I was driving around in the woods yesterday on the various trails, looking for firewood, and came across a very dead tree that had fallen sometime in the last year or so across the trail. I cut a few pieces off the small end, leaving a trunk about 12" diameter at the stump end and maybe 30' long. After getting a good look at the grain of the wood, the color and weight, I realized what the tree was and didn't cut any more off of it. I need to find a way to save what I left behind in one piece. I know that the tree has been dead for at least a decade and maybe twice that. The heartwood was as solid as a rock and probably will be for many years, even on the ground. I will post some more photos of the cut pieces and the trunk over the weekend, as I didn't have my phone with me, but I know what the leaves look like:
Nice find. Was going to insert a pic but this site doesn’t support apple products. I have as a fireplace mantle the last slab of what was the last Chestnut telephone pole in Ct. or so I’m told. Try proving that sounds good anyway. Beautiful thing, the face is gnarly from weather worn age. Never got an accurate count on the rings, over 200 which is not the entirety of the original log. Those are some very tight rings A very nice piece of wood.
Sure it does! I’m posting from my Iphone only on this. Just wondering what you’re posting from...I’m no expert here but possibly the photo format needs to be added to the forum? Moderators may be able to help.
Yes I can post from IPad/phone but cannot add pictures. This site requires Adobe for pics and that’s not compatible with Apple. There may be a workaround but I’m not that good at figuring stuff like that out.
Saw these trees in the U.P. town of Marquette. I thought someone told me they were a "horse chestnut" or something like that.
That would be Horse Chestnut (Picture below), Jon_E picture looks like sweet chestnut to me, if thats the case you can eat the fruits. Wikipedia Castanea sativa (English)
You might be right as Buckeye/Ohio-Horse-Chestnut and Horse Chestnut is the same species but still a different tree. Had to google it, as i wasnt aware of that, Buckeye is only home to Nothern America if i recall it right. I thought Buckey and the Horse Chestnut youll find overhere is the same thing just a different word... so im slightly smarter now.
So what are your plans for the remaining 30'? Sawlog? I am not that familiar with chestnut oak or buckeyes, but Our horse chestnut have much larger leaves so I don't think it is that.
IMHO it is American Chestnut. While the larger trees were wiped out by Chestnut Blight, once the main stem dies, they continue to put up stump sprouts that occasionally can grow pretty tall. I have a dead snag in my backyard about 35 feet tall and about 5" in diameter. After it died (again) more stump sprouts emerged to keep this once great tree alive. I'm planning to cut the snag at some point and put it in the stove but just need to get around to it. Hopefully, over time, they start to develop a resistance to the blight and return again to their previous magestic status in the forest. Until then, the American Chestnut sprouts in the woods are a reminder not to screw with Mother Nature by moving pests/pathogens across the oceans.
So, I did not manage to get back out in the woods to recover the rest of the tree. It will have to sit there for another week or two until I have the time, but it's sure not going anywhere else. Yes it is an American Chestnut. When I was a kid, my father showed me the (live) tree and all of the little spiny tennis-ball sized nut husks that littered the ground. There were rarely any with nuts in them, the critters got to them first. Over the years, the blight finally affected not only the tree but must have affected the rootstock as well, as this used to have various small chestnuts growing around it until about 10-12 years ago. They are all dead now and nothing new has emerged in years. I did split a couple of the rounds open and they have the proper light brown color and grain, and riddled with the little wormholes that seem to be unique to the species. Based on the growth rings, it was only about a 30-40 year old tree when it died, certainly not a first-generation tree. I can only imagine the parent trees on the ridgeline 100+ years ago. I am going to bring the trunk home and suspend it from ropes in the rafters of my garage shop, it's my only good way of storing it. It was a surprise find for me so I will have to think of a purpose. Whatever it is, it won't be firewood. It's really nothing special in the big scheme of things, but it's the only one I have. It would make a great support column or stair newel, something like that.
Nice one! Incase youre into knives you should get someone to make you a fine blade with some of your american chestnut as handles.
