There was a barn 40x60 put up in the walnut creek area of ohio back in the late 1990's that the Amish who put on my slate roof participated in. He said It was solid walnut and was proud to mention that they were able to cut up to 4 10x10"x 40' clear beams out of many of the trunks with very little white showing. When I said "yes but you could have sold the logs or lumber or veneer for a stunning price and purchased multiple x the material for the barn, he said "oh no, the 30 acres of walnut trees were planted over 70 or more years before and pruned to be high quality timber, so when we needed it for a barn, that's what God had intended"

Having missed my point, or I having missed his, more accurately, I nodded my head and dropped the subject.

On confusing American chestnut vs walnut: One chip with a pen knife would give a distinctive aroma on each...

Brad, that planer setup is super! What a nice product. Does that planer have straight blades or a Byrd Shellix head? Too bad it doesn't do all 4 sides at once.