reclaiming Chestnut

[Godet]

My new neighbors are gutting their house...I took the morning off from work to scavenge some moulding and baseboards, which are a perfect match with my house. The moulding is almost certainly Chestnut. While some of it will go into my home restoration, some of it will be used for furniture (including some type of gift for this family who is really cool to let me scavenge like this). Can anyone offer advice on how to work with this wood? Its in quite good shape but seems especially dry. The houses are on block were built in the 1920s and the wood has been covered with various stains, varnishes, and paint. Obviously, the Chestnut is especially precious and I don't want to screw it up. The general plan is to strip it down, sand it, and then see what I'm working with.

[bywc]

invest in a hand held metal detector can get one from HF for about 20 bucks the money you will save on not hitting old nails/screws that are embedded in the wood with your tools the 20 bucks will pay for itself the first few pieces of metal you find. Other than that the plan of striping it down, sanding it then seeing what your working with is the way to do it congrats on the find!

[joestyles]

I do a lot of reclaiming of woods. The place it has lived for the last 90 years was likely fairly dry is your shop? If not take care to allow the wood time to absorb moisture in it's new environment. Also take care to look for any rot and get rid of those pieces. Pieces from kitchens and baths sometimes have this type of thing. As for working with the wood I have found with really old wood that is very dry it can have a tendency to shatter when it is worked by power tools like a jointer or planer when it is still very dry. Experiment with some pieces if you can and be careful.