IS CHESTNUT SUITABLE FOR BODYWORK?
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Being a Cheaper Timber, Spanish Chestnut is Often Employed in Place of Oak in Body Construction.
By a Timber Salesman.
111HE all-metal body for commercial service has not _L yet come into general use, and in the opinion of some it is difficult to believe that it ever will. There must always be the difficulty of avoiding drumming under vibration, and this defect, no doubt, would increase with the age of the vehicle. Were the advantages of the all-metal body so great, surely it would have been generally adopted long ere this !
However, it is not my purpose here to compare the merits and demerits of either wooden or metal bodies. Timber is still the chief material used in constructing all commercial bodies, and, in an endeavour to help vehicle owners to obtain value for their money, it is about that most important material I am going to write.
There has lately been a noticeable tendency among bodybuilders to substitute Spanish, or sweet chestnut (not to be confused with horse chestnut) for oak in constructing the bodies of commercial vehicles, on the assumption that chestnut is suitable for all purposes where oak is generally used. Those about to have new vehicles should be wary of this, as, although chestnut is an excellent wood, quite capable of doing duty for oak in many ways, and was largely used in building the old horse-drawn vehicles, it is not suitable for the heavy strain and hard wear to which modern commercial vehicles are subjected. Strong enough for constructional purposes where it will be immobile, chestnut will often go to pieces when under vibration, especially when the wood Is dry.
Why a Certain Wood Will Become Plentiful, This wood is cheaper than oak, but it would hardly be fair to the motor bodybuilder to say that this is the sole reason why he is using it in place of oak. Often encountering considerable difficulty in obtaining :imitable stocks of wood, the motor bodybuilder is, after all, to a certain extent in the hands of the timber merchant, and is sometimes bound to succumb to the merchant's persuasions in the matter of purchasing. (All-metal advocates will probably grasp that statement as a strong argument against wood, but the same thing might easily happen in the metal trade.) No doubt the question of price has been a contributory_ cause of this substitution, but the reason why chestnut has again come into prominence (it was introduced as a substitute for oak many years ago) is probably due rather to the fact, well known in the timber trade, that different woods have their periods of fashion in much the same way as clothes, Where the " Paris " of these fashions is, and who starts them, nobody seems to know, but a timber merchant will awake one morning to find he has several calls from customers engaged in the same trade for one particular wood (usually one of which he has not much stock), and then will follow a period with the same wood in constant demand. After a time the demand will stop as suddenly as it started, leaving the merchant with, perhaps, huge stocks on hand of that particular wood. The result is that he, naturally, will try to push it on to his customers engaged in other trades. If they can be persuaded to accept it and find it has the advantage of being cheaper, it is likely to start a fashion for that wood in that particular trade. This may be the reason chestnut is now being introduced into the motor body trade as a substitute for oak.
Spanish chestnut is grown principally in Europe and North America. It grows abundantly in Great Britain, but the best chestnut comes from the forests of Germany. Of such value do the Germans consider this wood that a large part of the oak forests in Southern Germany have been replaced with chestnut. However, the Germans use it chiefly for purposes ollpr than motor body construction. No matter in which country it grows, it is extremely fastidious in its choice of soil and position. Given a deep sandy soil in a sheltered positibn it will produce the best timber of its kind. The timber from chestnut trees grown in high, exposed positions is usually twisted, making conversion very difficult. This variation of quality according to the place of growth also makes it extremely difficult to obtain supplies of chestnut of a standard grade.
Young Chestnut Wood the Better.
Unlike most other woods, chestnut possesses the uncommon characteristic of being more durable when young. That is to say, timber cut from a young tree will last for a greater time than that cut from an old tree. The older the tree the more shaky and brittle the wood becomes. This fact accoutits for the difficulty of obtaining wide boards perfectly sound, and is pxobably why chestnut does not command a better price.
Many years ago the American variety of chestnut
was introduced into this conntry as a substitute for oak, but was not a success. Whilst useful for small work, such as tool-handles, furniture, gate posts, ladders, etc., it was found to be much weaker than oak when put to any great "pulling" strain.
In appearance chestnut resembles oak in colour, grain and texture, the only difference being the absence of the medullary rays which are always to be found in oak. The "medullary ray" is that silver grain, easily seen when oak is quarter sawn. Apart from that difference, which would be noticed by only a few even among those who are continually handling and working timber, it is exceedingly difficult to discriminate between the two woods, and when chestnut is darkened by age or exposure it would take an expert to identify it from oak
One great advantage possessed by chestnut is that It shrinks and warps less than any other home-grown timber. Another is that it seems to be almost immune from disease. On the other hand, it is the most shaky of all English timbers, containing every kind of shake, and this is its fatal defect. (For the benefit of those who do not know, " shakes " is the trade term for those splits to be found more or less in all timber. The splits, or "shakes," are caused by the unequal contraction of the different parts of the wood, which is due to many causes.) This defect often results in serious loss when chestnut is being sawn to different sizes. It is said that north of London there is not one sound Spanish chestnut tree to he found in a hundred, and the trouble with this wood is that the shakes are not always apparent in the log. Frequently, boards and planks cut from a seemingly sound log have been known actually to fall to pieces. Shakes do not, of course, render timber entirely useless, and it is not suggested that every piece of chestnut contains shakes, but, nevertheless, chestnut gives the most trouble in this respect, and, for the framework of vehicles which are required to stand any amount of jolting and heavy strain, shaky timber is most undesirable—perhaps dangerous.
In any case, a body which in parts is constructed of chestnut in place of oak should be much cheaper to buy, although in the long run it would probably turn out to be false economy.