Hi,

My mother is talking about taking down some enormous Ash trees near her house. I was wondering if its worth paying someone to come in and mill it? I have never worked with Ash so I'm not very knowledgeable about it.

Thanks,

David

Ash is a good straight grained wood well suited for steaming and bending. I have used it in toboggan making. I say totally worth it.

Why not do a little homework first?

https://www.wood-database.com/wood-finder/

Type "ash" in the search box. You will see several different species of ash. Click on any of them to see lots of details. You live in North Carolina. That narrows down the likely species, but not precisely. Hopefully you can figure it out, read the details, and then decide what you want to do next.

Thanks, I've been google and have read some mixed ideas which is why I asked here. If it was oak I'd jump on it but never built anything with Ash..

Ash is a neat wood, I like working it personally. It's very hard and straight grained. Machines well, and turns pretty nice. If you're drying it just make sure to coat the ends enough, I hear it checks pretty bad.



-T

Well, if youd jump on it if it were oak, you should jump on it. Oak and ash are extremely similar, to the point where a lot of older 'oak' furniture is actually ash that was stained to match. Ash is one of my personal favorites to work with, its like a slighty softer and less splintery oak, joy to work with, finishes nicely, and looks pretty bloody good too. If you can swing the price id say yeah, worth milling

Just be aware that if there are any dead ash in the area that it's likely to contain a lot of ash borer holes. Just more character to some. If your looking for clear grain it might ruin your day though. Around here the ash is dying off in droves. Every one of them are full of bug holes.

gotta love the idea of free wood, right? milling is one phase of the project, drying is next. kiln drying typically kills insects which may be infesting your wood, like the emerald ash borer as mentioned. i have a beautiful gigantic dead one behind my house right now. air drying will not kill the eab, and i don't know if the eab will leave when the tree is cut down.

either way, i suspect you don't want bugs in the wood you are going to make things out of.

You said "some" trees. You may wind up with a lot of lumber out of that. You can probably sell what is excess to your needs if the milling price is reasonable.


george