of one another (under your bed!) will absolutely not dry properly; the moisture will get trapped between boards and you'll probably get mold colonies to beat the band, another thing you don't want to introduce into your home.

Patience, my man, patience.

[Ron Kellison]

I grew up around chestnut, but it was all on the ground or the occasional dead snag that hadn't fallen over yet. Most of it has been on the ground for 60+ years, and the rest that still survives is in beams and boards that have already been air drying for years. What is the present moisture content in your boards? I suspect if it's real chestnut from North America it is already in the 10-12% range.

Regards,

Ron

[Andrew Nichols]

I don't know, it was real wet when we fell it and milled it, quite a bit lighter now.

I was planning to sticker it in a single stack under the bed (or somewhere else), not worried about air movement around all surfaces, just worried about it deforming because it's not in a stack.

Thanks for the info, I guess I'll leave it in the attic for the winter and have the moisture checked in the spring/summer.

AN

[Ron Kellison]

Was the tree alive when you cut it or was it a still-standing dead tree?

Regards,

Ron

[Andrew Nichols]

It was alive. I have never seen a dead one still standing?

[Ron Kellison]

Where I grew up in WVa dead trees that were still standing were called snags.

I would be stunned if you found a live chestnut that was large enough to get a 12" plank. I would be even more surprised if anyone who found that big a chestnut that was still alive actually cut it down! It would be a national treasure and a major loss to science, agronomy and future woodworkers. Please tell me that I'm wrong and you've actually been working with some other wood.

Regards,

Ron

[Andrew Nichols]

See, here's the thing - They grow out here on the west coast. I am reasonably confident that they are American Chestnut, I've talked to a lot of folks who concur (I haven't sent a leaf and twig sample to the TACF for confirmation). I am open to the possibillity that I'm wrong, but based on comparing the nuts, leaves, twig/buds, bark, growth characteristics, and wood appearance, I don't think I am. (Again, only way to absolutely know, it to send in a sample for genetic analysis.)

They don't grow in huge stands, and that's probably why they live so long - they haven't had contact with other Chestnuts, Chinese or American. It came from a private forest, it's neither the biggest specimen, or one of only a couple left. I understand that in areas where it's absent, there are people passionate about restoring them, and totally support that effort, but I didn't fall a national treasure, and I didn't damn future woodworkers to a world without AC. I took one tree, which is surrounded by seelings and immature trees, and am going to put it to use building some furniture for the family who have owned the property since before that tree was a nut.

Check out the Sherwood Oregon ACs - They're awesome! Also, there's a guy in northern Washington that is raising true AC seedlings for sale.

Take care,

Andrew

[Shawn Siegrist]

The American Chestnut have survived when planted in area's outside of its original range, the blight has not reached those areas yet. There are also still a few surviving Mature American Chestnuts with in its natural range which drop seeds each year. The saplings from these seeds and also saplings that sprout each year from the stumps of fallen American Chestnuts, grow for a couple of years until most of them fall to the blight. There has been considerable work crossing the american chestnut with the chinese and japanese Chestnuts, then back crossing the hybridized chestnuts to American chestnuts. The hope is to produce 15/16th pure american chestnuts that are blight resistant and have all of the charactoristics of the american chestnut. From what I have read they are very close to accomplishing this goal, and within the next 5-10 years there should be american chestnuts again growning within their native range. Pretty cool stuff, hopefully it happens in my lifetime!

Shawn

[Frank Drew]

I don't know, it was real wet when we fell it and milled it, quite a bit lighter now.

I was planning to sticker it in a single stack under the bed (or somewhere else), not worried about air movement around all surfaces, just worried about it deforming because it's not in a stack.



Andrew, IMO, you should be worried about air movement around all surfaces of your boards because unequal drying, which can be caused by unequal air movement around all the boards, can cause your material to warp and most likely crack on the ends and overall drying will be greatly retarded. Which can also produce mold, as I mentioned above.

[Darius Ferlas]

I never smelled green chestnut and so I don't know what kind of scent it would produce as it dries, but I know cherry, walnut and white oak stink when they are drying. I tried cherry in my basement. That lasted just a couple of days and the whole house stank. I had to move the lumber outside. The following week I built a small solar kiln. After about 10-11 weeks the lumber was ready for the blade.

Ask around and make sure that drying chestnut lumber under your bed won't make your bedroom unusable.

[Andrew Nichols]

Good point! I love the Chestnut, but I have to keep the missus agreeable as well!

[Ron Kellison]

See, here's the thing - They grow out here on the west coast. I am reasonably confident that they are American Chestnut, I've talked to a lot of folks who concur (I haven't sent a leaf and twig sample to the TACF for confirmation). I am open to the possibillity that I'm wrong, but based on comparing the nuts, leaves, twig/buds, bark, growth characteristics, and wood appearance, I don't think I am. (Again, only way to absolutely know, it to send in a sample for genetic analysis.)

They don't grow in huge stands, and that's probably why they live so long - they haven't had contact with other Chestnuts, Chinese or American. It came from a private forest, it's neither the biggest specimen, or one of only a couple left. I understand that in areas where it's absent, there are people passionate about restoring them, and totally support that effort, but I didn't fall a national treasure, and I didn't damn future woodworkers to a world without AC. I took one tree, which is surrounded by seelings and immature trees, and am going to put it to use building some furniture for the family who have owned the property since before that tree was a nut.

Check out the Sherwood Oregon ACs - They're awesome! Also, there's a guy in northern Washington that is raising true AC seedlings for sale.

Take care,

Andrew

I stand corrected! I was completely unaware that there were still natural stands of chestnut growing on the continent. I did know that there were a few carefully watched trees growing at the fringe of the original range and I just assumed the worst. Please excuse my ignorance!

I can tell you that the dried wood is a very interesting wood to work. In most respects it reminds me of a cross between butternut and red gum, although it is a bit coarser than butternut. It is a rich brown wood with dark streaks, open pored and would best be finished by sanding it down to the 180 range and then sealing it with shellac. The actual texture and grain structure is very close to mulberry but I doubt that would mean very much to you as a comparison as mulberry doesn't usually make its way onto the retail market.

You should also know that all the chestnut I've worked with has been resawn from old barn and house timbers so it was quite old and definitely well seasoned. I would be interested to know the working characteristics of wood recently cut and air dried.

Regards,

Ron

[Andrew Nichols]

No problem Ron, I was a little freaked out when I started looking around on the internet - thought I'd stumbled upon the "last of the breed"!

Someone south of Portland OR has a 48" dia tree that they have to remove, selling it on craigslist.


I am really excited to start working on it next year!

Andrew