Too often chestnut wood (Castanea sativa Mill.) becomes economically uninteresting because of the high risk of ring shake to which this species is prone. For more than twenty years chestnut ring shake has been the subject of studies undertaken in an effort to understand its underlying causes and mechanisms. Since not all aspects of the phenomenon have been sufficiently studied at the present time, ring shake has not yet been completely elucidated. However, it is possible to outline a general framework of the phenomenon and advance preliminary ideas on the causes that contribute to the development of this type of fracture. This article summarises the current state of knowledge, discusses the possible causes and proposes measures to reduce the risk of ring shake occurrence in chestnut.