Chestnut -- how to work? Any advice?

[MarkDarby]

Hi all,

I recently visited my hometown in Beckley, WV. While there, I visited my grandparents homestead -- or what is left of it. The house still stands -- but time has really taken its toll. I wanted to reclaim some of the wood from the house to make small boxes for each of the grandkids for Christmas -- so they'll always have a piece of home wherever they may go. I was there every Sunday for all my youth -- enjoying Grandma's fried chicken and chicken dumplings made on a Warm Morning coal stove.

I didn't remember what kind of wood they used for the doors and trim. As I mentioned above, they used a coal stove for cooking and for heat -- so the door facings had blackened over the course of many decades. As we were pulling the wood off the walls, trying not to fall through the floor as it had rotted through and though, we noticed the wood was incredibly light and very brittle. We had to be extremely careful to not damage the wood anymore than needed. My nephew has a forestry degree from VA Tech believes the wood is chestnut. The house most likely dates pre-blight. One I plane a piece, I'll post a picture. I also brought the interior doors home -- unfortunately, it looks as though they're pine.. at least I think they're pine. I plan to make chests from those.

Question for all... any advice for working with the wood? I want to use every inch -- wasting none and certainly not ruining none.

Thanks for any advice you may offer...

Mark

 

[Jeff]

Maybe chestnut? Neat, and I don't know of a confirmatory test for it. The light weight and brittleness (prone to splitting) are decent clues.

http://www.wood-database.com/american-chestnut/

Of course a few pics will be interesting.

 

[cornbread]

I have a bunch of hybrid (I assume) chestnut that I will be returning to my dad soon. The wood I have planed and worked with was like a cross between oak and hickory. I say assumed hybrid, because it came from 3 trees cut down about 20 or so years ago. There were 4 trees in his yard that are spaced such they had to be planted around the time the house was built in the 60's

 

[jlayell]

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Mark,
This is a coffee table I made from an old house that had been torn down. It has clear water based poly on it. When planing use a good dust collector and respirator. The worm holes hold dust and smoke residue from the wood fires. Use sharp tools and work slowly.

 

[CrealBilly]

Chestnut works about the same as oak.