Here in the Chicago suburbs there are TONS of “horse” Chestnut trees. Why don’t they mill these tree’s for lumber? I have never seen “Chestnut” at my local hardwood dealer. I know that American Chestnut was killed off my a blight in the early 1900’s, but are these “Horse” Chestnut tree’s any good? Is it hard wood?
Cheers!
Dark Magneto
Replies
Don't know about the 'horse' bit, but in Europe, chestnut is used as a lighter, softer alternative to oak. Often in the past as a secondary wood. I've still got a few specimen pieces in my sample box, and I have used it to make furniture. I like it.
Malcolm
0.06% of the world's people are Kiwis
That's sweet chestnut -- horse chestnut is different. It hasn't much value as a cabinet or joinery timber.
IanDG
Folks,
There is Sweet chestnut which is oakish in appearance.
Then there is Japanese Horse chestnut,which is vaguely oakish but wavy and finer in texture.
Then there is Horse chestnut which is pale verging on yellowish to grey(ish).
Sweet and Horse are European. All are stable. All are prized for furniture ,cabinetry,trinkets(even small boxes) and fancy veneers.
Source: Mookaroid's Repositry of Useless Information with apologies to KiwiMac and IandG
Horse chestnut is almost white when cut, turning yellowish quite quickly.
The timber from horse chestnut is light in weight and not very strong and, other than pulp wood, has very few uses commercially although it was once used to make artificial limbs.
IanDG
New Zealand ..
I was there twice.. Really Nice folks! Just on the way to Australia with a day or two layover...
Horse Chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum, is in the Buckeye family, Hippocastanaceae. It is an native of the Balkan peninsula but was introduced to the U.S. many years ago. If you look at the leaves they are very similar to the Ohio Buckeye A. glabra, except the leaves are larger and it has dark almost black sticky buds.
I had only seen buckeye for sale in Ohio. It has nice figure, somewhat ring porous, not very dense. Similar to Sassafrass.
Mostly these trees are planted as ornamentals as the can achieve a rather substantial size, have a nice form, and are disease resistent.
American chestnut, Castanea dentata, is in the beech family, Fagaceae, along with the Oaks, Beech, Tanoak, and Chinkapin.
J.P.
And one reason you don't "mill" urban trees is that it only takes one nail in a tree to ruin a saw's whole day.
When Hurricane Hugo hit the Carolinas there was probably a billion board feet of oak carried off to the compost--HUGE 80 year old 80 foot trees. No sawmill would touch any of it.
HUGE 80 year old 80 foot trees. No sawmill would touch any of it.
I got a chain saw Nobody called me!
got a chain saw Nobody called me!
Oh yes, we did!!! We had a pile of wood 8 feet high entirely across our front median--100feet.
You can talk all you want about these private little sawmills, but there was none sawn from that hurricane. And there was plenty of non-urban trees that weren't harvested for lumber.Gretchen
What about ALL that old timber from around Mt Saint Helen?? I'm sure I have not spellet' it correctly.. Damn.. What a waste...
There are a lot of us these days that have our own personal bandsaw mills. A new blade cost about $ 25, and can be sharpened for $7. A really big yard tree can have 1000 bf, and more of it can be sawn into QS, which makes it about twice as valuable as flat cut to me. If I hit a couple of nails, it is no big deal, I can change a blade in 3 minutes. But for a big production mill, it is a big deal.I built about 20 tree-houses while growing up, and take pride in being able to tell whether a tree has had a house built in it or not. So the next time you see a really nice big saw-log from an old home-place or even better a cemetery etc. find someone with a small mill and help them cut and handle it, and share the wood with them.
I happened across one of those trees one day while traveling the back roads here in NH. The Tree was a sugar maple and the butt end was 44" in dia. The tree was about 30 ft in length and the small end was 30+ " in dia The tree had been gut into (3) 10' lengths and left. I hired a guy with a log truck yo take it to a friend who has a bandsaw mill. I still have some of the wood but I used a bunch of it to make the work bench in the pic. That stuff was so hard when you hit 2 pieces together it actually had "tink" sound almost like glass. Some of it was spalted and I save that for very special projects like a display stand I built for my brother recently. That old growth stuff is so different then the woood you get at the hardwood suppliers.......totally different color and what a grain pattern. Wicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
Gretchen
A nail in a tree on a bandmill is not the end of the world. I hit them all the time. It usually means a blade change, which takes about 5 minutes, or less if I'm really on the ball that day. I've hit spikes, deer stand steps, and lots of nails. The fun begins when you get a log that has barb wire running down the middle. It'll really wreck what otherwise would have been some beautiful lumber, but the saw always survives.
FYI, not pickin on you.
Jeff
P.S. Sorry rootburl, I should have read your post, and I would have left this reply off.
Edited 5/19/2005 12:06 am ET by JHeath
J...
Chicago area here..
Long ago.. 1970 or so.. BIG old black walnut tree in my back yard.. It was HUGE!
Lightning split it right down the middle.. I had to cut it down..
I called every place I could think of.. NOBODY wanted it.. Gee it was for free.. free..
Beautiful wood.. Lady next door said she was about 90 and lived in the house next door all her life.. She said she remembers that tree when she was little and it was big then!
Such a shame.. Well, I had fire wood for years!
An uncle of ours actually had such a tree STOLEN from his farm. They probably made it into veneer--really. Very valuable tree--probably $80,000.Gretchen
I have heard of that in the Chicago area.. Long ago.. I think.. Kultapa trees..
The ones with the huge leaves and them 'string beans' that hang down..
They wer' pretty big trees off of the city streets? Must be a good wood?
I was thinking.. Chicago here.. WE HAD HUGE ELMS that died off.. Those trees WERE REALLY BIG.. Some of the old ones three men could not span their arms around..
Lets put it this way.. On our street.. Elms on each side.. NO SUN when ya drove down the street! .. Ya DO NOT know nothin' about raking leaves!
As I remember ALOT on the wood was burried on the South East corner of O'Hara airport to fill in a swamp or something..
Maybe in 1000 years somebody will find it and make furniture from it!
Edited 5/19/2005 11:46 am ET by Will George
Edited 5/19/2005 11:46 am ET by Will George
Yep, I'm in the NW suburbs of Chicago near O'Hare. I have the Horse Chestnut in my backyard, along with a Black Walnut and a Catalpa. Probably the 3 "dirtiest" trees around. Then in the front yard I have a Silver Maple and a Elm. All tree's are 100+ years old.
Dark Magneto
Lets put it this way.. On our street.. Elms on each side.. NO SUN when ya drove down the street! .. Ya DO NOT know nothin' about raking leaves!
Oh, but I am afraid I do. I live on a street that was a part of the first planned commmunities in the country--early 1900's. From one side of the street (two lanes each way plus a boulevard median in the middle) there is a canopy of 80-100 foot tall pin oak trees. We have 2 near the house, 2 near the sidewalk, and 2 in the city's median before the street. We definitely know leaves. And the sun doesn't get through much.Gretchen
Sounds like my neighborhood before Jan 21 1999. I am in an old grocery store . Safeway # 10 build in 1921. On that day a tornado came through the hood, and knocked down all of the big trees around for several blocks. It just broke my heart. All of the houses that didn't get blown down have been repaired, but now all of the yards are barren.
Will
I was born and raised in the Taylor St neighborhood, Taylor and Racine. Born in Mother Cabrini Hospital, which of course is no longer there.
Next time you have a tree like that, let me know. I'll send out a truck and a loader, haul it back here, mill it, and we'll split it.
LOL!
See ya.
Jeff
Taylor St neighborhood! .. I remember it when it was a NICE Place......
Gee sorry I had to.. I still LOVE Chicago!
Will
Most of my family still lives there. It's still nice, it's 'borders' have just gotten a lot smaller, and it's adjacent to several rough neighborhoods. It's still very safe there, because everybody looks out for each other, the kids, etc... but the kids just have to stay within eyesight.
The best is Geneiro's, on Taylor. My mom's cousin owns the place, and has a buzzer on the door. If he doesn't know you, or like the way you look, he doesn't unlock the door for you. He just stands behind the bar, and doesn't buzz you in. It's actually kind of funny, if you are there, and witness it. He's got the 'old mafia boss' look, too, so most people just walk away. Best food down there.
Jeff
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