Castanea sativa
Sweet Chestnut
A lighter, softer cousin of oak. Tannin-rich heartwood gives it real durability outdoors, but those same tannins react with iron, so fixings need to be stainless or brass.
- Cultivada y aprovechada en Europa.
- Grupo botánico. Las maderas blandas proceden de coníferas y las duras, de árboles frondosos.
- Familia botánica a la que pertenece la especie.
Avísame cuando llegueEspecie de referencia. Ahora mismo no hay piezas en stock.
¿Es adecuada para tu proyecto?
Ideal para
- External cladding and rainscreens
- Interior wall and ceiling panelling
- Barn-style and rustic furniture frames
- Garden furniture and pergolas
- Coopered tanks, vats, and planters
- Beams and exposed structural framing
No hay Sweet Chestnut en la selección actual
Especies similares en stock
Ahora mismo no hay Sweet Chestnut. Estas especies sirven para los mismos proyectos y tienen piezas disponibles.
Recibe avisos sobre Sweet Chestnut
Te enviamos un correo cuando lleguen a KORENA nuevas tablas de Sweet Chestnut. Cada pieza es única, por lo que conviene enterarse pronto.
Aspecto de la madera
Qué aspecto tiene
Straight-grained and coarse-textured, with prominent ring-porous figure that reads as oak at a glance. Heartwood is a warm honey-brown that ambers with age; sapwood is a narrow pale band. Lacks oak's strong medullary rays, so quartersawn faces are calmer and less flecked.
- Heartwood: warm honey to mid-brown, ambers with age
- Sapwood: narrow, pale cream to light straw
- Fumed: deep chocolate to near-black with ammonia
- Oiled: pulls warmer and slightly redder than oak
- Weathered outdoors: silver-grey patina within 1–2 seasons
- Straight grain, coarse texture; resembles oak.
Cómo trabajarla
Cómo trabajarla
Saws and planes well with sharp tooling. Softer than oak, so it dents more easily but is also kinder on edges. Splits readily when screwed near ends or edges, pre-drill and countersink. Glues and steam-bends predictably. Turning is workable but the coarse grain can tear on end-grain cuts.
Acabado
Takes oil, hardwax, and water-based finishes cleanly. Open pores benefit from a grain filler if you want a glass-flat surface, or leave them open for a tactile, oak-like read. Fuming with ammonia darkens it deeply thanks to the high tannin content. Test stains on offcuts, tannins can pull cool tones grey.
Secado
Dries slowly and is prone to ring shake and honeycomb if pushed. Air-dry to around 25–30% MC before kilning, then run a gentle schedule. Movement in service is moderate, tangential shrinkage near 7% means wide boards want room to move in panels and tabletops.
¿Cuánto se moverá?
La madera se hincha y se contrae a lo ancho cuando el aire gana o pierde humedad. Calcula el movimiento estacional de un tablero de Sweet Chestnut antes de diseñar las fijaciones.
Movimiento estacional previsto
unos 7,7 mm
Fija el tablero con lengüetas o soportes ranurados, no con cola ni tornillos apretados.
Modelo de contracción lineal: ancho × (contracción ÷ 28 % de saturación de la fibra) × variación estacional de humedad. Usa una contracción tangencial del 6,75 % para Sweet Chestnut. Es una estimación para planificar, no una garantía.
Cuánto cuesta
Seguridad y abastecimiento
- Cultivada y aprovechada en Europa.
- Estado en la Lista Roja de la UICN: evaluación mundial de conservación de esta especie.
Dust is a reported skin and respiratory sensitiser, extract at source and wear a fitted mask when sanding or routing. Heartwood is rated food-contact safe once finished. Critical detail: chestnut tannins react with iron and produce black staining wherever the two meet in the presence of moisture. Use stainless steel or brass fixings, and keep iron tooling off damp stock.
Leer la guía completaNotas detalladas sobre el dibujo, el cambio de color, el trabajo y la estabilidad.
What Sweet Chestnut actually is#
Castanea sativa is often sold as the light alternative to oak, and for appearance and durability that description holds. It is ring porous with a similar grain pattern, it carries a similar warm brown colour, and at decay class 2 it is genuinely durable outdoors.
Where the comparison breaks down is hardness. At 3,010 N Janka chestnut is the softest hardwood in this catalogue apart from black poplar, softer than Scots Pine and less than two thirds as hard as oak. Anyone expecting oak-like wear resistance from an oak-like appearance will be disappointed.
The other difference is visible: chestnut lacks oak's prominent rays, so a quartersawn chestnut board shows no ray fleck.
Ring shake, which is the thing to inspect for#
Chestnut is notably prone to ring shake, a separation along a growth ring inside the log.
The problem is that it frequently does not show on a rough sawn face. A board looks sound, gets machined, and the shake opens into a crescent shaped split that follows the ring and effectively ruins it.
This is the main reason chestnut yields far less usable timber than the abundance of the tree suggests, and it is the main reason to look carefully rather than quickly at a chestnut slab. Check end grain for any ring separation, and look along the length in raking light for a crescent line.
Preguntas de compradores
Preguntas de compradores
How is Sweet Chestnut different from oak?
It looks similar and is durable like oak, but it is much lighter and softer at 590 kg per cubic metre and 3,010 N Janka against 675 and 4,980 for European oak. Chestnut also lacks the prominent rays, so it has no ray fleck on quartersawn faces. It is often described as oak without the weight, which is fair for appearance and durability but not for hardness.
What is ring shake and why does it matter in chestnut?
A separation along a growth ring inside the log, which chestnut is particularly prone to. It may be invisible on a rough sawn surface and open up after machining, effectively ruining a board. It is the main reason chestnut yields less usable timber than its abundance suggests, and the main thing to inspect for when buying.
Can it be used outdoors?
Yes. At decay class 2 it is durable, and its high tannin content gives real resistance to rot. Chestnut has been the traditional European timber for fencing, cladding, shingles and outdoor structures for centuries, and coppiced chestnut fence posts are still a standard product.
Does it stain black like oak?
Propiedades mecánicas
Datos técnicos
Valores de referencia publicados. Cuando las fuentes discrepan, se muestra el intervalo y se usa el valor habitual en las escalas anteriores.
| Densidad (kg/m³)Masa por metro cúbico con aproximadamente un 12 % de humedad. La madera más pesada suele ser más dura y resistente. | 540–650 kg/m³habitual: 590 kg/m³ |
|---|---|
| Dureza Janka (N)Fuerza necesaria para hundir una bola de acero hasta la mitad en la madera. Es la medida estándar de resistencia a las abolladuras. | 2,700–3,300 Nhabitual: 3010 N |
| MOR: módulo de rotura (MPa)Resistencia a la flexión: la carga a la que se rompe una viga. | 70–85 MPa |
| MOE: módulo de elasticidad (GPa)Rigidez a la flexión: cuánto se comba un estante o tablero bajo carga. | 8.0–10.0 GPa |
| Contracción radialContracción perpendicular a los anillos de crecimiento, desde verde hasta completamente seca. Es la que afecta a las tablas aserradas radialmente. | 3.5–4.5 % |
