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White Ash for stickers?

Started by Stan P, March 19, 2006, 02:02:37 PM

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Stan P

hello everyone,

First, thanks to the Captain for sorting us out with the new mill yesterday. We learned a lot and are about ready to start our first project.

  I just dropped a white ash that had died last year.   Unfortunately about everyone I have had has slowly died the last 10 years. 

  The bottom 80% of this tree looks to be solid, although even at the base there is evidence at the stump the tree was sick. 

  Can I use this for lumber?  If so what would be a good use. 

  I was hoping to at least be able to use it in 1 by 1s for stickers for red oak boards.  The tree is already pretty dry.  Should that be OK.   I have used most of the ash as firewood.   Splits like a dream.

thank you all for your advice.

Stan

Tom

That stuff makes excellant baseball bats and tool handles.  I've seen panels for cabinet doors made from it. You really have to like blonde wood.   I'll bet it makes good cutting boards too.

Part_Timer

I've seen it used for doors, flooring, stud material,workbenches, and I have used it for hope chests.

I have about 150 stickers that are made out of it also. 

Congrats on the new mill.

Tom
Peterson 8" ATS.
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

Daren



I use ash alot for projects, here is a little ash/walnut kitchen work island. I have made several just from ash alone, I just didn't have any pictures handy. I would rather use ash than oak in most cases, unless I am doing something that is traditionally made from oak and should be.
Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

HARLEYRIDER

Being in the wood flooring trade, its often said "there's nothing like a nice piece of ash".  :D
Ash is lighter in color than oak, but has simular grain and look as oak. Makes a nice light-tone floor...if thats what your looking for.
I should've loaned you my moisture meter, so you know what you have.
Greenwoods Timberworks

Stan P

thanks Parttimer.   thank you both for the pics.   Good stuff.  you know something has been killing all the white ash in this area.  I just need to figure out is the wood is usable since it is somehow diseased. 

Ron Wenrich

We sell ash to a local company that uses it for butcherblock countertops.  I've also seen it marketed as "golden oak" as flooring by a local company.  It has been used in furniture, and there is a pretty good veneer market for ones that have a lot of whitewood.

I think there's a batch of anthracnose that's killing the ash, as well as ash decline.  The lumber is OK, but, if you don't get to it soon enough, it will turn brown, have bugs and be kinda brashy.  It takes a few years of standing dead to get to that stage.  Ash really attracts the powder post beetles. 
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Ironwood

Ron,

  I am glad someone chimed in about the bug issue. I would NEVER use ash for stickers. It attracts bugs like chocolate attracts kids at my sons daycare!!!!!! Dont get me wrong I LOVE ASH in terms of appearance but I don't keep it around at all due to the bug issue. I wish I could keep some on hand but NO WAY I want bugs, again like kids and chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


                Reid
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

Stan P

thanks Ron and Reid.   that's a good heads up

Larry

Well, I turned some of it into bathroom cabinets.




Best use I have seen is for wainscoting...trimmed with walnut on the top and bottom.  Finished properly it is spectacular.

Truth be known a lot of antique furniture thought to be oak is really ash.

Dunno bout this one but I spent a whole day sawing and later kiln drying ash for a guy that restores old antique cars...he said the frames of a lot of em were ash. ???  Ya got an old Bently laying around that needs a few parts?
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

beenthere

Larry
You are a true craftsman, IMO. The matching grain in the door panels is a dead give-away of your technique.  :)   
Very well done.  Thanks for posting pics.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

karl

I like W. ash- lots better than oak - dries better, mills better, one of the few light woods I like without a stain applied. Make most of my grade stakes with ash. done several cabinets and some passage doors/trim. probably my favorite hdwood.  Got several hundred bd ' that was just too Dang nice for stakes- need to sell or come up with a project. Never used it for stickers- didn't know about the bug issue, that 's probably enough deterant.

Nice cabs Larry- really like the grain in that there false front. Ant. brass hdwre looks good on 'em too.
"I ask for wisdom and strength, Not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy, myself"  - from Ojibwa Prayer.

Daren

There you go Stan, if you have some decent ash, I wouldn't use it for stickers. Larry's cabinets are a great example of what a craftsman can do with it  smiley_thumbsup. Like I said, I would take something like that over oak any day of the week.
Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

Part_Timer

Reid

How long does it takes for the bugs to show.  I've been using it for stickers for about a year now and no sign.  Then again we spray around the garage 2-3 times a year for bugs just because of all the wood.

Tom
Peterson 8" ATS.
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

Back40x2


   Stan,

    White ash works very well for me as a sticker!!!!! ;D    As far as bugs are concerned, I live in Maine and it really doesn't seem to be a problem.  It may be a geographical thang!!!!!!!!!
    
   Larry posted a a true fact about antiques.  "Truth be told a lot of oak is really ash"
 
   To tell the difference between the two, look for the little black hash marks going diagonal with the grain.  If you see those, it is oak.  If not then ash it is!!!!

    Makes very nice flooring as well.  I am installing almost 800ft for a customer, that I saw out for him.  Nice stuff, but a little too light for me.

    Good luck!!!!!!!!! ;)
My JD 4120 Loader/Hoe/fransgard winch, a 10,000 pound Warn winch, STIHL 460,  Timberking 1600,  Lots of logs, a shotgun, rifle, my German Shorthaired Pointers and a 4-wheel drive, is all this Maine boy needs to survive!! Oh Yeah, and my WIFE!!!!!!

woodmills1

The ash around here is dying big time.  The few I cut dead werent worth the time, seems the death affects part of every log.  Does make great firewood though, ash has always been an easy burn wood.  Easy to split and dries much faster than oak, something about resins in it means you can burn it almost green, so the dead stuff burns nice.
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

Stan P

Very nice Larry.  I guess I'm going to use the old rule, "use what you have". 
I think Woodmill1 is right and there is a good chance I wont get much good lumber out of the logs anyways.  It has a strange look even at the stump.  not dead or rotten but discolored.
I have two nice red oaks down that will make great lumber, and I dont want to take down one of my big tulips for stickers, although I hear they make great post and beam lumber, so there might be another reason to take one down. 

I plan on cutting 1 by 7s for flooring stickering them outside.  How long do you think they will take to dry?

thanks for all the input. 

Stan

pigman

Larry, great craftsmanship on the cabinets. 8) smiley_thumbsup
But I have to ask, did you forget to put the panels in the cabinet on the lower right or is there mirrows  for the panels. smiley_headscratch
I have built sever pieces of furniture out of ash. Someone gave me several thousand bdft of of ash logs and no one seems to want to buy it for what I think it is worth, so I sell it to people for $10 a bdft as furniture. ;) I can stain it so most people think it is oak until I tell them. :o
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

oldsaw

I'm hoping to get back to MN this summer to take out a 30+" ash and some other "stuff".  Personally, I like ash even more than oak (outside of Q-sawn) since I think the grain is prettier and it stains better IMHO.  It's a 700+ mile trip to do it, each way.  I'm willing to take the drive and pay a guy to mill it, and I'm as cheap as they come.

I add up all of my costs, and I'm still less than $2/bd ft.  Plus whatever Boxelder or white oak I can get while I'm there.

Big ash fan here.

Mark
So many trees, so little money, even less time.

Stihl 066, Husky 262, Husky 350 (warmed over), Homelite Super XL, Homelite 150A

Ron Wenrich

Chestnut looks a lot like oak.  Maybe some of that antique furniture is chestnut rather than oak. 
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Brad_S.

Stan,
You don't need to dedicate the whole tree to stickers. When I'm sawing on site for a customer who needs stickers, I pull the FAS off the outside and as I get near the heart and hit defects, I turn those boards into sticker material. Doing this for every log cut keeps a pretty good pile of stickers coming in and keeps low grade cull lumber from wasting space in the drying stack.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." J. Lennon

HARLEYRIDER

White Ash is harder than red oak, on the Jenka Hardness Rating.Red oak is1290, white ash is 1320,  Going up on the list....white oak is 1360 , Maple 1450, Hickory 1820. Many brazilian exotics are over 3000

Yea...what Brad said
Greenwoods Timberworks

Stan P

Yeah Brad,  I would have a hell of a lot of stickers if I sawed the whole tree up that way.  It will be interesting to see if the wood is good for anything else since it was diseased. 

thanks

Stan

bugmeist

White Ash is used a lot in boat/canoe building for gunnels, seat frames, yokes, etc.  If you can find a builder they might be thrilled to find a source of Ash. 

If you've got a swing mill, you can cut custom dimensions which will save a lot of time ripping and resawing.
100 acres, Lucas 618, Universal Tractor w/loader, chainsaws, cant hooks and not enough time to play!
Fear is temporary...regret is forever.   www.bugshirt.com

Furby

Any chance you can explain your last statement a bit Bugmeist?
I don't belive there is anything that swing mills can cut that my band mill can't when talking about dimension lumber.

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