Over last summer I spent a couple months cutting maple for shafts. While on one of my scouting trips, I came across a log that was sunken deep into the ground but I noticed that the exposed cap was figured. I knew right away that it was chestnut oak (a white oak) because the stuff simply won't rot away. After cleaning it up and milling, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was heavily curled and absolutely no deterioration aside from bug holes. I retrieved a couple hundred bf from that log. Turned most of it into my new bathroom vanity, gave a table slab to a family woodworker, and turned some leftovers into cue woods. Still have a few slabs yet. Might cut them into cue squares, might not. Considering there were remnants of a fence in the tree, and the family has never put fence up on that ridge, the tree is from around WWI when the army "borrowed" the property by imminent domain for use as an artillery range and this tree was on the edge of the range. None of the family elders even knew there was a fence up there. My uncle said he's been hunting that ridge for 70yrs & there had never been a fence there. Makes this log pretty old.
Here's a forearm/butt set I made so far. The color is bleached out by the flash. The wood is naturally a little darker than the pic shows. Best part is that it smells like bourbon when working! Not sure about the "great playability". It's a very hard wood, stiff, strong, but lacking in the tonal dept. Time will tell
