Chestnut Wood Pale Fence

Right after oak and robinia, the French sweet chestnut is one of the best weather resistant Central European woods. Sweet chestnut wood is used wherever wood is exposed to weather. On the beach, it's used to secure the dunes and in the mountains to shore up trails against landslides. We offer a simple pale fence made of sweet chestnut, which will hold up in an untreated state for 15 to 25 years thanks to the natural tannin in the wood. The pales have been split by hand, stripped of their bark and sharpened to a point at one end. At intervals of 6 cm, they are bound with galvanised wire loops. The fence is fastened with wire to posts made of wood, steel or concrete which are driven in the ground 120 to 150 cm from each other.

Weather resistant native woods like oak, chestnut and robinia contain tannin. When exposed to water (like rain) this acid can wash out as a sort of "brown juice", causing stains on surrounding surfaces or construction parts. This reaction increases in contact with iron and alkaline materials like household cleaners or calcium. The best way to avoid this is to apply constructive wood preservation; a coat of paint will hardly help. It is also advisable when transporting and storing the fence that the pales are well covered or stored on surfaces that can't be damaged.