100 year old fish
This piece of wormy chestnut is all that remained of a century old tree found on a forest floor in Madison County, North Carolina. Wormy chestnut is nearly extinct and so this piece is a commemoration to a dying breed.
Chestnuts that are infested (fear not — the original inhabitants have long since vacated the premises) go under stress and grow rapidly in those areas. This activity results in unusual and interesting grain patterns and shapes. In this case, the natural processes lent themselves to the undulating form that resembles the sea creature whose name it bears.
