If you need a good type of wood to use for construction purposes, there are many different options at your disposal. One type of wood that many North Americans enjoy using for a variety of purposes is chestnut. This is known for being a fairly durable and resistant type of wood. However, today we want to take a closer look at chestnut to figure out how strong it really is.
There are a variety of factors that we will examine to determine just how strong this material is. Let’s get to it and figure out whether chestnut is a type of wood that you want to use.
Is Chestnut a Hardwood or a Softwood?
The chestnut tree is a deciduous angiosperm. In simplest terms, this means that it is a flowering tree that produces flowers, or in this case nuts, and it loses its leaves during the colder seasons.
Yes, the chestnut tree is technically a hardwood tree, although it is not the hardest in the world. As far as hardwoods go, it is pretty moderate in terms of hardness and overall durability. Let’s move on and figure out just how strong chestnut is based on five main factors.
Chestnut Wood Strength: All You Need to Know
There are actually three different types of chestnut that are commonly found and used in North America, so we’ll be taking a closer look at all of them.
There is the sweet chestnut tree, the American chestnut tree, and the horse chestnut tree.
To be able to determine exactly how strong chestnut wood is, there are five main factors that we need to consider. These include the compressive strength, bending strength, stiffness, hardness, and density of the wood.
Compressive Strength
Let’s now take a look at the compressive strength of all three types of chestnut tree:
- Sweet Chestnut – 6,360 lbf/in2 (43.8 MPa)
- American Chestnut – 5,320 lbf/in2 (36.7 MPa)
- Horse Chestnut – 5,460 lbf/in2 (43.8 MPa)
As you can see, the sweet chestnut tree has the highest compressive strength, whereas the American chestnut tree has the lowest. Generally speaking, this is on par or higher than most types of softwood, although fairly low as far as most hardwoods go.
There are many types of wood, including merbau, olivewood, ebony, hickory, and ironwood, that all have higher compressive strengths.
The compressive strength of wood is also known as the crushing strength. This is in reference to how much weight wood can take parallel to the grain. For example, imagine a table with the legs standing up vertically. How much weight could you pile onto the table before the legs buckle and give out sideways?
Bending Strength
let’s now take a look at the bending strength of all three types of chestnut tree:
- Sweet Chestnut – 10,360 lbf/in2 (71.4 MPa)
- American Chestnut – 8,600 lbf/in2 (59.3 MPa)
- Horse Chestnut – 9,790 lbf/in2 (67.5 MPa)
As you can see, the sweet chestnut features the highest bending strength, whereas the American chestnut features the lowest.
In terms of comparison to softwood, the bending strength of most types of chestnut is higher, and about on par or maybe a bit lower than most types of hardwood. There are many types of hardwood that feature much higher bending strengths including ironwood, hickory, merbau, and more.
The bending strength of wood may also be referred to as the modulus of rupture. This refers to how much weight a piece of wood can handle perpendicular to its grain. To visualize, imagine that same table from the last example turned on its side.
Imagine that the table legs stick out horizontally without any kind of support from the bottom. How much weight could you place on top of those table legs before they snap?
Stiffness
let’s take a look at how stiff all three types of chestnut are:
- Sweet Chestnut – 1,248,000 lbf/in2 (8.61 GPa)
- American Chestnut – 1,230,000 lbf/in2 (8.48 GPa)
- Horse Chestnut – 1,2036000 lbf/in2 (7.15 GPa)
Of all chestnut types, sweet chestnut is the stiffest and horse chestnut the least. When compared to other types of hardwood, this is pretty moderate or slightly on the lower end of the spectrum, whereas it is on par or higher than most types of softwood.
The stiffness of wood is also known as the modulus of elasticity. This is all about how much weight a piece of wood can take in its center before it begins to sag or bend. Imagine that same table we talked about above.
If you were to stand on that table, how much would you have to weigh to make the surface start to bend, sag, or even snap underneath your weight?
Hardness
Let’s now take a look at how hard all three varieties of chestnut are:
- Sweet Chestnut – 680 lbf
- American Chestnut – 540 lbf
- Horse Chestnut – 820 lbf
Horse chestnut is the hardest of all, whereas American chestnut is the softest. In terms of overall hardness, chestnut is not very hard. It is a type of hardwood, although it is on par or maybe just slightly higher than most types of softwood, and it’s not quite as hard as most hardwoods.
The hardness of wood simply refers to how hard the surface is. How much force would it take to scratch or dent a certain piece of wood? This is generally measured on the Janka hardness scale.
Density
Let’s now determine how dense or heavy all three types of chestnut tree are:
- Sweet Chestnut – 37 lbs/ft3 (590 kg/m3)
- American Chestnut – 30 lbs/ft3 (480 kg/m3)
- Horse Chestnut – 31 lbs/ft3 (500 kg/m3)
Sweet chestnut is the heaviest of all types, whereas American chestnut is the lightest. In the grand scheme of things, chestnut tends to be heavier than most types of softwood, but lighter or about on par with most types of hardwood.
The density of wood refers to how heavy it is based on a specific size or area, which is usually measured in pounds per cubic foot or kilograms per cubic meter.
Is Chestnut Wood Strong?
At the end of the day, chestnut wood is fairly strong. It works well for furniture and basic construction purposes. It’s much harder and stronger than the vast majority of softwoods out there, and about on par, or maybe slightly lower down on the scale than most types of hardwood. Overall, chestnut is strong, but not overly so.
Summary
If you are looking for a good type of wood to use for basic construction purposes, indoor furniture, cabinets, shelving, and decorative pieces, then chestnut is certainly a good option to keep in mind.