# Identifying Old Barn Wood



## 40jeff

Could anyone identify this lumber. I've been told it is chestnut but I don't know. The barn is about 100 years old. Thank you for the help.


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## donwilwol

where is the barn located?


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## WibblyPig

Looks like red oak but white oak is a possibility or even chestnut. Can you post an endgrain view?


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## blackcherry

has the hue of chestnut, could possibly hickory as well.


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## WDHLT15

Does look like chestnut. If it is, you will not be able to see the medullary rays on the end grain, like you see in oak.


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## 40jeff

I know these are not the best pictures. I cut them off the end of the board, I can't cut the 8"x8"x26' post. If you need me to I'll cut one of the boards in the middle to get better quality, grain image. Thanks.


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## 40jeff

The barn is in Somerset, Ky.


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## donwilwol

The location fits for chestnut. Pictures look like it.


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## WDHLT15

The top pic could be chestnut. The bottom one is not. See the rays? That is oak.


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## Tony_S

White Oak of some description.


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## lunn

You can easily cut chesnut with a good sharp knife. Oak not so good like a rock. When planed it has a more honey color. Not all chesnut has worm holes. If the lumber was sawn before the blight few if any holes. I think the holes were made after the tree died while standing. I have some 2×6s sawn about 1910 no holes. And as barn wood it;s really fuzzy/hairy kinda like it has fur.


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## canadianchips

Oak
Is it really heavy


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## WDHLT15

Chestnut has tyloses, like white oak. They look like little if clear silica (sand) in the earlywood pores if viewed with a hand lens or magnifying glass. However, the prominent rays typical of the oaks will not be visible.It is essentially an oak without visible rays.


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## ScrubPlane

I've worked in reclaimed chestnut and that definitely looks it…


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## WibblyPig

Did the first endgrain picture come from the yellow board with the beetle holes? My guess is those two go together and are chestnut.

The bottom endgrain looks like it goes with the top 2 pictures? The visible raying in the end grain points to white oak. (The top two pictures are the same board - just different lighting?)


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## Danpaddles

I'd say- just be glad you have some cool barnwood! Call it that- barn wood.


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## dankc908

I'm guessing chestnut based on what I saw last week at my local wood supply store (they have quite a bit of reclaimed chestnut). I'm thinking of going back and buying some.


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## BentheViking

i think chestnut on top and oak on bottom


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## summerfi

The picture below is American chestnut. I just went out to my shop and made a fresh cut so you could see the end grain clearly. Note that chestnut has no rays.










The next picture is a small piece of quarter sawn white oak. Notice the prominent rays running perpendicular to the growth rings. This is what gives quarter sawn white oak the highly desirable fleck.










Both white and red oak have rays, but they are more pronounced in white oak. Also, looking at the end grain, the pours in white oak are filled in, whereas in red oak they are hollow. This is the easiest way to tell the two apart.

It's often hard to determine species from pictures, but in the original post the first two pictures look like oak to me. The third picture, based on grain appearance, could be oak but looks more like chestnut to me. The worm holes are a further clue it is probably chestnut, though oak can sometimes have worm holes too.

In the second post with pictures, the first picture looks very much like chestnut to me, while the second picture is definitely not chestnut and is most likely oak.


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## Bboyd

Looks like oak. I helped my father in law rebuild his 1800's barn in PA and he gave me all the old floor joists and planks that were ripped out. Some of it was really tough to identify and most of it had worm holes but none of it was chestnut (mostly maple, cherry, hickory, and hemlock). I wouldn't use the worm holes as a diagnostic feature of chestnut. The chestnut blight was caused by a fungus, not bugs.


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## summerfi

Correct, the chestnut blight was caused by a fungus, but the standing dead chestnut virtually universally acquired bug holes as a secondary agent. The only American chestnut you will find without holes is chestnut that was cut before the blight.


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## b2rtch

I am always amazed to see how knowledgeable LJs are.
All together , we are a living encyclopedia.


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## barnwhisper

the wood above is beach the grains are the closesr then any other wood and almost all aged beach is wormy


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## WDHLT15

Beech is diffuse porous. The wood in all the pics above is ring porous. That rules out beech.

BTW, both oak and chestnut are in the beech family.


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## b2rtch

The sample on the bottom definitely is chestnut.


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## roman

You are yet another lucky man. Score of the century,


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## 40jeff

If it is chestnut, what would be the value.


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## b2rtch

Chestnut is a secondary wood, not very valuable.


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## Homer51

Hi, I'm dredging up this old post because I'm new and I'm not allowed to post a new topic…I have a stack of barn beams I salvaged many years ago from a collapsed KY tobacco barn. Eigthteen of them, 4 walnut, 3 are maple I think, several red and white oak, 4 I don't know. I just have end grain to show. 1880-1890 vintage barn. The smaller material is a real mixed bag as well. Due to condition I don't see these as real valuable, just curious.

Thanks


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