Have been cutting and burning a lot of White ash for the last 5 years since EAB swept through my part of PA. Kept records by weighing pieces of CSS and covered or in a shed just how long it takes to dry for my high standards of burning. Roughly a piece should lose 25% +/- 2% of its "green" weight. In my experience(again CSS and protected) you can almost get that in 9 months, and I have burnt plenty of ash cut in March, burnt in December with good results. One year is better, you are good to go. I have kept and weighed pieces in the shed for two, three and even four years continuing to weigh them, and they are the same. Which means to me no more moisture loss and were just as dry as they were at one year. So, hope this helps someone who is in the new EAB ash kill zone or just cuts green stuff and cannot get 2 or 3 years ahead on your firewood supply. Photo of my typical size pieces. 16" long
Good info to share. I have been burning Ash since I started heating with firewood in this home. I have had no problems with moisture content when cutting/splitting/stacking it outside and in long double rows on pallets in the spring, and sometimes as late as June, and start burning it in October. Six or seven months time is better. The more sun and wind exposure, if possible, the better.
yeah, I alway give it a year because of Grizzly Adam drying time chart in resources thumbs: great resource) but then again don't rememer last time I cut healthy white ash
I realized that I just would not have the time to cut all my Ash after the borer went through and wiped them out. I have my family I need to spend time with while kids are still young. They are growing FAST and time is flying. I have other trail projects I want to get done on the property and I don’t want to work all the time. I had them leave some healthy medium and large and a lot of saplings out there.
What's most interesting is the 1 year splits being pretty much just as dry as the 2+ year ones. That's a relief because I have a lot for next season, about half of which I split in August.
No EAB here yet. I am getting a lot of dead ash lately but that is just because the woods is full of them and they tend to die if shaded. I treat ash the same as any other species except oak. 1 year in the stacks and it's ready to burn, any more than that is a bonus. It should be my favorite firewood because of the drying time, ease of processing and burn characteristics, but I just can't bring myself to like it. I will pass up ash to get to cherry or other lower-BTU hardwoods.
JDU, we must not be too far away from each other, I'm in upper Adams Co. I've had similar experiences with the ash I took down on my property. Excellent firewood! I've also found after I split apple, it only takes about one summer to get to about 12/15%. My stack is facing an open field to which the wind blows towards it, facing the western sun.
We are not too far away. I'm near Newport in Perry county. You live in a beautiful area, I used to work for PA DCNR and Michaux State Forest was an area I spent a lot of time on. Like you, I stack in the open facing ssw, single row rank, so excellent drying conditions on my windy hill. Makes a difference.
Passing on ash. Hm suppose Ash has certain rot that isn’t appealing? He does mention that a lot of the ash is dead.
Those damm beetles are killing every ash tree around here. Two years ago, they weren't an issue. Great firewood though
Well, if it's what I'm cutting I sure won't leave it there, but if I had a choice between ash and some other species of wood (with decent BTU rating) and for some reason couldn't take both - I'd leave the ash. I don't really have a good explanation, it's just not one of my favorite firewood species. I think it rots too quickly, and I am not fond of the smell.
Well, we've been cutting and burning dead white ash for many, many moons here. Yes, we do have some now that is too far gone but not a lot. We were infested in 2002 here so have been dealing with this for a long time and still not done. Tis okay as it is great firewood.
Omg ash is first class firewood. It burns green fairly well even, and it pretty decent in the btu dept.
