Probably the last Ash logs I'll ever mill

[Brad_bb]

Today I finished cutting up this 18' Ash log.  I got it last summer from another local sawyer along with 4 others.  This was the biggest and after Bibby'ing down the butt end I was able to take a flitch off each side with my mill head at the max height.  In the first pic, one flitch was taken off and it's against the mill bed. My goal was to get a pith centered 14.5"x8.5" beam 12 feet long for the second floor mezzanine I'm going to timberframe on one side of this shop for more storage. The last picture is a 14.5" x13" just before the last cut to take a 4.5" thick piece for rafter or brace stock.  Two faces were clear, while the 3rd and 4th has a medium knot at about the 13.5' mark. That knot has backterial rot and it was spreading to either side of the knot.  There is also remains of a Carpenter ant nest in the butt on one face, but I'll be able to cut that off, and cut it 12 feet up and avoid the bacterial rot.  The remaining end piece will be able to yeild 2 braces from the two clean faces I think.  Three of the other 4 logs look good, but one I can tell will be firewood due to bacterial rot.  Goal is to make 4.5" rafter or brace/stock.

[moosehunter]

I've been watching the ash I saw degrade for the last three years. I'm sure I won't see any of quality this year.
mh

[Resonator]

Impressive sized log on the mill, squared up nice!

[E, FUDD]

Not sure about Illinois but around here in Middle Tn. there are very few ash trees still alive and if they're not dead, they are dying. An invasive ash beetle from Asia has been killing them for several years now. I will still mill them and get decent lumber but you dont know till you cut them, unless they are obviously rotted or they disintegrate when you start to lay them down, and then they may try to kill you if they collapse on theirself.

[SwampDonkey]

Nice piece of ash. 

Been spared the ash borer so fair in my area, but we don't have any old growth ones left around. There's thousands of ash, 1" up to 8"or so on the woodlot. There a few bigger ones along the creek on my cousins lot, 16-20" or so, but not old trees, open grown.

[Brad_bb]

Here in central Indiana, all the Ash over 8" are cooked.  We still have the young trees up to 8".  As I've posted before, I don't think they go after them until they are about 3 or4 inches in diameter, and now that the mainfood source is gone, the population has come down here.  Some of the younger trees have survived over the last several years because I believe the tree was able to keep up and heal the damage before killing the tree.  I'ver surveyed some of the 6" trees and some are dead now, and some are not.  So we'll see how it is going forward.  I don't think Ash will be a viable lumber again for a few generations.  With the damage the beetles do and the healing, the wood will not be clear even if they manage to get bigger than 8".  Until the Ash can somehow fight off the Beetles in a bigger way, the Ash will struggle for a long time to just survive.  A shame to.  Ashe is a nice hardwood, grows rather quickly for a hardwood, is strong, and pretty.

[SwampDonkey]

They are actually finding mature ash now that have a resistance to the bugs, like they don't touch them at all. No beetle damage. They are finding trees inside dead zones, untouched.

[ktm250rider]

All the ash on my property in NH have been taken down due to the beetle as well.  I have since pulled a couple logs out of the firewood pile to cut into lumber.  I was surprised at how nice the boards are.  Built this bed frame last year.
 

[burdman_22]

Cut this ash this past summer. It's the tightest growth rings I've seen on anything I've ever personally milled

[SwampDonkey]

Pretty typical of ash up here, in the land of slow growing hardwoods. 

[jpassardi]

I have about 3000 BF of ash stickered and covered, not sure what I'll use it for.

[Brian C.]

I had 3 or four ash trees on my property that ended up getting attacked about 15 yrs ago. I had them taken down and hired a portable mill to turn them into usable lumber. Thus started my move into sawing. I mad the wood trim in the house and some furniture . I still have a few hundred feet left. I love working with it. I hope they can find a way to repropagte its growth.

[Brad_bb]

Look at the colors from this log.  Pink, white, brown.

[aigheadish]

I made my mantle out of some dead standing ash. One of the first big trees I ever took down if I recall properly. It has similar coloring, some good spalting, and some neat bug lines in it. 

[Brad_bb]

The thing about Ash is, once it's got spalting or bacterial rot, the strength of the wood is compromised.  It can break across the grain.  Unlike Maple, which can still be strong with spalting, Ash is pretty much firewood once you see it in my experience. So you have to be careful.  I'll get some pictures showing bacterial rot today and try to post them.  

[aigheadish]

Yeah, there were parts of the mantle that were pretty punky, but I had a good length of wood to choose from and I removed a fair amount of it so it didn't weigh a hundred pounds hanging on the wall.