Chestnut is a moderately soft and lightweight wood, with good strength to weight. It has a straight grain, which makes it good for bending, and it splits readily along its length. While this can make it tricky to work with in some ways, it is used as an efficient way to make exterior cladding, such as shingles, shakes and siding, and fencing. Coppiced chestnut grows relatively quickly and produces a very good timber for cleaving. Similar to oak, it has the potential to damage metals (like screws, nails and hardware) in damp or humid conditions.

American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was almost completely wiped out by blight (bark fungus) in 1900s, and means it is hard to come by in US where it was once a popular timber. Wormy chestnut comes from old tress left standing, or reclaimed timber, damaged by insects. It tends to already be dark brown in appearance and covered with insect damage.

The Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), which grows across Europe, was less affected and remains available as a timber for interior and exterior projects. Asiatic chestnuts, such as the Japanese (Castanea crenata) and Chinese (Castanea mollissima) species have inherent resistance to the fungus. They are being planted as timber trees in Asia and elsewhere.