American chestnut any good?

[defiant]

Just acquired a ton of american chestnut from a log home demo and wondering if it would make good laminations for glass bows.Very pretty wood grain and light in weight.Anyone have an idea?

[bluegill]

Frank,

I'm not sure about bows but american chestnut can make some great turkey calls. So how big are your pieces??

Sean

[MJB]

bluegill,
I was just going to say that. Only complaint Iv'e heard of it tends to go from hard to soft spots. Alot has to do with how old it is. In this case, it's old. The chestnut (age) tends to be dry and britle.

You demo'd my dream home ... American chestnut  log home , I could cry

Mike  

[defiant]

Bluegill hi,my buddy has a wood mill so I'm going to have him mill a couple logs,I will be glade to send you some.The logs are about 8to 10 inches in diameter and 12feet or so long.The cabin near a century old,but in NJ its make way for the new.They could care less,the land is what they want.MJB soft spots and being brittle not good,I will have to check it out.Thanks

[dorris]

defiant i would'nt mind have about a 10" x  3" x 3" for a knife handle . would be a pretty good history saver .

[Talondale]

The man who milled my osage has three chestnut log homes.  He's restored one and was going to move a second one to make an addition to the first.  Salvaged old chestnut has a high value in the right market.

[madness522]

I have no idea how good of laminations it would make but I would like to have a piece of it too for a knife handle.

[MJB]

Frank ,
You should be fine, hard and soft spots dry and a little brittle give some callmakers (box calls) some trouble. They can't get the wood to resonate which is where the sound comes from (turkey call).

You should fair well and have some good solid pieces. Best of luck  and I would love to see a pic of the lams.

Chestnut is a very beautiful wood