Virtues of Ash firewood...

[Al_Smith]

Rambling on as usual I found out there are subspecies of Douglas fir .Evidently the coast type west  of the Cascades which grow the largest and the rocky mountain types .From what they say the PNW stuff is supposed to be the prefered .

I know little about any species of pine but I do know that to spend the few pennys more for premium lumber for a building project is money well spent .

Instead of warped and bark ridden less expensive framing lumber you get nice straight dry lumber you can do something with rather than make sled runners .If you're going to build it make it last a couple hundred years .

[SwampDonkey]

white Ash is hard, and in fact if planed it has a lustre. But it still ain't hard as rock maple or beech. In fact when both are dried the same, a piece of rock maple or beech is still heavy in comparison. Ash isn't light like aspen, but when your handling firewood you can see the difference, in fact ash is like the weight of red maple.

Now, as to splitting rock maple, it is pretty tough. I busted the neighbors tools and had to go buy more to bust up the rock maple in the yard and I was splitting clear rounds, not a knot in the stuff i was hand splitting, just a little wedge-like corner in each round that was rotten. I had to score lines so the wedge would penetrate with a chainsaw to quarter the rounds . :D

I would'a invited ya up to show me your splitting prowess, but figured Ohio was a ways away from here. :D :D

[SwampDonkey]

Red cedar does the same, there is the coastal stuff at lower elevations, then ther eis the plateau stuff in Prince George area. It might look flat up there in Prince George, but your closer to the sun. :D

See the same with balsam fir, down south it's Fraser, but for years it was all just balsam to some botonists. Then there is western balsam, which is actually Amabilis or Pacific silver or Cascades fir, take your pick.

[Al_Smith]

Oh about maybe a month ago I had left a few rounds lay where I landed some ash .Maybe 18" in diameter and my buddy had my splitter at the time .I could not even get a steel wedge started in that stuff .Thought I did until it bounced out and smacked me in the knee .Enough of that nonsense ,ouch .

So evidently Canada has better sugar maple and we have better ash which makes sense .We need it for base ball bats .On the other hand I suppose Canada needs the maple for hockey sticks to beat each other about the heads and shoulders . :D

[Al_Smith]

Now beech is hard I'll give it that .I have no idea what they use it for but it's tough enough if it were thick enough you could about use it for armor plate .

Now is Canadian beech or Europian beech harder than great lakes beech ?

[SwampDonkey]

Years ago there was a work shop out in the boonies here, well we're all there I suppose, but they made bowling pins out of beech. What sizable town hasn't got a bowling alley? Around here it's where all the seniors groups and Elks members hang out. ;D

[Al_Smith]

Beech bowling pins ,really .Geeze they would break the bowling ball I'd think .They are usually made of hard maple .

[SwampDonkey]

I think the maple is in the floor. ;D

[Al_Smith]

Well yes that too .BTW the largest manufacturer of bowling alley maple lumber in the world is 30 miles to the south of me .

Copy from the net :Bowling pins are constructed by gluing blocks of rock maple wood into the approximate shape, and then turning on a lathe. After the lathe shapes the pin, it is coated with a plastic material, painted, and covered with a glossy finish. Because of the scarcity of suitable wood, bowling pins can be made from approved synthetics./end


See they called it rock maple too .They must be from Canada  ;)

[SwampDonkey]

Yes, hard maple is the choice of bowling pins from what I have read (and not on the net) But, I know these pins were made of beech, know it as fact. Maybe that's why they are no longer in business. ;D

Also, while I was brushing up on my hard maple studies I also discovered that sugar maple, beech and yellow birch are the choice of charcoal making. Now I don't want to make a fuss about it or rock any foundations, because I know they make it from oak to. :D

Actually, the game of skittles, which is what bowling is descended from is with pins made of beech or sycamore. But that is because it's origin is in Europe.

If you think about it, our hardwoods (I mean the denser species) is dominated by hard maple up here. We have oaks, but by far our hardwood is mostly rock maple. Think of all those those Quebec, NB and Ontario woods they tap for syrup. Quebec being the #1 supplier and NB makes an awfully lot to on crown leased land. I mean those guys have 1000 plus acres of maple woods to tap per lease.

[Al_Smith]

Lawdy can you imagine making maple syrple from a thousand acres .

I dunno maybe in NB they used beech for pins .Never been there let alone bowled there .

As far as charcoal it's reported that Jack Daniels whiskey uses maple for the charcoal filtration of the mix .I can't stand the stuff myself so whatever they use is fine with me .Fact the way it tastes I'd almost think they were using soft coal .

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah, one place I know of on the Divide Road has over 3000 acres leased. They use wood to boil it all to and they cut firewood steady. :D

Al, I wouldn't say all the alleys have beech pins here, but that shop made beech pins.

[Al_Smith]

I'm not doubting they made beech pins I just wonder why with all that hard maple around .

I'd about think it would react about as well if the pins were made of cast iron .Hit the head pin ,split the plastic ball which would wobble around and take out the 7 and 10 and leave the rest standing .Bowling for dollars maybe or to sell more bowling balls .

With a bunch  of beech pins maybe they used a bunch of recycled   cannon balls left over from the war of 1812 . Heavy duty Judy .

[SwampDonkey]

We certainly have a lot of beech to, but not abundant like maple. Our farm was mostly maple, beech was scarce. Who knows the premise, maybe they thought they would put it to use because it was dying from beech scale, no idea. In fact, I'd manage for beech if it had a chance. I have been known to save smooth ones on a job when most of the other ones were full of 'cancer'. Folks are cutting ash down because the bugs are killing it, so maybe. ;)

[Al_Smith]

Say I just stumbled on to this and found it interesting .Comparative tables of various hardwoods and soft woods as to strengths .I find it interesting that ash rates near the top in hardness ,tension strength and compressability. http://workshopcompanion.com/KnowHow/Design/Nature_of_Wood/3_Wood_Strength/3_Wood_Strength.htm

[tyb525]

Ya'll got it all wrong, Osage orange, honey and black locust, and mulberry are where it's at! As long as you don't have to split it by hand!

[Al_Smith]

Yeah that too .As a matter of fact at this very moment I am loading up from a pile of honey locust and pin oak .I found it surprising the honey locust from what I remember from black locust doesn't have the heat in it .I mean it's okay .

Danged raw outside so I had to get some more clothes on to finish my job .30 below is cold allright but so is 10 above with an 18 MPH wind ,brrr .

[beenthere]

The link took me to hickory. Did you mean it to?

Edit:
Sorry for the question Al.
I see the hickory title includes that table with comparative values for the other species.

[Al_Smith]

Well yes hickory is in that table but no it wasn't specificly aimed  for hickory .

For example ash is 15,000 bending strength ,hard maple is 15,800 and hickory is 20,000 .Exactly how that is determined I really don't know .

It seems however there is a direct connection between weight per unit ,density in hardness and btu's per unit .More seems to be better .

Now what surprised me according to those charts was that both ash and hard maple have  slightly more strength than white oak .I would have never guessed that .Then again things like exposure to the weather over long periods were not discussed which of course has nothing to do with strength .White oak would win that match hands down and most likely ash second followed by maple .

[SwampDonkey]

Everything averaged out at 12% oaks (except live oak), sugar maple, beech, and yellow birch all weigh out the same within a couple lbs/ft. Green, oaks are a lot heavier because of higher MC. Live oak is way up there in density compared to the rest, about the same as Osage and will actually sink in water when fresh.

[JuniperBoss]

It is kinda fascinating how much change goes on inside a chunk of wood from when the chain hits the trunk to when the smoke goes up the chimney. Freshly cut juniper will just about make your hand wet when you put your hand on it. Even a small round can be so heavy you almost can't lift it. Then if you let it sit for a week in the summer you notice it gets a little lighter. By four months in the summer it's as light as can be. Can almost pick it up with my pinky :D. But that's softwood.

[Al_Smith]

Cottonwood is the same way and it's considered a hard wood .

[JuniperBoss]

Really How can Cottonwood be hardwood? That's crazy, considering it's very light and is one of the least dense trees around.

[SwampDonkey]

It's deciduous, but not a hardwood. Even basswood is deciduous, not a hardwood. When we say a stand of timber is shade tolerant hardwood, at least here in NB, we mean sugar maple, beech, yellow birch. The birch only being intermediate in shade tolerance. But long lived as the other two. We do not group red maple, basswood, ash, cherry and butternut in that designation although they are not excluded from those stands as they may be physically present but fewer in numbers.

[beenthere]

Cottonwood is the same way and it's considered a hard wood .

Not a hard wood, but it is a hardwood. ;)

C'mon SD, don't add more confusion.