Family Name: Castanea dentata of the Family Fagaceae.
Common Names: American chestnut, chestnut, wormy chestnut
Height/Weight: The average height for American chestnut is 100 feet tall. The average weight is 30 pounds per cubic foot, with a specific gravity of 0.48.
Properties: Wormy chestnut has a low bending strength and a medium crushing strength. The heartwood is durable; however, the sapwood is susceptible to attack by the powder post beetle and common furniture beetle. The wood is easy to work with both hand and machine tools, and nails and glues well. It is liable to stain blue when in contact with metals.
In Fall 2004, Volume 18 Issue 2 of TACF Journal
This presentation was put together by Lee Stover, retired faculty of wood products at Penn State. The material here covers the basics necessary to begin identifying wood samples, especially toward the end of identifying chestnut and those most often mistaken for chestnut.
Every year, US Citizens can have their wood identified by the US Forest Service's Center for Wood Anatomy Research. Follow this link to learn more about the program and how to properly prepare a sample for proper ID.
A kit to start learning about wood identification
