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.
- Cultivé et récolté en Europe.
- Groupe botanique. Les résineux sont des conifères, les feuillus sont des arbres à feuilles larges.
- Famille botanique à laquelle appartient l’essence.
Être informé du prochain arrivageEssence de référence. Aucun plateau en stock pour le moment.
Convient-il à votre projet ?
Idéal pour
- 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
Aucun plateau en Sweet Chestnut dans la sélection actuelle
Essences similaires en stock
Aucun plateau en Sweet Chestnut pour le moment. Ces essences conviennent aux mêmes projets et sont disponibles.
Soyez informé des arrivages en Sweet Chestnut
Nous vous envoyons un e-mail lorsque de nouveaux plateaux en Sweet Chestnut arrivent chez KORENA. Chaque plateau est unique, mieux vaut donc être prévenu rapidement.
Aspect du bois
Son aspect
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.
Travail du bois
Son travail en atelier
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.
Finition
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.
Séchage
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.
De combien va-t-il bouger ?
Le bois gonfle et se rétracte en largeur selon que l’air devient plus humide ou plus sec. Estimez le mouvement saisonnier d’un plateau en Sweet Chestnut avant de concevoir les fixations.
Mouvement saisonnier attendu
environ 7,7 mm
Fixez le plateau avec des taquets ou des équerres à trous oblongs, sans colle ni vis trop serrées.
Modèle de retrait linéaire : largeur × (retrait ÷ 28 % de point de saturation des fibres) × variation saisonnière d’humidité. Utilise un retrait tangentiel de 6,75 % pour le Sweet Chestnut. Il s’agit d’une estimation de conception, pas d’une garantie.
Son prix
Sécurité et origine
- Cultivé et récolté en Europe.
- Statut sur la Liste rouge de l’UICN : évaluation mondiale de la conservation de cette essence.
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.
Lire le guide completNotes détaillées sur la figure, l’évolution de la couleur, le travail et la stabilité.
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.
Questions des acheteurs
Questions fréquentes des acheteurs
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?
Propriétés mécaniques
Données techniques
Valeurs de référence publiées. Lorsque les sources divergent, la plage est indiquée et la valeur courante sert aux échelles ci-dessus.
| Densité (kg/m³)Masse par mètre cube à environ 12 % d’humidité. Un bois plus lourd est généralement plus dur et plus résistant. | 540–650 kg/m³valeur courante 590 kg/m³ |
|---|---|
| Dureté Janka (N)Force nécessaire pour enfoncer à moitié une bille d’acier dans le bois. Mesure standard de la résistance à l’enfoncement. | 2,700–3,300 Nvaleur courante 3 010 N |
| MOR : module de rupture (MPa)Résistance à la flexion : charge à laquelle une poutre casse. | 70–85 MPa |
| MOE : module d’élasticité (GPa)Rigidité en flexion : fléchissement d’une étagère ou d’un plateau sous une charge. | 8.0–10.0 GPa |
| Retrait radialRetrait perpendiculaire aux cernes, du bois vert au bois anhydre. Les planches sur quartier travaillent dans ce sens. | 3.5–4.5 % |
