Here's some wood most of us will never see, let alone turn! Thanks Bob Rotche!

[Tim Rinehart]

This is a truly rare piece of wood most of us will never get to work with, American Chestnut. Bob Rotche and I were at the John Campbell Folk School in March and did a wood exchange...this was a rare surprise. Bob knows a guy, who knows a guy, who knows a guy at UV where they are working on getting hearty strains enabled to reforest this lost wood. (actually...I think Bob just knows "the guy"). Occasionally, he gets a chunk or two, and generously gave me a piece. Finish is antique oil, hand rubbed only. About 5.5" diameter and 4" tall.
Rotche_Chestnut_1K.jpgRotche_Chestnuta_1K.jpgRotche_Chestnutb_1K_exp.jpg

[Bob Rotche]

Great job, Tim! I wish mine would come out so well- I keep having trouble with this wood cracking on me. The soft finish is perfect for the sort of rustic nature of the wood. Well done. Its interesting that when you know what to look for, you can see a fair amount of American Chestnut sprouting from dead stumps in the woods around here in Virginia. Problem is the chestnut blight gets them by the time they get more than a few inches in diameter. Its very rare to get a tree to this degree of maturity (over a foot in diameter)

[charlie knighton]

very nice, hope in my lifetime that the issues can be resolved

[Jim Burr]

Good lookin' HF Tim...Hide that before the forest service sees it!!

[Steve Busey]

Looks nice - had a friend give me a small stick of AC - made him a shop pencil out of it. It was very dry and soft, generated a lot of fine dust. Hope your bowl blank was a bit more solid!

[Tim Rinehart]

As to how this wood turns...great. I roughed it out a few months ago, and even dry it was a good wood to turn.

[Kathy Marshall]

That looks great Tim! I like the form and there's alot going on with the wood. I also like the soft finish on this piece.

[Michelle Rich]

lovely..the soft finish looks great on this "rustic" piece

[Dave Ogren]

There are the original Chestnut logs on the Blue Ridge Parkway about 20 miles north of Asheville, NC, I have not seen them but a friend said he will take me there they are about 36" dia. and not rotten ??
The American Chestnut Foundation is headed up by Forest McGreagor and is located on the Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC They are grafting the chestnut to, I believe, Chinese Elm, this has been going on for more that 15 years. When they get down to only about 10% chinese elm they will be blight free and ready to release to the public.
That time is coming up soon. There is a lot information on the internet.

Good Luck,

Dave

[Tim Rinehart]

Pretty cool info Dave, I'll have to look into.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Good looking HF out of some beautiful wood.