Beech wood for stocks

[Robby]

No apology needed Gang, I've been watching American chestnut trees rise from the ground, reach the nut bearing stage, become blighted, and die, for most of my life. Its an ugly end for such a beautiful tree, but they keep coming up, keep trying and one day they will develop their own resistance to the blight.Never quit!!!
  I'll try to remember to take a camera with me on my next squirrel hunt and get a picture of those Beech trees that I believe contain good curl.
Robby

[Long John]

Gangreen,

Let me reiterate PLEASE do not cut down an American chestnut of that size!

An American chestnut of that size has lived its entire life exposed to the blight.  that means that it has some genetic resistance to the blight and its genetic heritage is desperately needed in the effort to restore the American Chestnut.  Please contact The American Chestnut Foundation (www.ACF.org) and notify them about the location of the tree.  They will send volunteers out to harvest pollen in June to be used in their breeding program.  They have invested the past 30 years in selectively breeding blight resistant chestnuts by crossing Asian strains with American.  If you have a native American Chestnut that is blight resistant it could make an important contribution to the restoration effort.

Best Regards,

John Cholin

[GANGGREEN]

Gangreen,

Let me reiterate PLEASE do not cut down an American chestnut of that size!

An American chestnut of that size has lived its entire life exposed to the blight.  that means that it has some genetic resistance to the blight and its genetic heritage is desperately needed in the effort to restore the American Chestnut.  Please contact The American Chestnut Foundation (www.ACF.org) and notify them about the location of the tree.  They will send volunteers out to harvest pollen in June to be used in their breeding program.  They have invested the past 30 years in selectively breeding blight resistant chestnuts by crossing Asian strains with American.  If you have a native American Chestnut that is blight resistant it could make an important contribution to the restoration effort.

Best Regards,

John Cholin

John, I've had the ACF out.  They've confirmed the ID of the tree, measured it, certified it as the second largest in the state (at that time, it may be the largest now), but they seemed completely uninterested in harvesting pollen or hand-pollinating the tree.  The tree is now dying of blight and quite frankly, it may be completely dead because I don't think it takes long once the symptoms appear.  I'm reasonably sure that the tree will not leaf out next spring and will be dead, dead, dead.  I assure you that this saddens nobody more than it does me.  I've been involved in wildlife conservation and habitat conservation for nearly 3 decades and I happen to love this tree and have spent many hours sitting under it contemplating life.  It's dead or dying and nothing can be done to save it.  At the very least, I'll benefit from the lumber and enjoy the furniture that comes with it for the rest of my life (at which point it will be passed on to my children and to their children for their enjoyment). 

[GANGGREEN]

I wouldn't want anyone to think that I'm foolish enough or greedy enough to harvest a large American chestnut tree that was healthy or that had any chance of survival.  When I purchased this property and found the tree, I had a secret hope that "my tree" was the one, the one living American chestnut that had an absolute resistance to the blight and that would become the savior of the species.  Well, sadly, it isn't to be.  I'm convinced that this tree was no more resistant to the blight than any other chestnut, it was simply isolated from other chestnuts and was never exposed to the blight....until now.

A few more photos.  The first shows me in my normal spot, thinking about the tree and its life.



The second photo shows me taping the tree at 20" DBH.  When the ACF and my local forester were out, they also measured the height of the tree.  I don't recall exactly but I think it was in the 90' range.



Sadly, time seems to get all of these old monarchs.  In addition to self-pruning, which really isn't that unusual even with a healthy chestnut, the tree's branches have all died back and the only remaining foliage is on suckers that were produced as the tree recognized that it was dying.



You can also see the bark starting to split and slough off the trunk in this photo.



At this point, the tree simply can't be saved and as I mentioned before, I'd be highly doubtful that it would even leaf out again next spring because of the advanced stages of blight.  It's become a matter of common sense.  I have the choice of allowing it to stand and possibly rot on the stump, or of harvesting it now and hopefully finding the lumber to be sound and of otherwise good quality.

[Robby]

I just can't justify putting $5000.00 worth of labor into a $50.00 piece of wood.

HAHAHA, Yeah I understand the sentiment Jerry and apply it myself in many circumstances, but there are times when the return on ones labor is far more rewarding than money, in ways that have no measure. You would, I think, understand that sentiment as well.
Robby

[Robby]

These are a couple of the Beech trees I was referring to, the third one I'm not sure whats going on with that one, maybe a birds eye type configuration.








Robby

[GANGGREEN]

Robby, I've seen those types of beech trees too and I'm curious what you'll find if you slab it out.  Please post photos.  As for the last photo, that's not going to be a birdseye grain, that's a disease that all American beech are now seeing and it will eventually kill the tree.  I'd be surprised if that tree has anything other than plain old, clear grain beech, but who knows, I'm certainly no expert (though I play one on TV). 

[James]

Regarding looking under the bark for sign of curl:  welts are a sign, but the photo shows the inner bark of an ash that was curly.  This is also how the inner bark looks on curly maple, both Acer saccharum  (sugar) and A. rubrum (red).  There is no need to peel to the cambium.  This is less intrusive and still gives a yes or no answer to the presence of curl.
 



This is the wood of the same ash.  Sadly had snapped off before I found it.

[rich pierce]

Never seen a beech tree like that in all my days wandering the woods.  Wow!