this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2025
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[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 62 points 5 days ago (19 children)

Woodworking: An entire log of American Chestnut.

About a century ago, the species was all but wiped out by a blight that came from Japanese chestnut. Some three billion trees died. The blight actually survives in the forest living on but not damaging oak trees, so American chestnuts are struggling to reclaim their historic habitats. The species is critically endangered and efforts to rehabilitate the population are underway, including trying to breed large surviving individuals or to genetically engineer blight resistant trees. Logging is of course completely out of the question.

American Chestnut is an excellent lumber, with many of the properties of white oak in a faster growing tree. It is straight grained, hard and strong, easy to saw and split, rot resistant due to tannins. A fantastic choice for indoor and outdoor furniture, structural timber, even telephone poles. Reclaimed chestnut timber from old buildings is highly prized, and what woodworker wouldn't love access to a few hundred board feet of freshly kiln dried American chestnut...if it was possible to ethically source.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 20 points 4 days ago (9 children)

A couple more things about American Chestnuts:

-Chestnut forests used to cover a shitton of the northeast before being reduced to basically nothing

-"Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire" is about the tradition of eating American Chestnuts in the winter...

-... Because for some, it was a treat. And for others, it was practically a staple food! They were an extremely abundant resource

-Seriously, look at the size of the original American Chestnut forest:

[–] prex@aussie.zone 3 points 4 days ago (2 children)

What is growing there now? It sounds like a pretty shitty situation.

The surviving forests are often oak, hickory, ash, pine. A different blight is working its way through the Eastern Hemlock, which are truly the giant sequoias of the East. Humongous old trees.

Also, corn, wheat, rice, tobacco, towns, cities, suburbs. Probably a third of the US population lives in that green area, to include Washington DC, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Altoona, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Memphis, Charlotte, Asheville, Atlanta...looks like it misses Colombia and just barely grazes Raleigh.

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