# Americn Chestnut - any lumberjock seen a live one?



## nashbok (Jul 19, 2010)

I just watched an interesting documentary on the American Chestnut tree (embeded below). I was familiar with the story of the chestnut blight but I had no clue how devastating the loss of chestnut trees was to American culture.

I imagine if it were still around chestnut would be the staple hardwood and not red/white oak.

Have any of you ever seen an American Chestnut in the wild?


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

I had to take down a Chestnut when I lived in Indiana. It was almost 6' across at the base and solid all the way through. 
The state wanted it down because it was encroaching n the right of way for the road.

It broke my heart to cut it down, but my ex FiL slabbed it up into 8/4 and 12/4 pieces and let it dry for at least ten years.

That tree made a whole lot of wood workers very happy and has built quite a bit of furniture so it wasn't a total loss. Too bad I wasn't into wood working then.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

I know someone who claims to have 2 of them, haven't seen them and wouldn't know them from other forms of chestnut so I don't know how accurate that really is.


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## BrandonW (Apr 27, 2010)

Thanks for the video. Such a sad state of affairs. Hopefully the smart tree scientists can figure out a good solution to bring them back in full swing.


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

I have not seen one, but I did see a documentary on PBS a couple of years ago about the American Chestnut. There are some groups trying to get it to come back. I think the folks were in Wisconsin that were starting to grow them. I have used reclaimed AC on some projects…beautiful wood.


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## Woodmaster1 (Apr 26, 2011)

I had a student make a hutch out of chestnut in my woodworking class 35 years ago. He got the chestnut from his
father, who had it stored in his garage. There was just enough to make the hutch with very little left. I wish we had digital cameras back then so I could have taken a picture of it. Chestnut is a very good looking wood.


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## nashbok (Jul 19, 2010)

After I watched the video I did some checking around and the University of Tennessee has a hybrid that they're test planting in a few select national forrests. It's supposed to look exactly like an American Chestnut. About half of them have survived. Of course, if they do find a fix for the blight, I'll be an old man before I see any of the lumber.

@Dallas In this day and age, I'm surprised they didn't just move the road. 

@SnowyRiver I'll have to find that documentary.


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

Great video, thanks for posting. I had no idea… but now I want a chestnut tree. Maybe it'll survive in southern illinois!


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## TCCcabinetmaker (Dec 14, 2011)

Unfortunately I'm not so good at recognizing lumber unless it's at least rough sawn, don't think I can even tell you what a poplar tree actually looks like :/ Guess it comes from growing up in the suburbs.


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## Limerick (Mar 16, 2011)

Thank you for the video. I've never seen a chestnut, and was unaware of the significance of the chestnut for food or trade. My mother is from south western Virginia. Now I'll have to ask her if she saw them when she was a kid. Imagine how we would feel is suddenly all the walnut or cherry trees died.


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## TCCcabinetmaker (Dec 14, 2011)

Dallas,

Future reference, when/if that tree tries to send up sprouts, make sure they know it's an endangered species, and that it would be very bad to cut them down…


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## bent (May 9, 2008)

my parents have one growing in thier yard (west-central indiana). it's only about 20-30 yrs old, but it gets nuts, and they're really good.


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

I have seen them in the wild a number of times in the Mountains of North Georgia, up to 8" in diameter. However, the blight eventually gets them, so they cannot flourish. In the Chattahoochie National Forest, some of the old down logs that died from the blight 100 years ago still have some sound wood in them.


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## HalDougherty (Jul 15, 2009)

I know where one is about a mile from my house. When the blight kills a tree, it doesn't kill all the root system and shoots sprout from time to time and they grow up to about 6" to 8" in diameter before they are killed back again. The one growing on my friends farm had seeds last year. Chestnut wood's best feature is it's rot resistance.


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## Bluepine38 (Dec 14, 2009)

They do have new varieties of the chestnut tree that are blight resistant and the tree place I deal with 
might be getting some in this year. The oak tree I planted 5 years ago is still very healthy, put compared
to the super tree-a cottonwood cross- we planted for shade it does not look like it is growing at all. That
slow growth is what makes the wood so hard, and is one reason not too many people plant them, but 
that oak tree should make good shade in another 50 years or so.


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

From what ive read there are only 12 mature amercian chestnut trees in North Amercia.


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## grizzman (May 10, 2009)

thanks for this video, what a terrible thing to happen,


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## SASmith (Mar 22, 2010)

I have never seen a mature one. I have seen some small suckers from old blighted tree.
For those interested in growing a chestnut tree check out this site.
Lots of other rare and natural hybrid trees too.


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## patcollins (Jul 22, 2010)

My grandfathers house had several in the yard in Gypsy WV, I think they were taken down in the mid to late 90's. I loved eating the chestnuts from them but my dad yelled at me because they often had worms in them. My mom grew up in that house and always complained about the smell of the blooms in the summer, they did smell pretty bad. Not sure if they were american chestnuts or another variety, the nuts were pretty good though.


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## lunn (Jan 30, 2012)

Sad to say but there is a blight hitting the black walnut in East Tn. Also the Emerald Ash borer killing ash. For a while you couldn't take firewood across county lines.

Wonder why we don't have a blight for weeds ?


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## TCCcabinetmaker (Dec 14, 2011)

a blight hit the dogwoods in the southeast a few years ago, some survived, but :/ lost alot of pretty trees.

If you do have chestnuts producing nuts, it might be a good idea to contact some of the universities trying to solve this issue and send them some.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

Didn't realize it was quite that bad, the person I know that claims his is a real american chestnut grows several a year and gives them away. Last year he gave me a big bag of the nuts so I roasted them, really tasty. I'll have to get a leaf from him this year and have it checked out to see if it is a true chestnut or a hybrid.


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## usnret (Jul 14, 2011)

Here is a short quote from the local paper 2 days ago here in Kitsap County WA.

The American chestnut that Sam Leyman planted outside Kingston about 1905 was recognized last week as one of the largest trees of its kind in the nation. It stands 70 feet tall and also spreads its branches some 70 feet wide.

Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/apr/30/kingston-chestnut-stands-tall-on-national-list/#ixzz1tmBW2dxQ


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## Milo (Apr 24, 2009)

There are a few blight-resistant Chestnuts in the Smokey Mountain national park. A geocaching website had one listed the other day.

BTW, there is STILL A BAN on transporting firewood in Tennessee! Make sure you know the rules!


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

Great vid. I shared it on FB


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## james04 (Feb 28, 2009)

Thank you for sharing.


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## MoshupTrail (Aug 11, 2011)

I remember as a kid we had chestnut trees in the neighborhood and we would throw the large nuts at each other in fun. But the nuts were much larger than these, so I suspect they were not "American Chestnut", but some other. That was in eastern Massachusetts. Anyone know what those might have been?


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## saucer (May 1, 2010)

I have 4 Chestnut trees on my property but they are not the American all of them dyed out with the blight.. These 4 trees have a chainsaw waiting for them because they are the messiest tree i have ever seen. I dislike them so much they are going to be firewood….


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

American chestnut leaves are smooth on the bottom, but the introduced (and blight resistant) Chinese chestnut is white tomentose (fuzzy) on the bottom.


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## patcollins (Jul 22, 2010)

Moshup those may have been buckeyes.


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

we had them in southern Wisconsin a long time ago…blight got them also.

I currently have a 14' long chestnut beam (10"x10") from a NY farmhouse restore (same place I got 2 12' cherry boards 13" wide awaiting a bar-top project). One of these days I'll find a saw-mill for the beam but figure no hurry since it is 100+ years old and is still straight as an arrow).

Forget to mention that the seller through in an 8' cherry beam…twisted/checked/nasty but I managed to build a beautiful mission style table (complete with worm-holes and tracks) and a few desktop valet units…and the scrap/shavings are in high demand for my BBQ friends)


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