Cut some bug killed Ash today, now what to do with it?

[boatman]

 cut a few bug killed Ash today. About 8, 16ft 18"DBH. I believe it is Black Ash.

Aside from a couple of wagon tongues that we need, I would like to hear suggestions on how to mill this wood. I need to know what sizes are popular when people buy Ash for projects or hobbies?

No reason to let it rot in the woods

We have quite a few clumps of Ash here and if there is a market It could keep me busy for a while.

Also cut a 20" Cherry with some great curves in it. I am going to chainsaw mill that one.

[Okrafarmer]

I'm eager to hear what you do. I have a couple small cherry logs coming up soon.

[campy]

Folks around Nashville TN, USA like to make country kitchen tables.
They like 2" thick but it could be 1.5" also.

For legs they like about 5"x5".

Ash can make good flooring too.

[metalspinner]

I think you would be safe to treat it like flat sawn oak trying to get centered cathedral grain.  The straight grain of QS ash is very pretty, but don't look for any ray fleck.  It dryes really nice and flat, so extra thickness shouldn't be neccesary.

[sunriseseamless]

I have some ash, too.  Would Ash work as well as oak for a trailer bed?  I have a trailer with punky decking.

[ladylake]

 White ash works good outside but not for ground contact, I think black ash is inside wood.    Steve

[pitotshock]

Lots of horse barn owners like to use a tongue and groove 1" ash board to line the box stalls of their barns. Horses are less likely to chew hardwood compared to a soft wood.

[bandmiller2]

I pretty much interchange ash and oak on my own stuff,to sell for trailer and truck beds I just give them oak so I don't get any hassel.Frank C.

[wannasaw]

Boatman it's funny because there are some ash trees on this cypress job that I have a new tread going on. The owner who is obviosly more knowledgable than I told me they were in there and he did'nt care if we got em out but we were both in a hurry and didn't follow up that part of the conversation. I'm thinking that maybe we need to get back to that. Thanks for the thread! Also some post oak on the hill but I already had my eye on a really large free green post oak. What's it for too please?

[Okrafarmer]

Boatman it's funny because there are some ash trees on this cypress job that I have a new tread going on. The owner who is obviosly more knowledgable than I told me they were in there and he did'nt care if we got em out but we were both in a hurry and didn't follow up that part of the conversation. I'm thinking that maybe we need to get back to that. Thanks for the thread! Also some post oak on the hill but I already had my eye on a really large free green post oak. What's it for too please?

Just my 2 cents, but you may want to leave the ash if it's healthy-- down in our states we don't have the EAB yet, evidently, and we may luck out and never get it as the ash stands are somewhat spread out in the south. It may be worth more years from now when there's not much left and people aren't culling it left and right.

[paul case]

i cut lots of post oak . it is good trailer flooring and i can even sell some of it for grade and they dont seem to mind as long as it is mixed with some red oak. makes good pallets and dunnage. gets real hard. i do have some trouble with green post oak gumming up my bands. pc

[wannasaw]

 I was into the ash for utility grade livestock pen wraping after reading this post but not set to cut or not. Campy, the owner does have sons and daughters; I'll be making sure before hand that we check out the local avalibility as that would be another great goof to alienate future jobs. Thanks for the heads up.

[jwoods]

Boatman,

I treat Ash as a utility grade anymore.  10 years ago I cut it for trim in my own house, but with the EAB problems, the markets went down the drain.

Check my photo gallery, the green barn siding is Ash.  Cutting 4/4 is probably the most used thickness if you are speculating, I wouldn't have a problem using it for trailer decking, or other non-ground contact applications.

The craigslist idea is probably the best, selling as farm lumber for stalls, etc.

...or I've been toying with the idea of making my own boat, and Ash was a lumber that is readily accessible, and I can cut it thin.  Would it work?

Joe.

[cutterboy]

...or I've been toying with the idea of making my own boat, and Ash was a lumber that is readily accessible, and I can cut it thin.  Would it work?

Joe.

Joe, in the last couple of years I've had two different guys buy ash from me to build boats. One man had made his living building boats. He had retired, but couldn't stay away from it, so I think he knew what he was doing and he wanted ash for certain parts of the boat. So, to answer your question, yes, I think ash would work. However, mine was white ash, not black.
  Ralph

[boatman]

We are going to cut the Ash on a Lucas tomorrow.  We will cut a few 14' wagon tongues and the 1 inch board's.  If we get enough cut this winter we may use it to side the new granary.

[Okrafarmer]

Ash makes real good handles and baseball bats, from what I understand.