American Chestnut Gloat?

[John Michaels]

I picked up some wood today and it's supposedly American Chestnut. 7 feet long, 2 inches thick and 13 inches wide. I've never seen any in person, but the guy I bought it from is very experienced and was 100% sure it's the real thing. He's got his own sawmill and gets alot of trees from tree trimmers, blown down trees, etc. He even had Apple, Sequoia (not coastal redwood but Sequoia) , and some English Walnut.

I assume Chestnut is hard to come by given the mass extinction on the East Coast, but does anyone know how much the going price is? I only paid 3 dollars a board foot.



http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-11/1108263/DSC07125.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-11/1108263/DSC07122.jpg

[Dewey Torres]

In the pics it certainly looks real to me. The chestnut trees used to be in abundance and were almost wiped extinct story below:

Once an important hardwood timber tree, American Chestnut is highly susceptible to chestnut blight, caused by an Asian bark fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryphonectria_parasitica), formerly Endothia parasitica) accidentally introduced to America on imported Asiatic chestnut trees. The disease was first noticed on American Chestnut trees in the Bronx Zoo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronx_Zoo) in 1904. While Chinese Chestnuts evolved with the blight and developed a strong resistance, the airborne bark fungus spread 50 miles a year and in a few decades girdled and killed billions of American Chestnuts. New shoots often sprout from the roots when the main stem dies, so the species has not yet become extinct. However, the stump sprouts rarely reach more than 6 meters (20 ft) in height before blight infection returns.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Castanea_dentata.JPG/180px-Castanea_dentata.JPG (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Castanea_dentata.JPG) http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Castanea_dentata.JPG)
Young tree in natural habitat


It is estimated that the total number of chestnut trees in eastern North America was over 3 billion, and that 25 percent of the trees in the Appalachian Mountains were American Chestnut. The number of large surviving American Chestnut trees over 60 cm (24 inches) in diameter within the tree's former range is probably fewer than 100. Huge planted chestnut trees (featured in National Geographic) can be found in Sherwood, Oregon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherwood%2C_Oregon), since much of western North America is still free of blight. American Chestnut thrives as far north as Revelstoke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revelstoke%2C_British_Columbia), British Columbia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9e/Castanea_dentata_field_trial.jpg/180px-Castanea_dentata_field_trial.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Castanea_dentata_field_trial.jpg) http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Castanea_dentata_field_trial.jpg)
American Chestnut field trial sapling from the American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation


Several organizations are attempting to breed blight-resistant chestnuts. One of these is the American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Chestnut_Cooperators_Foundation), which breeds surviving all-American chestnuts, which have shown some native resistance to blight. The Canadian Chestnut Council (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Canadian_Chestnut_Council&action=edit&redlink=1) is an organization attempting to reintroduce the trees in Canada, primarily in Ontario (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario). Another is The American Chestnut Foundation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Chestnut_Foundation), which is backcrossing blight-resistant American Chestnut × Chinese Chestnut hybrids to American parents, to recover the American growth characteristics and genetic makeup, and then finally intercrossing the advanced generations in order to breed consistently for blight resistance. The goal is eventually to reintroduce the species to the eastern forests of North America. In 2005, a hybrid tree with mostly American genes was planted on the lawn of the White House (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House), and to date is doing very well.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Chestnut#cite_note-0)
The United States National Arboretum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Arboretum) also has taken an interest in the American Chestnut, using similar methods of backcrossing to create hybrids resistant to blight. Overall, it is anticipated that the species may be ready for trial plantings in forests by 2010.

Ref: Wika...


Dewey

[John Keeton]

Sure looks like Chestnut to me! Check the links at the bottom of this page for more comparison. Go back and buy the rest that he has, if any - quickly! The price is great.

[John Michaels]

Sure looks like Chestnut to me! Check the links at the bottom of this page for more comparison. Go back and buy the rest that he has, if any - quickly! The price is great.

He has 250 BF. I'm going back for more.

[Craig Che]

Can you please PM me his number? I would love to get some more wood specially if he is doing reasonable pricing.

[Jack Camillo]

I have a large, old Chestnut tree on my property. Used to be two, but one got beat up in a hurricane several years ago (before I built a ww shop) and it made for great firewood. The stump still sprouts saplings and I used to cut them down, but I'd stop if it was American. Anyway, wondering how to definitively tell if it's American or Chinese. Most pictures of American chestnut I've seen look like my tree, but I convinced myself it had to be chinese because of the history.

[John Keeton]

Jack, I am not the one to help with identity on the tree, but there remain a few American Chestnut trees. The father of the local Woodcraft owner was telling me the other day that he has a cabin in Tennessee and that there are several there, although he says there are few blooms. He related how the state came in to do some road work, and with a dozer pushed several of them over in a pile to the side of the road. Even though the trees were not his, he became irate, called several people, but couldn't get any interest in followup. Shame to lose them.

Apparently, many of the blight stricken trees produced shoots from the roots for many years, and still do. But, the blight still remains and they cannot mature.

[Jim Becker]

Yes, there are still Chestnut trees standing, but not in any kind of meaningful quantities. They are the "lucky" few that were naturally resistant to the problem. Bill Grumbine has one across the road from his house and it's a beauty.

[Art Mulder]

Bill Grumbine has one across the road from his house and it's a beauty.

Yet another reason why visiting Five Barns at Bill's place is on my todo list. Not this summer, unfortunately. I've never seen a live/real American Chestnut!

If it truly is blight-resistant (as opposed to just isolated and lucky) I hope someone is gather, preserving, and/or distributing it's annual crop of chestnuts.

...art

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

My color on my monitor is wacky. However, the grain looks like it could be Elm.

[Russ Sears]

Chestnut Blight is a fungus which is spread by a beetle. The stumps of blighted trees can still send out shoots. When those shoots reach a certain size, the bark begins to split. At that point the beetle can enter the shoot and infect it with the fungus.

[Herb Linderman]

Your board looks just like the Sassafras boards that I have but that does not surprise me since Sassafras was or is used as a replacement for Chestnut.

[Wade Lippman]

If you hadn't told me it was chestnut, I would have guessed butternut.

[John Eaton]

Whatever it is I quite like the figure.

-- John