Air dried, machine profiled, finger jointed, PEFC Sweet Chestnut Cladding
It is quite a mouthful isn’t it?
Well, this is a cladding with a big name and an even bigger reputation and no mistake!
It’s not new but it’s been on the side lines for a while, coming in behind our beloved Oak in the popularity stakes on a regular basis but now it seems our little friend Castanea Sativa has been catching up, making a bit of ground on good old Oak.
And we don’t think it’s just a fad either.
Here Tom’s giving us the benefit of his half forestry / half timber knowledge explaining the uses and benefits of castanea sativa… Sweet Chestnut.
Search the stock for Chestnut – https://bit.ly/ChestnutStock
MORE
Read more about Sweet Chestnut as a species
Not had enough Chestnut yet? Here are some more blog posts and if you’re a timber cladding fan you have to read the Lattice cladding post 🙂
#chestnut #sweetchestnut #coppiceproducts #britishtimber #homegrown #growninbritain #sustainabletimber #passivhaus #timbercladding #solidwoodfloor #hardwoodsuplier #cabinetmaking #furnituremaking #woodworking #timbersupplier #makewithwood #designwithwood
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A tree on the side of a hill gets felled one day, after getting cleaned up the log it produces travels a mile or so on the back of a trailer to the saw, it gets sawn the next day, it gets put back on the trailer the day after that and gets dropped about 3 miles down the road to our sawmill.
After all that work someone probably comes along 6 months later and plants another tree… either that or the one taken out was a thinning – meant to allow more space for the next generation of trees to grow up and out.
If you buy our fresh sawn Douglas Fir that’s what happens. Does a building material get more sustainable than that?
The story of fresh sawn cladding timber is centuries old. It’s about the simple life, it’s about using the materials at hand to create shelter from the elements, creating a home.
But that doesn’t mean it precludes innovation. In fact, fresh sawn timber allows for innovation on a budget. If shrinkage, movement, limitations of machining wet timber, available species and sources are taken into consideration in cladding design and detailing there are 100’s of ways to use fresh sawn cladding. This project, for example, could work very nicely http://bit.ly/chestnutlatticecladding
If you need a traditional or an economical timber cladding offers a short lead time, an easy and speedy fix and a long lasting finish that will mature with age, the fresh sawn option is no brainer!
Use the links in our menu at the top of the page to explore the air dried STOCK or to GET A QUOTE
Read about timber grades & species in Making the Grade
Or for more about certified timber Grown in Britain, FSC & PEFC
Get more timber cladding information HERE
Read about Chestnut Lattice Timber Cladding http://bit.ly/chestnutlatticecladding
Read about Western Red Cedar Cladding https://www.englishwoodlandstimber.co.uk/fresh-sawn-western-red-cedar-cladding/
Read about Finger Jointed Chestnut Cladding https://www.englishwoodlandstimber.co.uk/sweet-chestnut-timber-cladding/
Read about Cladding & Tannin https://www.englishwoodlandstimber.co.uk/talk-tannin-oak-chestnut-cladding-beam/
Read about Larch Cladding https://www.englishwoodlandstimber.co.uk/fresh-sawn-larch-cladding/
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The grade of timber used for cladding is generally high. Partly because of the raised expectations for the appearance of smooth machined profiled cladding, but mainly because the spec (thickness x width) of the cutting requires fewer/smaller knots, tighter/straighter grain and less sap than for thicker spec sections.
External timber cladding has a significant job to do, it is not weatherproof but is the weathering layer of the building, along with the roof covering, and as such the timber needs to be of sufficient quality and grade.
Our air dried cladding timber is the same timber that will be used for decking and joinery… at the moment we machine all of our cladding to order… and, if it isn’t used before it is a few years air dried then, in time it will probably end up being kilned and will become furniture or flooring, or kitchens or another internal use for the high quality timber.
Finger jointed machined profiled boards are an alternative to solid timber cladding profiles we offer.
They’re an attractive and economical option. We’re big fans of the Sweet Chestnut finger jointed cladding because we’re foresters at heart and we know that this material has a sustainable origin** and produces an excellent spec of long lengths that look beautiful and can make installation super fast (fewer pieces to cover an area), even if it is a bit more tricky to transport!
Use the links in our menu at the top of the page to explore the air dried STOCK or to GET A QUOTE
Read about timber grades & species in Making the Grade
Or for more about certified timber Grown in Britain, FSC & PEFC
Get more timber cladding information HERE
Read about Chestnut Lattice Timber Cladding http://bit.ly/chestnutlatticecladding
Read about Western Red Cedar Cladding https://www.englishwoodlandstimber.co.uk/fresh-sawn-western-red-cedar-cladding/
Read about Finger Jointed Chestnut Cladding https://www.englishwoodlandstimber.co.uk/sweet-chestnut-timber-cladding/
Read about Cladding & Tannin https://www.englishwoodlandstimber.co.uk/talk-tannin-oak-chestnut-cladding-beam/
Read about Larch Cladding https://www.englishwoodlandstimber.co.uk/fresh-sawn-larch-cladding/
For more about coppicing visit the National Coppice Federation website.
Read more about Sweet Chestnut HERE
*We talk a lot about machining the timber cladding but it is possible to use the same air dried timber in it’s sawn profile for an alternative, more textured finish without the issues of shrinkage and movement – see our case study no 1 for an example of sawn air dried square edge boards use as vertical ‘board on board’ cladding.
** The finger jointing process can utilise small section Chestnut that can be supplied from coppiced woodlands… one of our favourite woodland management activities!
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Our favourite thing about Sweet Chestnut has to be the coppicing, the traditional woodland products and the oldschool woodland worker way of life… but having said that Chestnuts do grow into giants if left un-coppiced and the gargantuan waney edge boards from those trees are quite awe inspiring. Maybe we like Boards best… ?
Sweet Chestnut or Castanea Sativa, sativa meaning cultivated by humans, probably because the nuts (Chestnuts!) are edible (if cooked properly!) It’s the same species as the European Chestnut, the Spanish Chestnut or otherwise know as just plain old Chestnut, but also Marron.
It’s true that when it’s fresh sawn Chestnut’s hard to tell from Oak. It has a similar colour , maybe due to the Tannin content (like Oak) but when it dries it’s quite different. You wouldn’t normally have trouble telling the two apart.
Dry, the colour is creamier than Oak, with sometimes contrasting brown streaks than you wouldn’t see in Oak (unless it’s Brown or Tiger Oak of course) and sometime some strong yellow colour (that old devil called tannin again).
The grain pattern is actually a real feature, it’s open, fairly coarse, great for wide expanses on tables or worktops, a bit like Ash or Elm in that way, however it still has a fairly dense grain and with that Tannin content it has inherent durability, great for outdoor tables then!
Chestnut from coppiced woodlands is also fantastic for traditional riving as it’s naturally inclined to split down the grain. It makes laths, staves, battens, hurdles, pales, rails, shakes, and all the things you can make with those things.
It’s strong and durable so it’s great for cladding, for decking, really good for groundworks, for fencing other landscaping work. It maybe not so great not as heavy structural framing timber, unless you’re making a round timber frame and then it’s an exciting prospect!
Like other fresh sawn products, Chestnut will take a finish when it’s surface dry if you want to stop the weathering and silvering process, otherwise it will grey down over time and doesn’t need any preservative treatment.
When it’s dry and machined Chestnut will take finishes as any other hardwood, although it’s always worth checking your finishes are compatible with the Tannin in Chestnut and that your product doesn’t contain strong alkali (eg. ammonia) which will react with Tannin and darken the colour.
Mechanical Strength: 80% that of Oak
Durability: Durable
Treatability: Extremely difficult apart from sapwood
Moisture movement: Small
Texture: Medium
Density (Kg/m3): 560
PRIME (Grade 1)
The following are the properties that are allowed or permitted within Prime grade Sweet Chestnut:
Fully and partly inter-grown knots: one ≤20mm diameter or several smaller up to a combined diameter of 20mm
Non inter-grown knots and rotten knots: occasional if measured-out
Checks: occasional surface + occasional splits in sound knots permitted
Shake: no
Colour: none specified, but surface stains are not generally regarded as a defect providing that they do not penetrate into the timber. Stick-marks and other penetrating stains are not permitted
Grain: straight or nearly straight + wavy-grain is accepted providing that it can be regarded as a special decorative feature that will not limit the performance of the piece in its intended use.
Bark: no
Rot / insect attack: no
Warp: none specified
Wane: none specified
Sapwood: should be excluded if used externally
BOULES logs cut and dried for use range from 450 – 1000mm diameter and 3-6m in length, cut into thicknesses 27,34,41,54,65,80,100mm. See stocklist
BOARDS in waney edge are available in the same thicknesses as BOULES (of course!) in varying widths up to 1.0m and lengths up to 6.0m. See stocklist
STRUCTURAL fresh sawn timber is customer cut and is available in similar sections to Oak, up to 300mm section dims and up to 6.0m lengths. Rounds for framing are usually not as large as square section equivalents and are not too difficult to find in local woodlands.
CLADDING, DECKING & FLOORING Chestnut all comes from the same stock as above and is available to order in standard sizes and some not so standard!
Fresh sawn chestnut is good for structural work, cladding and external landscaping , used in the sawn situations you would use fresh sawn Oak.
Dry, Chestnut is good for most joinery or furniture work.
It is very popular for external cladding in air dried, machined profiles, partly because of it’s eco credentials (use of small growth logs therefore very sustainable source) and partly because of the finger jointing option which means you get really long lengths (6.1M). It’s superb for flooring – have you seen our office lately?! The colouring is very mellow and rich, creams and browns giving a significant difference in aesthetics when compared with the softwood alternatives.
At the moment we keep Chestnut stock in air dried BOULES, kiln dried waney edge BOARDS and in hand riven laths for plastering. Fresh sawn Chestnut for CLADDING & STRUCTURAL work.
Chestnut CLADDING blog post Sweet Home Chestnut Cladding
See our finger jointed Sweet Chestnut Cladding info
Find more Wood Species data on TRADA’s website
Both of these popular timber species have high levels of Tannic acid (it’s actually Quertannic acid but let’s call it Tannin for short). In fact, most tree and plant species contain tannin in varying levels and strengths. We’re mostly concerned with Oak and Chestnut because these two beloved timber species have high levels of tannin and we use them for just about everything. (more…)
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