Milling ash trees into hardwood flooring

[markkelly]

 ???Looking for any good suggestions on milling ash trees into hardwood flooring??? Thanks much Mark :

[beenthere]

What equipment do you have available once you get the ash into lumber?
Dry kiln?
straight line rip?
moulder?

[hackberry jake]

If its a small quantity you can use just a planer and a table saw.  Plane them all to desired thickness. Set up a sled for the table saw to do strait line ripping.  Rip them all to a few different sizes to maximize yield. Set up a jig for the table saw to cut the tounges then a jig for the gooves. Then install.

[WDH]

You can also mill the planed and ripped to width boards on a router table or a shaper if you are not talking commercial scale.

[cutterboy]

I love the look of ash lumber and am sure it makes beautiful flooring. I have never made flooring so I can't help you there.

[Dustin]

Mark I'm thinking about the same thing to put in our new addition. I think I can make the flooring with the table saw and router, but it depends on how much you plan to make.  Good luck on your flooring.

[sealark37]

I was lucky enough to find a guy who made custom molding.  He planed it, ripped it, relieved the back, and tongue & grooved the whole pile in one afternoon.  I rented a nailer and spent one hot summer laying floor.  Ash makes a beautiful floor.  You may lose some to the emerald ash borer.  They leave a 1/4" channel filled by sawdust.  Once you get it down, hire someone with the equipment and experience to sand and finish the job.  Regards, Clark 

[SwampDonkey]

We have an ash flooring mill across the river from here. Makes nice flooring and is hard, takes on glass like sheen when planed. Wear gloves to, I find the square edges are very sharp. I get more cuts from hardwood than any tool. :D

[Al_Smith]

On the subject of ash floors .JWoods who posted at one time on this forum and in fact steered me here did up maybe 2-3 thousand board feet of it .

Joe lives about 30 miles from me .Cut all the ash on his own bandsaw mill and had it kiln dried at a local hardwood mill .

He had a three phase jointer which I sent him directions on how to run on single phase .If anyone could give good directions on how or what to do on the subject he certainly would be one .

This was before the EAB hit this area .At that time Joe had the nicest 50 acres of mostly ash I'd seen in years .Mostly 18" to 24" and straight as an arrow .30  plus to the first limb .Perfect saws logs . I have no doubt by now they are all dead ,sad as that is . :(

[Al_Smith]

Say Mark Kelley I just noticed NW Ohio .Joe is up around Defiance some place .Might not be too far from you .

[markkelly]

What equipment do you have available once you get the ash into lumber?
Dry kiln?
straight line rip?
moulder?
I have table saw, planner, router, and plan to air dry or possilby hire some one to do some work.

Say Mark Kelley I just noticed NW Ohio .Joe is up around Defiance some place .Might not be too far from you .

I would love to talk with him.  Let me know how to get a hold of him.

[Al_Smith]

Probabley do a phone search on Google for NW Ohio .You might be able to get an E-mail addy from the member list ??

He might not be as far north as Defiance,it's been some time since I was there .However he did have all that ash dried at Siefkers mill between Delphos and Elida ,about 5 miles from my house .